Vegetarian Pumpkin Curry – this Thai curry is made with chickpeas, black beans, coconut milk, garlic, olive, oil, tomatoes. Spiced with Thai red curry paste and honey. Served over quinoa. Meatless, vegetarian, gluten free, healthy dinner.
I am so excited to add this vegetarian pumpkin coconut curry full of Thai flavors to my regular rotation! Simple, flavorful, healthy, easy to make – this pumpkin curry is a wonderful weeknight meal that I can quickly and easily make right after I come home from work.
I can’t even begin to describe how good this Thai coconut curry is! When I made this pumpkin curry I was just curious to see if the Thai flavors worked well with the pumpkin. Well, here I am, making this curry for the second time, and, yes, the pumpkin-Thai combination works amazingly well!
This curry has a touch of coconut milk, red curry paste, a little bit of honey – all the basic ingredients you need to make a simple and flavorful Thai curry. Not only is it amazingly tasty, it is also vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, very low in fat and calories! And full of nutrients, thanks to pumpkin! I’d say it’s a pretty good recipe to have in your repertoire!
To make it even healthier, I am serving this vegetarian pumpkin curry over quinoa, which is gluten free and high in protein!
Cooking notes on types of red curry paste:
Keep in mind, that different brands of red curry paste have different levels of spiciness, so start with only 1 tablespoon of red curry paste to see if it’s too spicy for you. Then add 1 more if you like. Also, please note that this is a SAVORY recipe, and the honey here is used to balance the flavors and not to sweeten the curry. That’s why I add the honey only in the very end, after seasoning the curry with salt. That way you use honey to balance the flavors in the same way you use a touch of sugar to balance the acidity of tomatoes in a homemade tomato sauce. So, start only with 1 tablespoon of honey (after seasoning the curry with salt), and then add another one (or 2) if you like. Enjoy!
Vegetarian Pumpkin Curry - this Thai curry is made with chickpeas, black beans, coconut milk, garlic, olive, oil, tomatoes. Spiced with Thai red curry paste and honey. Served over quinoa. Meatless, vegetarian, gluten free, healthy dinner.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion , chopped
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 cup pumpkin puree , from the can or homemade
- 1 cup tomatoes , from the can
- 1 cup vegetable stock or water
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 15 oz black beans , from the can, rinsed and drained
- 7.5 oz garbanzo beans , from the can, rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste (use less or more of the paste, depending on how spicy it is, and then add more, to taste)
- 3 tablespoons honey or, use agave nectar or maple syrup for vegan version
- salt and pepper
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
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In a large pot or skillet, cook chopped onion and minced garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes on medium heat until soft.
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Add pumpkin, canned tomatoes (chop them up into smaller chunks), vegetable stock (or water), coconut milk, black beans, and garbanzo beans (both beans should be rinsed and drained). Add 1 tablespoon of red curry paste, stir everything well, and season with salt and pepper. Taste your curry, season with more salt if needed. Add another tablespoon of red curry paste, if desired. (Note: various brands of red curry paste have different degrees of spiciness. Be careful not to add too much of red curry paste if it is of a spicier variety).
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I find it important that you start adding honey only after you’ve seasoned the curry with salt, because we’re using honey here not to really sweeten the curry but to balance the flavors. Add 1 tablespoon of honey (after seasoning with salt), taste your curry. Add another tablespoon (or 2) of honey if it suits your taste.
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Bring to boil, make sure to stir all ingredients well together to combine flavors and spices. Reduce to simmer and cook for 15 minutes on very low simmer.
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Serve with quinoa, garnished with chopped green onion.
Looks lovely – but an important note. The inclusion of honey means the recipe is not vegan. 🙂
this recipe was delicious!! I ended up adding ground red pepper to give it more of a kick. The curry paste I got wasn’t doing it! We served it over wheat berries. Thanks for sharing!
This is NOT vegetarian if it has shrimp paste in it ( in the sauce.) You may rethink changing the title. I am deathly allergic to shellfish and was searching for Thai recipes that are safe for me. If I wasn’t careful trusting this title could have gotten me into real trouble. Shrimp in any amount isn’t vegetarian 🙂
I continue to make this curry over and over again. I love everything in it and I’ve added spinach and kale just to add green. delicious and very healthy!!!
This looks great! I want to make it for Christmas Eve dinner but my mom is allergic to coconut milk and she and my dad are on a very low fat diet anyways. Do you think another dairy free milk could be used without changing the dish too much? Soy, almond, quinoa….? Thanks!!
This was really good! I doubled it b/c I didn’t want to be left with half a can of pumpkin and half a can of garbanzos and at first I thought that was a mistake. But once the flavors had a chance to meld it was delicious. I didn’t serve it over anything, just on its own, kind of like a Thai chili. Yum!
Can you use unsweetened almond-coconut milk or do I need real coconut milk?
I think you can use almond coconut milk just fine, even if it’s thinner than real coconut milk. If curry is too thin, then just add a little extra pumpkin puree.