Thai pumpkin soup and Indian beef curry with cilantro yoghurt sauce

The week before last I had the pleasure of hosting my friend Roi for two dinners in a row.  The first night I prepared a squash Thai pumpkin soup that turned out rather differently than I had planned (in a good way).  The second night I made an Indian beef curry with rice and cilantro yoghurt sauce.  Each dish was delectable.

Normally when I make a pumpkin or squash soup, I purée it.  I roast the squash by itself in the oven to bring out or more intense squash flavour while I combine my aromatics and spices in a pot on the stove to make a broth to which I then add the roasted squash and then purée the whole thing.  This time, however, as I added the roasted pumpkin, it more or less dissolved into the soup to create the texture I was after without any need for a blender.  As a result, I was able to keep the other items in the pot in tact and thus add varying textures to my soup.

The decided to make a beef curry to sate my craving for meat.  It had been quite a while since I'd had an Indian dish with meat, and the slow cooking process generally employed to create Indian curries matched perfectly with my budget that permitted me to buy a tougher cheaper cut.  After the initial prep work, the curry required little attention.  Both meals are excellent for cold winter days.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:

For the Soup

1 Thai pumpkin, stem removed, seeded and cut in half

2 tbls of olive oil

2 tbls of duck fat

1 tlbs mustard seeds

1 tsp Szechwan peppercorns

1 stalk of lemon grass, bottom part only, well bruised

1 medium Spanish onion, sliced radially

2 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

3" of galangal, peeled and chopped

1 star anise

3 thai chillies, seeded and sliced thinly

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4" discs

1 450ml can of coconut milk (light variety not suitable)

1/2 cup of duck stock (or chicken stock)

For the curry

2 tbls ghee

1 tbls mustard seeds

2 tsp coriander seeds

1 spanish onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3" ginger, peeled and grated

1.2 kilos/2.5 lbs chuck, cut into cubes for stewing

1 generous tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbls jaggery (if unavailable, use brown sugar)

1 lb cherry tomatoes

5 thai bird chillies, seeded

3 curry leaves (if dried, then soak in water for 20 minutes for using)

S+P to taste

For the rice

1.5 cups basmati rice

1.5 tbls mustard oil (if unavailable, use any neutral oil)

2.25 cups boiling water

a pinch of salt

For the yoghurt sauce

250 ml greek yoghurt

125 ml water

1 bunch cilantro, washed

S+P to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 190C/375F.  Coat the exposed flesh of the pumpkin with olive oil, place face down in a baking dish or on a baking sheet lined with tin-foil.  Roast in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove and allow to cool enough to work with safely.

Heat the duck fat in a large pot over medium.  Add the mustard seeds and lemongrass, sauté for 3 minutes or until the mustard seeds pop.  Immediately add the onions and lower the heat to medium-low.  Sauté the onions for about 8 minutes, then add the garlic, chillies, star anise, galangal and carrots and sauté for another 5 minutes.  Add the duck stock and coconut milk and bring to a simmer.  Add 1 cup of water and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.  Scoop out the flesh of the pumpkin and add to the pot.  Mix well with a wooden spoon.  Add water as necessary until you've reached your desired consistency.  Add S+P and serve with bread.

Pre-heat the oven to 175C/350F.  Heat half the ghee in a Dutch oven over medium heat and add the mustard and coriander seeds.  When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the onions and lower to medium-low.  Sauté for ten minutes until perfectly golden, add the ginger and garlic and sauté for another 3 minutes.  Move all contents to one side of the pot piling them on top of each other so they take up as little surface area as possible.  Add the remaining ghee to the empty side of the pot and add your meat and brown well. Mix all contents well.  Combine the tomatoes and chillies in a high rimmed bowl and blend thoroughly with an immersion blender.  Add the remaining spices and the jaggery to the pot and sauté for one minute before adding the puréed tomatoes with chillies.  Add water so that liquid comes about 1" above the solid contents of the pot.  Place in the oven for 2.5 hours, remove two or three times to check the level of the liquid and if necessary add more to cover.

Combine all ingredients for the rice in a baking dish and cover with tinfoil.  Remove the curry and place the rice in the oven for 25 minutes.  Remove from the oven and return to the curry to heat up a little. In the meantime make your sauce.

Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a high rimmed bowl and purée with a hand blender (or use a conventional blender.  Plate and serve immediately.

B'Teavon!

Comments

[bt]

This looks really yummy. Maybe you can make it when I can have a taste.