Prawn and pumpkin curry
This impressive prawn and pumpkin curry may look complicated, but once you have all the ingredients prepped it’s quite quick to make. Serve with steamed basmati rice and top the curry with crisp fried shallots and fried curry leaves, or fresh coriander.
- 24 large raw tiger prawnspeeled and de veined, tails left on
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 lemonjuiced
- vegetable oil
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- 100g baby leaf spinach
- to serve steamed basmati
CURRY PASTE
- 3 tbsp tamarind paste
- 3 shallotschopped
- 1 small tomatochopped
- 70g gingerchopped
- 1 clove garlicroughly chopped
- 1 green chillideseeded and chopped
- ½ tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp ground fenugreek
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tbsp ground coriander
- 400ml coconut milk
SAUCE BASE
- 700g pumpkin or butternut squashpeeled and cut into rough chunks
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 200g shallotsfinely diced
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- 2 small tomatoesdiced
TARKA
- 1 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 15 curry leaves
- 2 cloves garlicchopped
- 2 shallotsfinely chopped
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal523
- fat40.5g
- carbs24.9g
- fibre5.1g
- protein18g
- salt1.8g
Method
step 1
Toss the prawns with the chilli, turmeric, lemon juice, 3 tbsp veg oil and 1 tsp sea salt and chill for 2 hours.
step 2
For the curry paste, whizz the ingredients, with 100ml warm water, in a blender.
step 3
To make the sauce base, heat the oven to 220c/fan 200c/gas 7. Toss the pumpkin in a little vegetable oil and the whole cumin seeds. Bake for 15-20 minutes until tender.
step 4
Put a large pan over a high heat, add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and cook the shallot until lightly browned. Add the turmeric, cumin and coriander and cook for a further minute. Add the tomato, stir and then stir in the curry paste. Season with sea salt.
step 5
To make the tarka, heat another 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a separate pan until very hot. Add the mustard seeds and fenugreek and stand back while they pop. After a few seconds, add the curry leaves, garlic and red onion. Sizzle for 30 seconds and then add to the main sauce.
step 6
Add the baked pumpkin to the sauce, cover and simmer gently for about 5 minutes. You can prep-ahead up to this point. When you’re ready to serve, reheat gently then add the marinated prawns, continue to simmer for 2-3 minutes until the prawns are just cooked. Finally, add the baby spinach and stir into the sauce. Remove the pan from the heat as the spinach will wilt very quickly.