Learn how to make the heartiest and most comforting pumpkin curry with cauliflower and tomatoes. This quick and easy recipe is plant-based, oil-free, and gluten-free.
What I love about this recipe:
- Made of simple wholesome ingredients.
- Divinely combines the sweetness of coconut milk and the sourness of tomatoes.
- Excellent to combine with either pasta, cooked grains, or even sourdough bread.
- Perfect for batch-cooking.
- Would make a wonderful centrepiece on a festive table.
My cauliflower and pumpkin curry recipe is plant-based and vegan, oil-free, relatively low in fats, gluten-free (use GF grains or pasta to pair it with), grain-free (use legume-based pasta as a side), nut-free and peanut free, low glycemic, and suitable on vegan Candida diet.
Table of contents
How to Make Cauliflower and Pumpkin Curry with Tomatoes
You’ll need only simple well-known wholesome plant-based components to make my pumpkin curry. As a side note, we will not include any refined oils, not even olive oil. Instead, coconut milk will provide all the creaminess we need.
The Ingredients
Bulk Ingredients
Let’s start with pumpkin. You may choose any preferred pumpkin variety e.g., butternut squash, calabaza, delicata squash, hubbard squash, kabocha squash, regular pumpkin, or Hokkaido pumpkin aka pie pumpkin.
In case it’s not pumpkin season or you have difficulties to get your hands on winter squashes, feel free to use sweet potato instead.
The next bulk ingredient in this pumpkin curry recipe is cauliflower. I’m using white cauliflower, but you may opt for other varieties as well e.g., purple, yellow, or green cauliflower. Alternatively, a regular broccoli or Romanecso broccoli would also fit well into this curry dish.
Liquid Ingredients
Next, I’m using both crushed tomatoes and tomato paste in this pumpkin curry. I decided to add some tomato paste to add thickness and sweetness.
The curry sauce is made of coconut milk, water, and yellow curry paste. By the way, try to find an oil-free curry paste with no added sugars. Should it turn out to be impossible for you to obtain curry paste, feel free to use any preferred curry powder instead. Just like with the paste, mix it with coconut milk and some water. In case your curry powder is salt-free, add Himalayan salt, tamari, or soy sauce to taste.
If you’re avoiding saturated fats, substitute coconut milk with nut or seed butter. The best options would be cashew butter, almond butter, or peanut butter as they’re naturally sweet. In case you decide to use tahini or sunflower seed butter, include a few finely chopped Medjool dates or some date paste to add sweetness.
Other
We will use a few more flavour boosters in this recipe. Those are crushed garlic, onion, and fresh ginger root.
For a balanced and hearty meal, we will also include cooked chickpeas. In case you don’t have chickpeas at hand, feel free to use other beans or legumes. For example, white beans, black beans, or kidney beans.
Finally, let’s make this dish complete by adding greens to it – baby spinach in this case. Should you want to use older spinach, chop it up and cook separately in plenty of water for a minute to free up acids and allow them to leach into the boiling water. Then, drain and rinse the spinach and add to your curry pot. Also, discard the boiling water after cooking and do not drink it or use it for stock because of its acid content.
Read more on how to cook vegetables to retain nutrients. Alternatively, use other leafy greens instead of spinach. For example, kale or swiss chard. Remember, that the latter needs to be cooked exactly like older spinach because of the acid content.
The Process
You won’t need any special skills as it’s very easy to make this pumpkin curry.
We start with sautéing chopped onion and ginger root with a few tablespoons of water until the onion becomes translucent, about 3 minutes. Add water one tablespoon at a time whenever necessary to prevent sticking.
Next, in a mug or a small bowl, we prepare the curry sauce by combining coconut milk, water, and curry paste. Pour it onto the onion and ginger and mix. Add a little bit mote of water and bring to boil.
Then, add pumpkin cubes and cauliflower florets. Bring to boil again and simmer at medium heat for 7 minutes, until the pumpkin is almost tender.
After that, pour in the mixture of crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and stir to combine everything well. Cover with lid and cook for an additional 7-10 minutes. You may tilt the lid to let some vapour to escape. You may stir occasionally.
Next, turn off the heat and add mix in crushed garlic cloves. Then, add fresh baby spinach as well. Simply stir it in as there’s no need to cook it. The heat of the pumpkin curry will wilt the spinach quickly. By the way, you may add more spinach, even twice as much.
Finally, pour in rinsed and drained cooked chickpeas and give it a stir. Let cool a bit to enhance the flavours.
How to Serve This Pumpkin Curry
When it comes to serving, this pumpkin curry is very versatile. For example, pair it with any preferred cooked grains like brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, teff, sorghum, or even spelt and whole wheat berries. Alternatively, go for whole grain or legume pastas. Even whole grain sourdough bread would make an excellent addition to this pumpkin curry.
Should you be into baking homemade bread, check out my Whole Spelt Sourdough Bread, Fermented Quinoa and Buckwheat Bread, and Fermented Buckwheat Bread.
Top the curry with fresh parsley or cilantro. Optionally, sprinkle on some sesame seeds or pine nuts and nutritional yeast. Also, a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice would be an excellent flavour booster and an addition of vitamin C.
Did you know that it’s important to add something rich in vitamin C to your cooked iron-rich meal to help boost the iron absorption? It can be either citrus juice or some vitamin C rich raw veggies like cabbage or sauerkraut.
Finally, to make this meal balanced and complete, add a generous side salad of Romain lettuce and some raw veggies like carrots, red cabbage, or bell peppers. You may use the curry as salad dressing or prepare another delicious oil-free dressing following my Guide to Oil-Free Salad Dressings.
Here are some ready oil-free salad dressing recipes for you:
How to Store
As mentioned, this pumpkin curry makes an excellent batch-cooking item. So, feel free to prepare a double or triple batch and store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Here are some more yummy vegan curry recipes (or curry-inspired):
- Indian flavoured vegan curry with chickpeas, potatoes and red beans
- Vegan chickpea curry
- Asparagus and mushroom curry
- Tempeh and cabbage curry
- Indian flavoured curry porridge
Watch how I make this pumpkin curry and 4 other healthy and delicious savoury pumpkin recipes in the below video:
Download my Guide to Low Glycemic Plant-Based Diet!
What are glycemic index and glycemic load and why those matter.
The list of low, medium and high glycemic foods.
Easy tips on staying on a low glycemic diet.
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Creamy Cauliflower and Pumpkin Curry with Tomatoes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Learn how to make the heartiest and most comforting pumpkin curry with cauliflower and tomatoes. This quick and easy recipe is plant-based, oil-free, and gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion (71g, 2.5oz)
- 6g (0.2oz) piece fresh root ginger
- ½ cup (120g, 4.2oz) coconut milk
- 2 tbsps. (37g, 1.3oz) curry paste + 2 tbsps. water
- 175g (6.2oz) water
- 250g (8.8oz) pumpkin, cubed
- 250g (8.8oz) cauliflower, cut into pieces
- 1 can (240g, 8.5oz) crushed or strained tomatoes
- 1/3 cup (75g, 2.6oz) tomato paste
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 can (240g, 8.5oz) unsalted chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 75g (2.6oz) baby spinach or more
To garnish:
- Fresh cilantro
- Sesame seeds or pine nuts
- Nutritional yeast
- Lemon or lime juice
To serve:
50g (1.8oz) dry whole grain pasta or whole grains per serving
Instructions
- Start with sautéing chopped onion and ginger root with a few tablespoons of water until the onion becomes translucent, about 3 minutes. Add water one tablespoon at a time whenever necessary to prevent sticking.
- Next, in a mug or a small bowl, prepare the curry sauce by combining coconut milk, 2 tbsps. of water, and curry paste. Pour it onto the onion and ginger and mix. Add the rest of the water, stir, and bring to boil.
- Then, add pumpkin cubes and cauliflower florets. Bring to boil again and simmer at medium heat for 7 minutes, until the pumpkin is almost tender.
- After that, pour in the mixture of crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and stir to combine everything well. Cover with lid and cook for an additional 7-10 minutes. Tilt the lid to let some vapour to escape. You may stir occasionally.
- Next, turn off the heat and add mix in crushed garlic cloves. Then, add fresh baby spinach as well. Simply stir it in as there’s no need to cook it. The heat of this pumpkin curry will wilt the spinach quickly.
- Finally, pour in rinsed and drained cooked chickpeas and give it a stir. Let cool a bit to enhance the flavours.
Notes
Use any preferred winter squash variety. However, I’d recommend either Hokkaido pumpkin or butternut squash.
Pair this curry with cooked grains like brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, teff, sorghum, or even spelt and whole wheat berries. Alternatively, go for whole grain or legume pastas. Even whole grain sourdough bread would make an excellent addition to this pumpkin curry.
Fee free to add more baby spinach, even twice as much.
For gluten-free version, serve with quinoa, teff, rice, buckwheat, millet, or sorghum (pastas made of those grains).
In case you’re looking for a grain-free meal, pair this curry with legume-based pasta. For example, pasta made of chickpeas, lentils, beans, or edamame beans.
Nutritional info includes 50 grams of whole spelt pasta per serving.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Method: Stovetop
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ of the recipe
- Calories: 420 kcal
- Sodium: 287.93mg
- Fat: 9.4g
- Saturated Fat: 5.1g
- Carbohydrates: 60g
- Fiber: 15.1g
- Protein: 17.4g
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