Last Updated on March 4, 2018 by Chef Mireille
Almost every country in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean have some kind of curry. All a curry is really is a mix of spices cooked into some kind of stew with gravy. What spices go into the curry will vary from country to country and even from region to region in the same country. However, also the styles of preparation in a curry will vary from country to country. Do you marinate the meat/proteins first? Do you add the spice powders at the end of beginning of cooking? I have presented many forms of curries from around the world here and this is a Caribbean presentation.
Chicken and chickpeas are often included together in curries throughout the Caribbean and especially in Trinidad and Jamaica. Pumpkin is probably the most common Vegetarian curry you will find. I decided to combine all three in this delicious curry. Whether the combination is traditional or not, the method of preparation is how we prepare curries in the Caribbean. I also borrowed a trick from South Indian and Southeast Asian curries by adding some coconut milk for a thicker, richer curry.
Roasted Pumpkin Curry
Marinade Ingredients:
2 tablespoons green seasoning
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 Scotch Bonnet pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
Curry Ingredients:
2 tablespoons oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 tablespoons curry powder
12 ounces boneless and skinless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloin, chopped
1 1/2 cups roasted and mashed pumpkin
2 cups water
1 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons shadoe beny (culantro, recaito), finely chopped
salt, to taste
To roast the pumpkin, preheat oven to 400 F. Discard seeds and pulp. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and place pumpkin half face down. Roast in oven for 45-50 minutes, until fork tender. Cool, then remove pulp from pumpkin skins. The skin will be very soft and should slide right off the pulp. Reserve 1 1/2 cups to use in the curry and freeze the rest for future use.
In a large pot, heat oil. Fry onion, garlic and curry powder until vegetables are softened and curry becomes fragrant.. Add chicken pieces and brown on both sides for about 5 minutes. You may need to add extra oil at this point.
Add pumpkin and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.
Add coconut milk and cook for another 5 minutes on high heat. Add shadoe beny. Taste and adjust salt, if necessary.
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