Vegan Pumpkin Korma Recipe

Vegan Pumpkin Korma Recipe

As we find ourselves firmly in autumn with the trees shedding their leaves and the weather turning cooler, I would like to share with all of you one of my autumn classics – a vegan pumpkin Korma.

This dish is high in protein, affordable to make, sweet, creamy, and aromatic. It also makes great use of some of the wonderful seasonal produce we have at this time of year, such as Hokkaido pumpkins.

It’s also totally VEGAN, which makes it a versatile choice for dinner parties or larger gatherings.

This recipe makes a large pan and so feel free to scale down the ingredients, it also freezes very well and is suitable for batch cooking.

You could serve it with any rice, but I like to serve it with chai spiced rice, the recipe for which I have also included below.


Ingredients:

1) ”Dry” Spices

Coriander Seed 2tbsp

Cumin seed 2tbsp

Chilli flake 1tsp

Garam masala 2tbsp

Fennel Seed 1tbsp

Cardamom Pods 2tbsp


2) Puree

White Onion 4 large white onions peeled and roughly chopped

Garlic 1 bulb peeled

Ginger 2cm piece peeled

Turmeric 1cm piece peeled

Fresh Red Chillies 2 small red-hot chillies


3) ”Wet” spices

Ground cinnamon 3 tbsp

Turmeric 2 tbsp

Sugar 4 tbsp (or you can use 100ml good quality honey)


4) Veggies

Diced Carrot (3 carrots I leave the skin on)

Diced Celery (1 head of celery)

Diced Leek (1 large leek)

Diced Red onion (2 large onions)

Diced Pumpkin ( I like to use Hokkaido) (1 medium-sized pumpkin, skin and seeds removed)

Diced Butternut (1 butternut skin and seeds removed)

Diced Sweet Potato (3 potatoes peeled)


5) Liquids

Hot Vegetable Bouillon 1.5L

Chopped Tomatoes 4 tins

Coconut Cream 2 tins


6) Finishing Touches

Poppyseeds 150g

Pumpkin seeds 150g

Flaked almonds 200g

Fresh chopped Coriander 1 large handful

Ground almonds 250g

Salt and pepper to taste


Chai Spiced Rice

3L Cold water

15 cracked green cardamom pods

1 large cinnamon stick

3 whole star anise

8 cloves

1 good pinch cracked black pepper

500g Black Venus rice or long grain brown/red rice


Method:

First, prepare all your ingredients. 

In a blender, puree the onion ginger and garlic with a splash of water till smooth. 

Weigh and mix the two spice blends. Chop the vegetables and open the tins.

Begin cooking by sweating the dry spices in a medium hot saucepan for a minute or so to release the oils. 

Then add the puree and cook out on medium for three minutes.

Then add the wet spice mix and cook out for a few minutes. You want the mixture to darken and thicken slightly.

Add the chopped tomatoes, turn to high, and cook out while stirring for five minutes to begin breaking down the tomatoes.

Add the hot bouillon and stir well to create the basis of your sauce.

Add the chopped vegetables and gently simmer the mixture for 45 minutes to cook through the vegetables until they start to soften, stirring occasionally.

Add the coconut cream and simmer for 20 more minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.

Add all the finishing touches, stir well, and check the seasoning. Serve and enjoy your pumpkin korma.


For the rice, add all spices to cold water and simmer for 20 minutes until the water has taken on a dark brown colour. Bring to a boil and add your rice. Cook until the rice is fluffy and soft. Drain well and season with salt before serving.

I like to garnish this dish with a drizzle of cold pressed pumpkin oil (It’s bright green and provides a wonderful contrast to the light orange of the curry) and some pumpkin seeds which have been lightly toasted in a dry pan.


You can use pretty much any vegetables diced in this dish, I enjoy chestnut mushrooms in it, or diced broccoli stalk, Romanesco florets work well, as do sliced broad beans, it’s adaptable and is good for using whatever the garden is providing. If you have a glut of courgettes don’t be afraid to dice three or four and add them at the vegetable stage.


As far as the spices go, the blends I have provided here create a sweet tasting aromatic korma style curry that allows the flavours of the pumpkin and butternut to shine. You could try using smoky dried chillies for more heat or adding a madras spice or even a Thai green curry paste. Find what flavours work for you!


Please let us know if you have tried this recipe and how it turned out for you, or any modifications or substitutions you made, and if you don’t fancy all the work why not pop into our restaurant at Trinity Farm and treat yourself to a nice dinner in our beautiful grounds or buy one of our “Sam-made” organic ready meals to take home.

Love and light and happy cooking