Only recently have I been taught by a lovely Thai friend how to make pumpkin curry. I’ve even simplified it further by employing a slow-cooker. I’ve also reduced the amount of oil and sugar my friend uses at her restaurant. We just love the results and the hardest part of making it is prepping the pumpkin!

The “trick” I learned from my friend is the cooking of the curry paste in oil for a while. This is the magic of Thai curry paste, which having made Indian food a few times, what with the cooking of spices in oil, I get.

Prep the Curry Paste

In a sturdy pot (I use a cast iron wok) heat up 1/2 cup of oil and add a 14 oz tub of red curry paste (I like Arroy-D, which is reliably vegan)*. Reduce heat to low and cook until curry is highly fragrant. Put into larger jar, cool, put in fridge to use as needed. That’s it, that is the magic.

The Stuff

• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1 can of water (use warm water, helps to rinse coconut milk out of can)
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup of red curry paste, prepared per the above note
• 1 2-3 pound kabocha squash, peeled and in bite-size chunks
• 1 package of water-pack, extra-firm tofu (12-14oz), cut into 1″ cubes
• 1 pound of green beans, stringed and snapped into bite-sized pieces (or 2 crowns of broccoli)

The Making

Into a slow-cooker set on high add the green beans, coconut milk, water, curry paste, and pumpkin.

Cook for a 2 hours and add tofu*. Cook another 45 minutes. *If you’re using broccoli instead of or in addition to green beans, add it now)

Enjoy with rice noodles, rice, or with a spoon.

*A note about oil:curry paste ratio. The 1/2 cup to 14 ounces of curry paste works out to around 2 teaspoons per ounce of curry. The smallest jar you can purchase is 4 ounces, which would be just a little more than 2.5 Tablespoons needed to cook it. Since it keeps for a while in the fridge once prepared, I always just use a 14 ounce tub of curry paste and use it as needed.

My first foray into the pumpkin korma yielded something more akin to an aloo gobi. Very tasty, but not a korma. After revisiting the recipe again, and adding more So Delicious Plain Greek-Style Coconut Yogurt is what finally made this recipe exactly what I wanted it to be: a satisfying, rich, warming korma!

Despite the rich taste of this dish, a cup serving has only 1 gram of saturated fat, is high in fiber, loaded in vitamins, and is gluten-free too! Enjoy it as an appetizer, a compliment a homemade, Indian feast, or a fabulous, creative addition to your Thanksgiving celebration!

Since this was a dish I envisioned the first time I got to try out some of the the Greek-Style yogurt from So Delicious, I’m delighted that it was selected for the second week of the So Delicious® Dairy Free “SO Much to Love” recipe contest happening on Facebook!

The Stuff

• 6 cups diced pumpkin
• 1/2 medium head of cauliflower, cut into bite-size pieces
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium zucchini, 1″ dice
• 1 large yellow bell pepper, 1″ dice
• 1″ of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 15oz canned, diced tomatoes
• 1 large onion, diced small
• 2 8oz containers of So Delicious, Greek-style, plain coconut yogurt
• 1/2 t whole cumin seed
• 1 T ground turmeric
• 6 whole cardamom pods
• 1 c water
• High heat spray canola oil

The Making

Heat a 6 qt sauce pan to medium heat. Lightly spray the bottom of the pot and add the cumin seeds. Toast seeds for 30-60 seconds, until they are browned and fragrant.

Add onion and saute 5 minutes, add minced ginger and garlic. Sprinkle ground turmeric over all ingredients, add in cardamom pods and mix in. Continue to saute, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 more minutes. Onions should be beginning to brown and caramelize. Add diced pumpkin, reduce heat to medium-low, and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cauliflower and stir in.

Combine yogurt and tomatoes in blender. Process until smooth and creamy. Add mixture to pot. Rinse blender container out with the 1 cup of water, and pour into the pot. Mix everything together well.

Cover pot with lid. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 25-40 minutes, until pumpkin is tender.

Serve by itself, with rice, or along with some dahl. Just watch out for those cardamom pods, they’re quite shocking to get whole.

Makes 8-9 1-cup servings, depending upon the size of your head of cauliflower.

Nutrition Details

Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 85
Total Fat: 1g
Saturated fat: 1g
Sodium: 49 mg
Carbohydrates: 17g
Dietary Fiber: 4g
Sugars: 5g
Protein: 3g

This is something of a recipe in progress. That said, it is a very tasty and a lovely autumn dish. There will be future variations yet to come!

There will be at least one more variation of this dish as I’m not quite yet satisfied with the creaminess of it. It may just be that I want more coconut yogurt in it, but I’m also thinking I want about half the tomatoes. Right now it reminds me more of a variation on aloo gobi than the creamy korma I’m after.

Be sure to check out the new thing at the bottom… I’ve decided to start using data from NutritionData.com with recipes.

The Stuff

• 3 cups diced pumpkin
• 1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced
• 1″ of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 15oz canned, diced tomatoes
• 1 large onion, diced small
• 8oz container of So Delicious, Greek-style, plain coconut yogurt
• 1/2 t whole cumin seed
• 1 t ground turmeric
• 6 whole cardamom pods
• 1 c water
• High heat spray canola oil

The Making

Heat a 5qt. cast iron pot to medium heat, or use a 6 qt sauce pan, with lid.

Lightly spray the bottom of the pot and add the cumin seeds. Toast seeds for 30-60 seconds, until they are browned and fragrant.

Add onion and saute 5 minutes, add minced ginger and garlic. Sprinkle ground turmeric over all ingredients, add in cardamom pods and mix in. Continue to saute, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 more minutes. Onions should be beginning to brown and caramleize. Add diced pumpkin, reduce heat to medium-low, and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cauliflower and stir in.

Combine yogurt and tomatoes in blender. Process until smooth and creamy. Add mixture to pot. Rinse blender container out with the 1 cup of water, and pour into the pot. Mix everything together well.

Cover pot with lid. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 25-40 minutes, until pumpkin is tender.

Serve by itself, with rice, or along with some dahl (I’m also working on a Rajma Masala dish right now). Just watch out for those cardamom pods, they’re quite shocking to get whole.

Makes 8 1/2 cup servings.

Nutrition Details

Serving Size: 1/2 cup
Calories: 66
Total Fat: 1g
Saturated fat: 1g
Sodium: 46 mg
Carbohydrates: 13g
Dietary Fiber: 4g
Sugars: 5g
Protein: 3g

In the latest installment of “follow the squash”, I took the overly sweet gratin I made Tuesday night and turned it into a pretty awesome chowder tonight. There won’t be a recipe for this since it goes from some roasted squash we weren’t too fond of to fantastic squash & cashew sauce to a squash & potato gratin we thought we too sweet.

I sauteed some cumin seeds in a little canola oil before adding a medium onion, diced, and 4 cloves of garlic, minced roughly. Once the onions started to brown I added 2 cups of water and a quart of rice milk. Into this I put the leftover gratin and the kernels off of 4 small ears of fresh corn. Brought this up to heat and simmered for a little while until the gratin really started to break down. Then it was time for the immersion blender!

The pureed soup went back on low heat and I added in 3 cups of cooked black beans and the kernels off of two more ears of fresh corn. Into the soup went some dried marjoram and oregano, garlic pepper, powdered cumin, sweet paprika, sweet smoked paprika, chili powder, a pinch of cinnamon, about 1/3 cup of nutritional yeast, and a little salt. Simmered for a while to let the flavors come together.

It was really pretty tasty! I think I’d love to add a swirl of cashew creme and some chopped cilantro. Maybe even some diced avocado and toasted corn tortilla strips too. The cumin and dried chilies really mellowed out the sweetness of the squash. The corn did add more sweetness, but it had such a brighter note than the squash that it didn’t make it too sweet. I was glad I reserved two ears of corn in order to have some whole kernels in there. In the future I think I might add all the corn whole rather than blend 2/3 of it.

I finally tried out my idea for a gratin! The sauce I experimented with last week using winter squash & raw cashews as a base turned out great and I ended up with quite a lot of it leftover. My mind immediately turned to the scalloped potatoes that I had as a kid.

Only better. And vegan!

I had 2 pints of the leftover sauce to work with. I used up two large Russet potatoes and half of a medium-sized kabocha squash (leftover from making Tom Yum soup this weekend). The thinly sliced potatoes and squash were mixed together in a bowl, by hand, with the sauce. I then put it gently into a 9 x 12 Pyrex baking dish that I’d sprayed with Canola oil. Baked at 375 for an hour with foil over the top. Removed the foil, put it under low broil for a few minutes to get a golden crust. Served with some balsamic glazed tempeh strips (those were fab, of course).

Yeah, it looks pretty fabulous

And…. well, actually, it was a little disappointing. We both found it a little on the sweet side. The kobucha squash is pretty sweet and when combined with the mild sweetness of the sauce it was too much. Maybe with a less sweet squash? Not sure, but I am going to roast up the acorn squash we have on hand and try making this again with just potatoes (the option seconded by Christie).

The leftover gratin? It is totally edible, but it is just not what I was going for. That said, I think the leftovers will become the base of a corn & black bean chowder.

Tonight’s experiment gave me another opportunity to play around with the Benriner Cook Help Spiral Vegatable Slicer we were given as a wedding gift. Tool verdict: still the most amazing thing ever for spiral cut, raw zucchini noodles and it worked great slicing super thin potatoes. However, the odd-shaped squash was a bit of a challenge. I think for this particular application I’d use the food processor slicing blade to get my thin pieces of squash and potato again.

I love Thai food. The soups, the curries, the stir-fries, the salad rolls, the big fat rice noodles… You get the idea.

I’ve played around with a few favorite dishes at home, including making curry paste from scratch. In addition to some online resources, I’ve had good luck with the cookbook Real Vegetarian Thai for inspiration and guidance on how to achieve a more authentic flavor when cooking at home.

One dish that I make fairly regularly is tom yum soup. Tom kha is more common, particularly if you’re eating out at a Thai restaurant. The big difference between them is the use of coconut milk; tom kha uses quite a lot of it. Although I enjoy some rich coconut milk dishes once in a while, the tom yum is nice to have more often as it is far lighter and lower in calories. This also means you can easily make tom kha soup by using this recipe, reducing the stock by 2 cups, and adding one can of coconut milk.

The real key I’ve found is using the right, fresh ingredients: lemongrass, galangal, ginger, Kefir lime leaves, lime juice, fresh coriander (cilantro), and Siam Queen Basil. These flavors are indispensable in most Southeast Asian dishes, and particularly so in Thai dishes. Seek out an Asian market for these or check to see if your market might carry them. I must admit that we’re lucky enough to live near a Southeast Asian market and a very well stocked “regular” market that both carry these items.

The Stuff

• 5 stalks fresh lemongrass
• 1 oz. Kefir lime leaves (or the juice of 2 additional limes)
• 2 limes
• 6 oz fresh galangal
• 4″ piece of ginger
• 8 cups vegetable stock (or the equivalent made with bullion)
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 small kobucha squash (or other sweet winter squash)
• 2 crowns broccoli
• 1 fresh bamboo shoot (or 4 oz. canned; be sure to drain and rinse first)
• 8 oz tofu (I like to use fried tofu for this dish, sometimes a lemongrass & chili tofu made locally)
• fresh cilantro
• fresh Siam Queen basil
• Rice udon-style noodles (optional)
• salt and ground pepper (preferably white) – to taste

The Making

Pour stock into pot, bring to heat and then reduce to simmer. Chop up the galangal and ginger roughly, about .5″ pieces. Remove woody tops, the bottom, and one outer layer of the lemongrass before chopping into 3″ pieces. Then use flat side of knife to smash open the lemongrass – this is a very important step! Tear up an ounce or so of Kefir lime leaves to release oils. Put galangal, ginger, lemongrass, and lime leaves into the pot with the stock, the juice of one lime, and the halves of the juiced lime. Simmer on lowest heat for at least one hour. Note: This Thai-style stock can be made in large batches and frozen.

While stock is simmering peel and remove seeds from small kobucha squash. Chop into 1″ pieces and set aside. Remove stem from broccoli crowns and reserve for a later dish. Separate crowns into small pieces and set aside. Cut up tofu into 1″ pieces, bite-sized and set aside. Slice bamboo shoot into 1″ pieces, if using fresh and set aside.

After the stock has simmered with the aromatics for at least an hour remove from heat and strain out all the aromatics; discard these or compost them. Return stock to pot, add juice of second lime (and additional limes if you didn’t use the lime leaves), rice vinegar, and squash. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until squash begins to get tender. Add broccoli, bamboo shoot and tofu. Simmer for an addition 5-10 minutes, until broccoli is slightly tender. Add salt and ground white pepper – to taste.

Serve with fresh coriander and Siam Queen basil as garnishes to be added into soup right before eating. This soup is very mild and I often add a little Sriracha chili sauce to my serving.

Although it isn’t as traditional, I like to serve this over rice udon-style noodles for a more hearty dish for dinner.

Serves 4-6

For some time now I’ve really love the pureed squash sauce used by Hot Lips Pizza on some of their pies. I’ve also seen mention the use of squash as the base for a rich sauce. I’d occasionally blended squash into stews to add flavor as well as thicken things a bit and we liked that a lot, but I’d yet to try making a sauce.

Last week we’d received a small Butternut squash in our box from Organics to You. I’d roasted it, but we found it kind of bland and didn’t eat much. I’d put the leftover squash into the fridge and figured I’d throw it in a soup or something. Since it is VeganMoFo I was feeling pretty inspired to try out some new things.

I put some waxy potatoes into the over in a cast iron skillet. I sauteed some shallot with tempeh and broccoli. While all that was cooking I blended the squash into an awesome sauce that required no starches to thicken to a smooth, creamy consistency.  I’ll have to play around with this again to get the exact measurements down, but here’s a rough outline.

In a blender add 1/3 raw cashews and just cover with boiling water. Let cashews soak at least 10 minutes before adding 2-3 cups roasted squash; begin processing. Slowly add in about 2 cups of rice milk. While processing add 2/3 cup fine flake nutritional yeast, slowly. You may need to add some of the nutritional yeast and then add a little more of the rice milk (our blender is a little under powered). While still processing add in sweet, smoked paprika, dry mustard, granulated garlic, freshly ground pepper and some prepared, whole grain mustard. When thoroughly blended transfer sauce into a saucepan bring slowly up to heat.

This makes enough that we had some drizzled over the roasted potatoes, grilled tempeh & broccoli and we have a generous amount leftover that I’m going to make into scalloped potatoes this weekend. It is rich, creamy sauce, faintly sweet and I can’t wait to use it in more dishes!

I came up with this casserole quite a while ago. It started as a reconstruction of a recipe Christie had made once for us, but has progressed to a new and even tastier dish.

I called this dish “Three Sisters Talking Story” for two reasons. The use of “Three Sisters” pays homage to the ingredients that were once the staple of the Native American diet. Many groups doing outreach to Native communities are working to bring attention to the health benefits of the traditional diet. The Three Sisters refer to the corn, beans and squash that are the stars of this hearty casserole. “Talking Story” is a term we heard often while visiting Hawaii, it refers to a close conversation where each participant shares deeply from the heart and tells their story. In this dish the 3 ingredients all share the credit in this dish, each shining through.

The Stuff

• 3-4lb winter squash (pick something with more flavor than an acorn squash for this: butternut, delicata, carnival, dumpling, hubbard, etc.)
• 2 cups cooked pinto beans (1 15oz can is fine, just drain and rinse well)
• 2 cups fresh tomatoes, diced (a 15oz can will work, Muir Glen’s fire roasted would be perfect)
• 1/2 cup diced Anaheim chilies (or a 4oz can, I like Hatch)
• 1 small yellow or sweet onion, diced small
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup polenta
• 4 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup + 2 T fine nutritional yeast powder
• 1 t sweet, smoked paprika
• 1 t cumin seeds
• 1/2 t ground cumin
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

All of the steps for making this are split into separate steps that can be done concurrently. Each of the different steps will be combined at the end in layers.

Making: Roasted Squash

Pre-heat oven to 350. Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. Lightly spray the bottom of a roasting pan with oil. Place squash in roasting pan, cut side down. Roast in oven until soft. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Roasting time will vary greatly depending upon the size of the squash you used. Delicata are very small and can be done within 15-20 minutes. A Hubbard is so large and dense that it should be cut into quarters, at least, and will take closer to 30-40 minutes to roast through.

Leave oven on, it will be used to bake full casserole.

Making: Cumin Polenta

Spray a little oil into the bottom the pressure cooker on medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds to heated pot and saute until the seeds are fragrant, darken and begin to pop & sizzle. Less than 5 minutes.

Add the water carefully and bring to boil. Add polenta and 1/2 t of smoked paprika while stirring. Put lid onto pressure cooker, bring to high pressure, reduce heat, and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Remove pressure cooker and let sit for 10 minutes. Release any pressure if cooker has not unlocked and open. Stir in 1/3 cup of fine nutritional yeast and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.

**If you are not using a pressure cooker you can cook this on the stove top. Just bring the polenta back to a boil, stirring often, once it is fully boiling again reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring fairly often.

Making: Stewed Pintos & Tomatoes

Spray a little oil into a sauce pan on medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until just translucent (about 5 minutes), add garlic. Continue to saute until the onions and garlic begin to caramelize (about 5 minutes more). Add fresh chilies and saute until they soften (about 3 minutes). If you are using canned chilies they can be added along with the tomatoes (fresh or canned), cooked pinto beans. Stir in 2 T nutritional yeast, 1/2 t smoked paprika, 1/2 t of ground cumin. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the fresh tomatoes have softened, or at least 20 minutes.

Making: The Casserole “Three Sisters Talking Story”

In a dutch oven or a 9×12 baking dish spray a little oil. Scoop roasted squash out of skin and put into the bottom of the baking dish. Press down with spoon or spatula to get a even, 1-2″ layer of squash. Pour stewed beans & tomatoes over the layer of squash and smooth out evenly. Top with the polenta, making as even a layer as possible.

Put casserole into the hot oven (350). Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and lightly spray the top of the polenta with oil. Return to oven and reset to low broil. Broil on low for 5 minutes or until the polenta is lightly browned and golden.

Remove from oven and let stand for at least 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with avocado slices if you want.

Makes 8 very hearty servings

Hotpot stews, like gomamiso-yosenabe, are a type of winter dish popular in Japan. I’d had one of Napa cabbage, glass noodles and dumplings when I ate at Cha Ya in San Francisco in 2008 and loved it. With the bounty of this year’s winter squash harvest (thanks to Christie’s insistence on growing it) I wanted to go a different direction with the squash stews I’d been making and thought it would be fun & tasty to use red miso and sesame to make a rich, Japanese inspired hearty dish.

The Stuff

• 2 Tablespoons canola or olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 4 carrots, cut into thick rounds
• 2 large stalks celery, diced
• 4 cups winter squash cut into 1-2″ cubes
• 1 28oz can Muir Glen fire-roasted, diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup red miso
• 1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds (white is fine, black is more dramatic)
• 4 cups cooked Aduki beans
• 1 medium head Savoy-style cabbage chopped into large pieces
• 2 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 2 Tablespoons brown rice vinegar
• 8 cups water or broth

The Making

Saute onions on medium-high heat in a large metal pot with canola oil until the onions begin to go translucent (about 5 minutes), then add garlic. Continue to saute the garlic and onions until they begin to brown (about 5 more minutes) then add in carrots, celery and winter squash. Saute all veggies together for 5 minutes, add sesame seeds, and 8 cups of water or broth. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer together until squash is tender (20 – 40 minutes depending upon type of squash used).

Once the winter squash is tender add into the pot, remove a cup or two of the broth and mix with miso, then pour in and stir. Add the cooked Aduki beans, chopped cabbage, the Muir Glen diced tomatoes, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Cover pot and simmer for 15 additional minutes to allow beans to absorb flavor and for cabbage to cook completely.

Serve stew with a steamed grain (brown rice or barley) or some crusty, whole-grain bread.

**I make this with great success in the pressure cooker. Instead of reducing heat to simmer, put lid on and bring up to pressure, then reduce heat & set timer. Using Delicata squash it takes 7 minutes. Hubbard squash take more like 9 minutes on full pressure. After that step I add the pressure cooked veggies into another pot containing the cabbage, beans and sesame oil. The intense heat of the pressure cooked veggies pretty much cooks the cabbage immediately.

This is truly a “Nothing but food porn” kind of post. Immediately after the post that I’d be making all kinds of updates for Vegan MoFo 2009 I was diagnosed with an apparently months old sinus infection. Many days of antibiotics later I’m feeling a lot better and am having the energy to work on projects, writing, etc.

Did I happen to mention that Christie decided we should grow winter squash this year? The result is pounds and pounds of the stuff keeping cool down in the basement. I’ve not yet started on creative ways to cook the spaghetti squash, but I’ve been doing the Delicata and Hubbard styles a couple of different and successful ways.

First of all, a very homey, Japanese inspired stew of Hubbard squash, tomatoes, garlic, onions, Aduki beans, cooked with red miso and black sesame seeds (honestly because they look more dramatic with the squash). Everything but the beans go into the pressure cooker and 8 minutes on high-pressure later you have piping hot stew. Add the pre-cooked beans, some Nappa cabbage, and a good teaspoon or so of toasted sesame oil. Simmer until the cabbage has softened and serve with brown rice, bread, whatever. There’s very nearly a recipe for this one done since Christie’s mom got out her notebook and grilled me on what I’d done when the family was up here earlier this month.

The other winter squash winner has been a complete re-do of a recipe we tried last year. We had liked the casserole of squash, pinto beans and polenta but found it kind of uninspired. Great base ingredients, but lacking in a lot of places. The big thing we thought wasn’t right was the polenta being at the bottom of the casserole where it never really firms up right.

This afternoon I slow roasted 3 of the Delicata from the basement stash and let them cool. I also put on a pot of diced, unsalted tomatoes and pre-cooked pinto beans. We had chili recently, so I threw a little in as well as adding sweet, smoked paprika, chili powder and cumin powder. I let all the juice cook out of the beans until it was just the chunks of tomatoes & beans coated in the reduction of the juice.

In checking around for cooking times, ratios, etc. for the polenta I discovered it is another thing that can be made in the pressure cooker. Fried about a 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds (’cause that’s all that’s left in the house – yikes) in 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Added 3 large cloves of garlic, diced and two hot, dried chili pods (seeded). Then the polenta, water, sweet, smoked paprika, chili powder and cumin powder. 5 minutes on high-pressure then let sit to come down and release the lock (about 10 minutes). Perfect polenta!

The dish came together with the mashed squash in the bottom of a 9×12 baking dish, coated with spray oil (like soup/stew I can’t seem to make smaller quantities of casseroles). A generous sprinkle of nutritional yeast, add the bean/tomato mix, and top the whole thing with the polenta. Into a 350 oven for 30 minutes. Broil on high until the top is golden with a few toasty bits. Cool a bit and enjoy. Total redo of the recipe that we tried last year, absolutely what we wished it had been!

Real recipes for both dishes coming soon as well as my experiments with the spaghetti squash! We’ve also been experimenting with au gratin/scalloped potatoes and are on track with mucho yumminess in time for Thanksgiving!