Pumpkin kapitan

In this vegetarian version of kari kapitan, or captain curry, roasted crown prince squash is served alongside a sweet and sour stew. It's fragrant, tangy and a little bit spicy - perfect for any vegetarian dinner party.

Ingredients

• 50 g of lemongrass, green tops removed about halfway down
• 70 g of red chillies
• 9 g of garlic cloves
• 175 g of banana shallot
• 15 g of ginger
• 15 g of galangal
• 5 g of whole dried kashmiri chilli, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes
• 5 g of ground turmeric
• 100 g of vegetable oil, plus extra for the spring onions and pumpkin
• 25 g of granulated sugar
• 15 g of tamarind concentrate
• 100 ml of water
• 2 makrut lime leaves
• 600 g of crown prince squash, or other pumpkin
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 spring onions, cut in half
• 50 g of coconut milk
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Steps

1. Roughly chop the lemongrass, red chilli, garlic, shallot, ginger and galangal. Add to food processor, along with the softened Kashmiri chilli. Blend until smooth, then mix in the turmeric
2. Preheat oven to 220°C/gas mark 7
3. Heat up a saucepan to medium heat, then add the vegetable oil. Once hot, add your rempah to the pan, and stir regularly until the oil separates, about 15-20 minutes. Lower the heat if your rempah starts to caramelise too fast
4. Stir in the sugar and let it caramelise for a couple of minutes. Next, add tamarind, water and lime leaves. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes. If the curry reduces too much during this cooking process, add splash of water to loosen it up again
5. In the meantime, slice your pumpkin into 4cm-thick wedges. Drizzle wedges with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 15-20 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick or a fork
6. While the wedges are roasting, heat up a few centimetres of vegetable oil in a deep, heavy-bottomed pot. Add the spring onions and deep fry until crispy. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels
7. When there’s 5 minutes to go on your timer for the curry, add in coconut milk. At end of cooking time, add pinch of salt to taste. You might need more sugar or tamarind accordingly
8. Serve curry with your roasted pumpkin, crispy spring onions and squeeze of lime