GoodFor
Pumpkin & mung bean curry
Cook time: 40 minsPrep time: 15 minsServes: 4
Good Food, Good Company is our series of easy, delicious recipes from some of our favourite cooks. Food to cook, eat and share in good company. Kylee Newton - preserver, cook, writer and educator shares her recipe for Pumpkin & mung bean curry with quinoa.
“My mother has a habit of squirrelling ingredients, where I love to empty a bag or a jar – like finishing off the end of those mung beans. I first made this meal for my mother and her husband having this desire to ‘use things up’ in her cupboard. I wasn’t sure the vegan, gluten free meal would sit well for her husband, but when he went back for seconds, and thirds, I knew this was a recipe that anyone would enjoy.”
Ingredients
Ingredients:
200g mung beans, soaked in 500ml water, 8-12 hours
2 tsp vegetable broth powder, dissolved in 650ml boiling water
2 tsp whole coriander, smashed
1 tsp nigella seeds, optional
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
5 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
30-35g knob ginger, peeled, finely grated
700g pumpkin/butternut squash, peeled, cut into 2-3cm cubes
2 large makrut lime leaves, or 3 bay leaves
50ml lime juice
400ml coconut cream
150g spinach, or silver beet roughly chopped
to serve
100g quinoa, kiwi, red, black or mixed, cooked in 200ml water, 1 tsp broth powder
30-40g sliced almonds, toasted
Fresh coriander leaves
Method
Method:
Drain the soaked mung beans and heat the stock in a small pot on a low.
In a large, lidded saucepan, or Dutch oven pot, warm 3 tablespoons of oil over a low heat and add the cumin, turmeric, chilli, crushed coriander seeds and nigella seeds, fry for 5 minutes. Add the onion, the last tablespoon of oil and season generously with the salt and pepper, sauté for 4-5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and ginger and sauté a further 2 minutes.
Stir through the butternut/pumpkin cubes, add two ladles of warmed stock, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining stock and stir in the lime/bay leaves, lime juice, drained mung beans and coconut cream. Increase the heat to a steady simmer, cover with the lid then lower the heat to gently simmer and cook, stirring intermittently, for 10 minutes.
Stir through the spinach/silver beet and thicken for a further 12-15 minutes, uncovered, stirring only so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
While this reduces cook your quinoa. Rinse the quinoa, add to a lidded saucepan with the veggie stock and bring to the boil on a high heat. Lower the heat to a very gentle simmer, cover with the lid and cook for 10-12 minutes. When all the water has been absorbed, take off the heat and leave uncovered until you are ready to serve.
When ready to serve, fluff the quinoa with a fork and plate on the side of the curry with toasted flaked almonds and a few sprigs of fresh coriander.
Note You can make this dish without soaking the mung beans, but the cooking time will be longer. Soaking the beans makes them easier to digest. Batch up leftover curry into containers and freeze, just defrost and reheat.
