Sri Lankan Pumpkin Curry
Sri Lankans are really good at making amazing curries with pumpkin, and this creamy vegan Sri Lankan pumpkin curry is one of my family's favorites. I love this curry because it's basically a one-pot, dump-and-cook curry with no added oil. It's very easy to make, but the flavors are phenomenal!
Pumpkin is a widely available, affordable vegetable in Sri Lanka. So my mom made pumpkin dishes quite often. She has various kinds of pumpkin curry recipes. My favorite is the one with grounded roasted coconut, known as "Wattakka Kalu Pol Curry" which translates to pumpkin curry with blackened coconut. There is another spicier pumpkin curry with dried chilies. She has a lot of ways to make pumpkins. But I think she made this curry more often than the rest, given that this doesn't have any oil added and is quicker than other recipes.
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Best Pumpkins for Pumpkin Curry
Avoid carving pumpkins as they are very stringy in texture and bland in taste. I like the pumpkins that are sweeter and nutty in taste and the flesh is meatier. These make the best-tasting pumpkin curries. You can usually find good-tasting pumpkins in Asian (Thai, Vietnamese, etc) grocery stores as well as in Indian grocery stores.
Or look for varieties such as kabocha, Potimarron, or Fairy tale pumpkins. These are sweet and meaty and work really well for cooking. You can also use acorn squash or butternut squash but they are not as sweet or meaty as the pumpkin varieties I mentioned.
Find ingredients I use here:
- Fenugreek seeds
- Fresh curry leaves
- Dried pandan leaves. I use fresh pandan leaves. You can find them in Asian stores. But if fresh ones aren't available, dries pandan leaves work too.
- Coconut milk
- Ceylon cinnamon
- Sri Lankan unroasted curry powder
- Turmeric powder
- Black mustard seeds
- Black pepper
Serving Sri Lankan Pumpkin Curry
In Sri Lanka, we almost always serve pumpkin curry with Rice and other curries and stir-fries. Here are few of my favorite Sri Lankan menus.
- Pumpkin Curry + Canned mackerel curry + Gatokula sambol and White Rice
- Coconut sambol + Pumpkin curry + Dry Fish Curry or Dry Fish Stir-fry with Rice
- For a special guest menu : Yellow Rice + Pumpkin Curry + Chicken curry or pork curry + air-fried eggplant salad and fish cutlets
- Vegan Menu : Pumpkin curry + Young jackfruit curry + white coconut sambol and rice
Apart from rice and curries, You can also serve this Sri Lankan curry with Sri Lankan Roast paan or Thati paan along with some coconut sambol. This makes a great dinner.
I hope you give this vegan Sri Lankan pumpkin curry recipe a try. It's very easy to make with very minimal effort and healthy too. Let me know if you have any questions. And don't forget to share your feedback as well.
- Roshani
This creamy vegan Sri Lankan pumpkin curry is one of my family favorites. It's a one-pot dump-and-cook recipe with no added oil. I hope you give it a try.
- 1 lb Pumpkin, Cut into roughly 2.5inch long cuboids (1lb = 450g)
- 1/4 Cup Finely chopped onion
- 3 Cloves of garlic chopped
- 1 Green chili thinly sliced
- 1 Sprig of curry leaves
- 1 Small pandan leaf broken into pieces
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper powder/Paprika (or any red chili powder of your choice)
- 1 tsp Unroasted curry powder
- 1/8 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1 Piece of cinnamon about 3 inches long
- 1/2 tsp Salt (adjust to your taste)
- 1 Cup Water
- 1 cup Coconut milk (I use canned coconut milk)
- 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp Freshly ground Black pepper powder
Add pumpkin pieces, onion, garlic, green chili, curry leaves, pandan leaves, turmeric, cayenne pepper powder, curry powder, fenugreek seeds, cinnamon sticks, and salt into a pot or a large saucepan. Mix everything well so all the pumpkin pieces coat in spices.
Add water. Mix everything again. Cover the pot and cook on medium heat until pumpkin pieces are cooked but not mushy. They should hold the shape well but you should be able to pierce the pumpkin flesh with a fork without much effort.
Meanwhile, add the mustard seeds to a small mortar and pestle and grind them until they turn into a rough powder.
Add the mustard powder to the coconut milk and mix well.
Add coconut milk + mustard mix to the pumpkins and carefully mix everything without mashing the pumpkin pieces (you can add more coconut milk if you want the curry creamier, or add half of the coconut milk with some water if you like the curry to be lighter)
Let the curry slowly come to a simmer and let it cook on very low heat for about 3 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt. (If your pumpkins are not sweet enough, you can add a little bit of sugar as well)
Turn off the heat. Sprinkle black pepper on top. Serve hot. Enjoy!
