Autumn Hellfire Pumpkin Curry

Savvy cooks and environmentalists aren't the only ones enjoying the full flavors and nutritional benefits of seasonal cooking. Even Satan is in on the joys of stirring up a cauldron full of fresh-picked garden delights with this yummy mouthful of eternally burning damnation.

At its core, Autumn Hellfire Curry is a Thai red curry featuring pumpkin. I substituted habanero chili for the usual Thai bird chilies, for the most part because habaneroes were still available at the farmer's market, but also I like to think that they compliment the pumpkin better somehow. Maybe?

2 T thai red curry paste
1 can light coconut milk
1 small pumpkin, peeled and cubed into 1" squares
Sprinkle of cinnamon sugar
3 chicken breasts, sliced
6 peppers of the season, sliced, (I used a mix of green and red jalapeno and Ukrainian heirlooms)
1 habanero chili
5 stalks of thai purple basil, including buds
2 tomatoes, cut in eighths
Fish sauce (nam pla)

Preheat oven to 450. Cut up pumpkin until you can't stand it anymore. Ideally you can peel and dice the whole raw pumpkin and cook it in the curry, but that was too hard for me, so I roasted it to soften the thing. I managed to slice it up into 1/6 sections. If you need to par-roast like me, toss in a little canola oil and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and salt. I'm not certain this added that much flavor, but I like to think maybe it did. I cooked it just to the point of softening. My only purpose was to get it to the point where I could cut and peel the gourd without severing a finger… ghoulish indeed.

Heat half the can of coconut milk on medium-high and sauté curry paste until dissolved. Add chicken and cook at least halfway through. Add the rest of the coconut milk and, say, a half can of water. Stock would do nicely too. Bring to a low boil.

Add pumpkin, peppers, habanero, and half of the purple basil. Depending on your spicy tolerance, you can hollow out the peppers before adding. Add tomatoes last. Add about 2 teaspoons of sea salt. Simmer the curry until pumpkin has cooked through. Taste the curry and add fish sauce (for salty) and additional purple basil as desired.

On a crisp fall night, this dish warms the soul, and palate, like tasty bites of fire and brimstone. Enjoy!

Welcomes, realizations, vittles

Welcome welcome welcome cooky-monster! This is so belated, but my elation is pure and true. Readers, ignore cooky's comment about being a poseur. She is the genuine article--adventurous, sophisticated, curious, and always willing to take on any exploratory kitchen project! My most memorable cooky creation is her tuna rangoon. A whimsied yet practical spin on one of my most favorite East-Coast-Chinese take-out snacks. I have yet to try and recreate it, but now that cooky's my blogger-in-crime, I may be so inspired.

Speaking of inspiration (and other -tions), I like my blog. I still wish it could be chefty.com but, alas(s), this impostor Chefty got there first. (Chef Ty. Come ON!)

And, last but not least, the foodstuffs. I have been doing a good bit of cooking of late (though not so much with the photography). Pear crisp, apple honey cakes (with the apple butter incorporated...more on that later), and a pretty delectable no-frills chicken soup are the most recent among them. In the fridge a buttercup squash (looks kind of like the acorn, but lumpier...should be fun to cut that) awaits me. Not sure what I'll do with that, but it will likely find its way into soup or some kind of squash chutney that I can eat on a salad. I am very bored with my (admittedly limited) salad repertoire lately. On my short list of projects is a salad lab. I think this could be a good group activity--have everyone bring over their pantry oils and vinegars, stock up on some general (and maybe not so general) salad components, and do some experimenting. If you're going to eat 5-7 servings of fruit and vegetable every day, you might as well have fun doing it.

I've Been Promoted!

From pesky commentator to full-fledged Cheftylass contributor that is. I'm not sure how I earned this place of honor, but I promise to do my best to retain the post. And what surefire way to position future approval than by setting the bar low as early as possible. Ooh, maybe I should change my name to Chefy-monster...? Cookylass? Hyphen or no....

Some info about me - let it be known that I am a mere Chefty poseur. I never went to culinary school or a single cooking class for that matter. I really wouldn't have the necessary discipline to attend anyway, as I never follow recipes to the letter. An issue perhaps, for a cooking blog, but let's play along for now. In addition, I'll consume just about anything once and am no stranger to adventures in questionable eating judgment (just hack off the mold, I assert!). All that said, I enjoy cooking very much, was raised on great food of the Thai persuasion, and have darn good taste - trust me.

My brand of cookery can be characterized by the confluence of yummy and healthful, usually cutting fat and carbs when possible to do so without sacrificing the dish's integrity. Superfoods are one of my main sources of inspiration, as are good deals at the market (yeah, I'm also cheap). If it sounds like my cooking is no fun, I guess that depends on what you'd consider fun food. Having budgetary and nutritional boudaries helps stoke the fires of my creativity, and I'm the first to throw a whole dish out in disgust if it isn't tasty.


Occasionally I just want to make horribly delectible, full-fat, empty-calorie treats too, but that's what homemade food gifts and parties are for, heh heh. Here, I made a birthday cake, yellow, layered with mascerated strawberries, lemon curd and whipped cream, decorated with whipped cream and raspberries.


There weren't any complaints.

But what about the healthilicious stuff about which I went on and on? Next post, I swear.