Yellow Curry with Pumpkin and Pork

This delicious curry makes an excellent side dish or a nice meal for lunch. Worawut makes it with his homemade kaeng kari paste, so it has a lot of great texture from the lemongrass and other fresh ingredients, but you can easily whip this up in about 20 minutes using a packaged Thai yellow curry paste. The recipe calls for Thai golden pumpkin (ฟักทอง; Fak Tong), but you can use any pumpkin or hard squash that you have locally available. The pork meatballs are seasoned with lemongrass, kafir lime leaves, and garlic, but if you just use garlic and a little white pepper it will still taste great.

Yield: 1 or 2 serving

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 Minutes

Ready in: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 - 2 Cups Pumpkin
1 Cup Ground Pork Loin
1 Cup Coconut Milk
2 Tablespoons Yellow Curry Paste
1 Tablespoon Coconut Sugar
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
3 - 4 large cloves Garlic
2 teaspoons Lemongrass
2 Kaffir lime leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground White Pepper
1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Water

Basic Directions:

1) Peel the rind off the pumpkin, and cut into bite-sized pieces. Using a food processor, or by hand, chop the lemongrass, kafir lime leaves, and garlic until very fine. Mix with 1/2 teaspoon finely ground white pepper. Season the ground pork with the chopped ingredients. Mix in very well, then form it into little pieces, about 1 teaspoon in size.

2) Heat a wok or frying pan over medium heat. Add the vegetable oil. When it gets hot, add the garlic and cook for just a few seconds. Stir in the curry paste, mixing it with the garlic. Let it fry for about a minute.

3) Add the coconut milk and stir in well. Add the sugar and soy sauce, and let it cook until creamy and golden yellow in color.

4) Carefully add the meatballs to the curry mixture. Cook for about 3 - 4 minutes until they start to get firm. Then carefully turn them so they don't get broken up.

5) Add in the pumpkin pieces and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Serve in a large plate or bowl, along side a small plate of steamed rice and some cucumber relish.