I’m starting my October pumpkin bonanza with this beautifully tasting pumpkin pie. Filled with creamy, sweet and sour thai chicken green curry with pumpkin, leek and peas, this pie tasted divine. It became a real hit with my family and even more so, with a bunch of lovely sisters I had a pleasure to host in my kitchen a few weeks back.
The sweetness of pumpkin in combination with the zing from the lime juice and scented flavours of the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves were simply mouth-watering.
I used my homemade thai green curry paste and along with it added an extra lemongrass stalk, kaffir lime leaves and more lime and lemon juice to bring in an extra zing into the curry.
Once there is a curry paste available on hand, it is a fairly quick dish to throw together.
I used diced chicken thigh fillets for the curry, but any other preferred part of the chicken or none at all should also be fine.
I used my kid-friendly homemade green curry paste for this pie, by calling it kid-friendly I mean that there is very little heat in it. You can find the recipe for my green curry paste here. But in the case you wish to not make the curry paste yourself, it is just as fine to use a shop bought variety. In this case, you may need to use less of the paste to the amount it calls in the recipe since shop bought varieties can be very hot.
As a compliment to the pie and its zingy flavours, I served it with fragrant jasmine rice.
To make the rice I added a bruised lemongrass stalk and kaffir lime leaves to it and cooked it using an absorption method.
This pie is best to be eaten on the day.
Serves 4
Preparation 30 minutes
Cooking 1 hour
Ingredients
500g diced chicken pieces
6 tbsp green curry paste ( see note at the end )
1 tbsp coconut oil ( peanut or
1 large leek, thinly sliced
400g pumpkin cubed
2 cups coconut milk
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 lemon grass stalk
1 cup frozen peas
1-2 tbsp fish sauce
1 lemon or lime juice or to taste ( both id desired )
200-300g pumpkin thinly sliced
1 tbsp oil or spray oil ( for coating pumpkin slices )
Method
- Preheat oven to 175C Fan Forced
Prepare an oven proof dish ( ceramic 1L to 1.5L capacity; 4-6 cups ) - Mix chicken pieces and green curry paste in a bowl, cover and leave to marinade for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Heat oil in a large frying pan, add marinated chicken pieces and cook stirring for a few minutes until fragrant.
- Add sliced leek and fry stirring till leek has softened, then add pumpkin, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass stalk and coconut milk, stir and cook for 15 minutes over a medium-low heat.
- Add frozen peas and cook stirring occasionally for a further 15 minutes or till thickened.
- Add lime or lemon juice and fish sauce, stir and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and set aside.
- Coat pumpkin slices in oil.
- Move curry into the prepared ceramic dish and arrange pumpkin sliced on top.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes or till lightly browned and pumpkin is cooked.
Enjoy with fragrant steamed jasmine rice.
Notes
In this recipe I used my homemade Thai Green Curry Paste, but you may wish to use the shop bought variety. In this case, you may need to use less of the paste to the amount it calls in the recipe since shop bought varieties can be very hot.
I highly recommend adding fresh lemongrass and fresh kaffir lime leaves to the curry. They will add more authenticity to the flavours of the curry.
To make fragrant rice, simply add 1 kaffir lime and 1 bruised lemongrass to the rice when cooking it. To bruise lemongrass stalk lightly pound with a meat tenderizer or any heavy and solid object.
