Main Vegetarian

Delica Pumpkin with Makhani Sauce & Hazelnut Crumble

This delicious pumpkin curry recipe combines Indian flavours with British ingredients. Roasted pumpkin is paired with a delicious makhani sauce (used in butter chicken) of cream, tomatoes and aromatic spices; it's then topped with puffed rice and hazelnuts for a bit of crunch. A hearty autumnal curry recipe!

30 minutes prep, 1 hour cook

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the makhani sauce:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

4 green cardamom pods

2 black cardamom pods

4 cloves

2 fresh Indian bay leaves (tej patta)

4 tablespoons ginger & garlic paste

2 tablespoons red Kashmiri red chilli powder

2 green chillies, split down the middle

1 kg plum tomatoes, puréed

200ml double cream

250g unsalted butter

1 tbsp garam masala

A handful of dried fenugreek leaves

Caster sugar, to taste

Sea salt, to taste

6 tbsp mustard oil

For the pumpkin:

1 Delica pumpkin, about 18 cm in diameter

1 tsp vegetable oil, plus extra for frying

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

A generous pinch of sea salt

100g wild rice

200g paneer cheese, crumbled

A bunch of fresh coriander, to garnish

For the hazelnut crumble:

200g hazelnuts

50g sesame seeds

2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

1 tsp chaat masala

Method

Make the makhani sauce. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat, add the whole spices and allow them to infuse for 30 seconds or so before adding the ginger and garlic paste, chilli powder and green chillies. Cook for a couple of minutes then turn the heat down to medium-low, add the tomatoes, then cover and cook for about 30 minutes until the sauce has reduced by one-third and the oil has separated from the tomatoes. Remove the whole spices, then add the cream, butter, garam masala and fenugreek leaves. Season to taste with sugar and salt.

While the sauce is simmering, preheat the oven to 160ºC/ Fan 140ºC/ Gas 3.

Halve the pumpkin, scoop out the seeds, slice the flesh into wedges and trim the ends. Put the pumpkin slices in a roasting pan and coat with the spices. Roast in the oven for around 30 minutes. You want the pumpkin to be only just cooked, as it gets a further grilling before being served.

While it is roasting, make the puffed rice. Heat a little oil, to about 2 cm in depth, in a heavy-based saucepan until very hot. Add the wild rice and stir for a few minutes until it puffs up, then drain on kitchen paper.

To make the hazelnut crumble, toast the nuts and sesame seeds with the chilli powder for a few minutes until golden in a dry frying pan (skillet). Cool, then roughly pulse to a fine powder, in a food processor, with the chaat masala.

Heat up the makhani sauce and spoon into 4 plates or bowls.Grill (broil) the pumpkin for a few minutes on each side, until the slices get a little colour – this will add a smoky element to the dish.

To serve, arrange 2 wedges of pumpkin on top of the sauce, and top with the crumbled paneer, hazelnut crumble, puffed wild rice and garnish with coriander.