A Curry Affair

Winter, or pre-winter as I like to call it before the snow sets in, has arrived. We were at Dan's favorite big box home store a couple days after Halloween and bought 2 small pie pumpkins. My original plan was to make a pumpkin pie but I hadn't gotten around to that project yet. I’m still picking kale and collard greens and the pantry is full - so I decided it was time for an experiment. 

Since Dan was doing a work thing that evening I decided to use up some of the kale (it's not his favorite thing but he'll eat it if I cook it or add a little bit to a salad). It was a cold night so a curry sounded like just the ticket to warm me up. I tossed this together adding things that looked and sounded good as I went along. My original dish was going to be a simple red lentil curry until I realized I only had brown lentils - but I think of them as interchangeable - I know I know many of you don't. 

I started by microwaving one of the small pumpkins so that I could cut the top off and clean out the insides. After about 3 minutes I was able to cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and then put it in the oven to bake. 

While the pumpkin was baking I prepped the rest of the ingredients:

I cup dry lentils - cooked according to package directions (for those of you who give me a hard time about using canned beans - take note!) 

2 cups of chopped cooked pumpkin

1 medium onion chopped

A handful of kale - rolled and shredded

1 can of coconut milk

2 cans diced tomatoes with juice - I used fire roasted

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp garam masala

garlic - 3 - 4 cloves minced

ground ginger 

salt and pepper 

Saute the onion in 1 Tbsp olive oil until soft, add all spices and cook 1 minute until fragrant. Add coconut milk, tomatoes, cooked lentils, cooked pumpkin and shredded kale. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes. 

Enjoy!