Curry is a comfort food for me. Every time the weather begins to take a turn for winter and the holiday season between Halloween and New Years begins, I start to crave curry! There's something about a chill in the air, maybe a bit of snow falling, and curling up with a nice, big bowl of hot and spicy curry. It truly is my favorite time of the year! And I want nothing more than to kick it off this year with roasted cranberry and pumpkin curry with habaneros and fried tofu.
This pumpkin curry recipe came about when I was perusing the produce isle of my local grocery store. You know that fall is in the air when cranberries begin to make an appearance. Every year I buy cranberries and always mean to make something epic with them. Usually this goes out without too much fanfare. More wishful thinking than actual follow through, really... But I am absolutely determined this year to make the most of it!
Cranberries are incredibly bitter fresh. You can eat them raw and sometimes they're puréed into a relish to highlight this flavor. But most of the time cranberries are covered in sugar and boiled until a sweet sauce begins to gelatinize out of them. I'm not particularly fond of this rendition!
I decided to toss in some naturally sweet flavors, instead. And voila! Cranberries and pumpkin roasted with nutmeg, cayenne pepper, and ginger. Mix in a little bit of habaneros, shallots, garlic, ginger, turmeric, coconut, and tofu? This delicious roasted pumpkin and cranberry curry really hit the spot for my wintry craving.
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Variations of Pumpkin Curry
Curry is one of my absolutely favorite comfort foods. If there's ever a need for a nice, warm, hearty dish, I am all over curry! There are also plenty of things to make with curry, from alongside eggs to in burritos.
This pumpkin curry consists of nutmeg, cayenne, and ginger roasted cranberries and pumpkin. With a dash of habaneros, coconut, and fried tofu? There's nothing more delicious! Curry is one of my favorite comfort foods. The sweet and spiciness of the cranberries and pumpkin is perfect for fall, but feel free to substitute any seasonal produce of choice.
Cut pumpkin in half and peel the skin. I use a potato peeler, but you can easily use a paring knife or your usual peeling technique.You will only need half a pie pumpkin for this recipe. You can go ahead and roast all of it if you like, but make sure to halve it before adding to the curry!If you're only using half of the squash, it doesn't matter whether you cut it lengthwise or widthwise. You will need the seeds, though, so make sure to use the bottom half with the seeds! After cutting and peeling, you will need to cut in half again to get at the seeds.
Using a spoon, scoop out the innards to remove all of the seeds and stringy pieces. Reserve the seeds if you want to roast them for a fun snack.The "guts" are still edible, but can be texturally unpleasant. I will usually keep them to puree into soup or pet food. However, most people will discard them! Just make sure not to toss any seeds!
Once you've cut, peeled, and removed the innards from the pumpkin, cut into 1/2 inch cubes.I usually do this by cutting 1/2 inch strips into the squash and then cutting each of those into squares. However you achieve 1/2 inch cubes, though, is just fine!
Place the pumpkin cubes and cranberries evenly across a baking sheet and gently coat with an even amount of olive oil, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, ginger, salt, and pepper. Make sure to turn the squash cubes in order to coat all sides.I don't necessarily measure when I do this. I more just shake out of the container until each spice is evenly dispersed. If I had to guess, I'd say that I use about 1/4 teaspoon of each. You're not basting here, you're just adding a subtle flavor to the pumpkin! Just make sure that you don't overdo it in one area. If you're worried about it, you can always measure out 1/4 teaspoon of each spice, mix in a small bowl, and then dust on top.
Roast pumpkin at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Make sure to stir or flip the pumpkin cubes halfway through to get an even cook on all sides.
Simmer Peppers and Spices
Mince the habaneros, shallots, and garlic. Add to a large pot.The hot peppers are entirely optional. Add or subtract to your own taste!
Add coconut milk, water, ginger, and turmeric.
Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. On my stove, this is about a 2-4 setting. Although different ovens will vary in what a simmer looks like.You may need to bring it to a boil and reduce to a simmer on a couple of different settings to actually achieve simmering. Just keep at it until there are bubbles forming, but you don’t have a rolling boil.
Simmer for at least 2 hours. You want the liquid to reduce in half. If it’s reducing too quickly, add water and turn down the temperature. If it isn’t reducing fast enough, bring to a boil again and reduce to a slightly higher temperature.The longer that you cook, the more the flavors will permeate the ingredients, so simmering at a lower temperature for longer is always an option. I’ll sometimes lower the temperature to a very light simmer and pretty much leave it be for 6-8 hours.You never want to leave a pot on the stove unattended, but this is the kind of dish that you can kind of set up and let do its thing. You may need to turn the temperature down periodically to adjust for too rapid a simmer to keep it from boiling as the liquid evaporates. But, other than that, this is a pretty hands off dish!
Lightly Fry the Tofu
After the curry has reduced about in half, you're going to want to add the tofu so that it can absorb the flavors. You can either put them in as is to reduce the oil in the curry or crisp the edges to help the tofu keep its shape. For this recipe, I lightly fried the tofu.
While the peppers and spices are simmering, drain the water out of the tofu and cut into cubes.
Wrap in paper towels to absorb the moisture.It's important to absorb as much water out of the tofu as you can. Oil is less dense than water, so the molecules repel one another. With cold ingredients, this causes separation. When you're frying at high temperatures, though, this can cause boiling hot oil to spray back at you.
Meanwhile, preheat 2 tablespoons of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.
When the skillet has preheated and the majority of the water has absorbed into the paper towels, carefully add the tofu to the skillet. Fry until golden brown. This should take about 2-4 minutes. Rotate until all sides are evenly fried.
Remove from heat and wrap again in paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
Add the tofu to the curry and simmer for another 2 hours.
Add Pumpkin and Cranberries
After simmering the curry for at least 4 hours and the curry is just about simmered down, add the pumpkin and cranberries.
Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve either immediately or the next day.Curry will continue to the absorb the spices the more time passes. It’s one of those dishes that I like to make ahead of time because it often tastes better after the flavors have had time to set overnight.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
To make the curry spicier, put more hot peppers when you cook the squash and lentils. Peppers added in the beginning stage will have a slower, more robust flavor that permeates through the dish. Peppers added towards the end of the cooking process will have more of a kick in the teeth, mouth burn.
If you’re using coconut cream, instead of coconut milk, roughly cut the amount of cream in half and double the water. The main difference between coconut milk and coconut cream is that coconut milk is watered down, while coconut cream is thicker. Depending on the brand, it might be a solid chunk, like butter, and you’ll need more water. For other brands, it might be a liquid, and you’ll need less water.
The general rule of thumb is that you want to slow cook the curry for at least 4 hours and cook out about half of the liquid. So, really just add enough coconut to taste and add enough water to cook down. If you’re unsure of how much to add, you can always add less water and keep adding as needed.
This is a particularly oily curry and you will likely get some oil on top. I like to remove some of this by adding an ice cube or a frozen metal ladle to draw out the oil. Then, you just spoon it out until you have removed enough oil. Alternatively, if you refrigerate the curry, the oil will rise to the surface. This will create a semi-solid chunk on top and you can spoon it out. If there’s a lot of oil and it has solidified enough, you can sometimes just pick up the layer with your fingers and remove it this way.
For a more in-depth article on preparing tofu, check out my article on The Fundamentals of Fried Tofu. High heat oil and a precise cooking temperature are important to keep the tofu from drying out or burning.
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