Our recipe for a rich pumpkin chickpea curry with cashews and coriander calls for Thai massaman curry paste, but this vegetarian curry is also delicious made with Thai red curry paste or any of the Cambodian curry pastes. Use our homemade spice paste recipes if you have time or store-bought curry pastes if you don’t, and steamed jasmine rice instead of rice noodles if you like. Our recipe is nothing if not versatile.
There are few dishes more warming than curries, and pumpkin month continues unabated here in southern Australia, where, as I write, it’s a wintry 8°C (46°F) and grey and dreary out. It’s barely felt like spring – just a few warm days when I prematurely packed away the woollies. Maybe the weather gods know I still have pumpkins to use.
I went a bit mad on the weekend when I saw the price drop on beautiful butternut pumpkins – butternut squash to our American readers – and bought a few because there’s nothing like that vibrant orange hue to brighten bleak days. And pumpkin dishes – pumpkin porridges, pumpkin soups, pumpkin pastas, pumpkin puddings – provide the big hugs we need right now.
I have more pumpkin recipes to share, starting with this pumpkin chickpea curry recipe, inspired partly by a Cambodian curry soup made with a red Khmer spice paste and pumpkin, and partly by the rich Cambodian saraman curry. This recipe calls for Thai massaman curry paste, as it’s more accessible if you’re using store-bought curry paste, but you could use a Thai red curry paste or Cambodian spice pastes if you have time to make them from scratch. More of our best curry recipes here.
Looking for more cooking inspo? Do browse our archives. We have hundreds of recipes from around the world from places we’ve lived, worked and travelled. If you’ve made our Cambodian recipes and enjoyed them, please consider supporting Grantourismo by buying a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; buying something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, or gifts for Asian food lovers or picnic lovers; or booking a cooking class or meal with locals on EatWith.
More about this pumpkin chickpea curry recipe and homemade versus store bought curry paste options below.
Pumpkin Chickpea Curry Recipe with Cashews, Coriander, Crispy Shallots
If you’re a fan of pumpkins and devotee of curries, you’re going to adore my pumpkin chickpea curry recipe. It was inspired partly by one of Cambodia‘s best street food dishes, a curry-like soup we’ve long enjoyed at a simple local eatery in Preah Dak village near Banteay Samre temple and Angkor Archaeological Park. Made with a red spice paste, fresh coconut milk, and chicken or beef (pork blood cake optional), it features chunky pieces of pumpkin.
The lovely little lady whose bowls of noodles we’ve been slurping for over a decade offers a choice of just two soups, a red curry soup and a classic yellow-green nom banh chok. I can never decide which to order and inevitably end up with the more herbaceous, lemongrass-driven, fish-based nom banh chok garnished with edible flowers and foraged leaves and herbs.
It’s one of the best Southeast Asian noodle dishes, and one of our best recipes with lemongrass. But when I do choose the rich red curry soup my Cambodian friends call ‘Khmer curry laksa’, I always wish I’d order it more often. Kong, a tuk tuk driver I’ve long used, has been known to order a bowl of each – and finish both! I’d do the same if she offered smaller portions.
Both soups are ladled over the lightly fermented Khmer rice noodles called nom banh chok – the same name given to the dish, and evidence of the significance of these slippery white noodles that are made fresh daily, the traditional way the noodles have always been made, in the rice-growing hamlet adjacent to Preah Dak, also called Pradak.
That’s why this pumpkin chickpea curry recipe calls for rice noodles – although I’ve used dried rice vermicelli (made in Vietnam), as I obviously can’t buy fresh rice noodles here in rural Australia. But you can also serve this curry with steamed jasmine rice – or a French baguette, which is very Cambodian.
Tips to Making this Pumpkin Chickpea Curry Recipe with Cashews, Coriander, Crispy Shallots
I’ve got some tips to making this recipe for a rich pumpkin chickpea curry with cashews and coriander, starting with the curry paste that gives this pumpkin chickpea curry its richness.
The Curry Paste
If you’re tight on time by all means use a store-bought curry paste, but if you have the time and you’re up for a bit of a cooking project, do make the curry paste from scratch. I made the first incarnation of this pumpkin chickpea curry with the Cambodian red spice paste used in that ‘Khmer curry laksa’ we love.
But for my second test of the recipe, I used the richer peanut-y Cambodian saraman curry. paste – a cousin of the Thai massaman curry and added a dollop of red curry paste to that. If you’re going for a Thai curry base then try this Thai red curry paste. Although I really encourage you to try a Cambodian curry, and the spice paste for this gently aromatic Cambodian chicken curry would also be wonderful.
Having said that, I’m conscious many of you don’t have time to make spice pastes from scratch, so for my final recipe test I used a store-bought curry paste. As commercial Thai curry pastes are much more accessible than Cambodian curry pastes, I used Mae Ploy Thai massaman curry paste and added a tablespoon of Thai red curry paste. While I much prefer homemade spice pastes, I have to confess: the result was absolutely delicious.
Although Mae Ploy curry pastes are some of the best commercial curry pastes, they’re a tad too salty for us. If you feel the same, you can balance the saltiness with the addition of palm sugar, which I’m lucky to be able to buy here from a nearby Southeast Asian shop owned by the Karen people of Myanmar. Brown sugar works too, as does white sugar if you’re stuck.
If you are making the curry paste from scratch, do use a mortar and pestle if you have one. We actually find pounding curry pastes in the mortar and pestle therapeutic, and they provide a great workout for the arms. But most importantly, pounded pastes taste much better than those blitzed in a blender or food processor. But again, if you’re tight on time, use that machine.
Do fry the curry paste first in oil in the wok to release the flavours. I use this round flat bottomed wok for almost everything. If you don’t have a wok, I strongly recommend buying one if you cook a lot of Asian food, but in the meantime use your favourite frying pan or skillet for this pumpkin chickpea curry.
If you’ve made a curry paste from scratch, you won’t use it all in this dish, so transfer what’s left to a mason jar or clip-top Kilner jar and pour a little oil on top (a neutral cooking oil such as vegetable oil is best), and refrigerate it. Label it with the date you made it, but it will keep for a while.
Pumpkin and Chickpeas
I recommend butternut pumpkin or butternut squash for its natural sweetness and texture, but you can use any kind of pumpkin. And of course you could add chicken, beef or pork – chicken drumsticks and thighs are my preference, but I wanted to create a vegetarian curry.
I’ve used canned chickpeas, but by all means soak dried chickpeas if you prefer. Chickpeas aren’t used in traditional Cambodian cooking but loads of other legumes are, from mung beans to yard-long beans, and there’s a long history of using pulses.
Peanuts and Cashews
The Thai massaman curry and Cambodian saraman curry use peanuts, but I’ve used both peanuts and cashews in this pumpkin chickpea curry recipe, which I toast in this adorable little fry pan. Peanuts release natural oils when toasting them, but I like to add a teaspoon of oil to the pan before toasting the cashews.
Crunchy Fried Shallots and Coriander
As far as I’m concerned, crunchy fried shallots and fresh coriander are a must for garnishing both the Cambodian saraman curry and Thai massaman curry, and I also love a little squeeze of lime. Store-bought crispy fried shallots are fantastic and have loads of crunch. If you’re not a fan of coriander use fresh basil.
Serve this pumpkin chickpea curry with more fried shallots, nuts, lime slices/wedges, fresh herbs, fresh chillies, and chilli flakes on the table, so guests can customise their dishes as they like. Enjoy!
Pumpkin Chickpea Curry Recipe with Cashews, Coriander, Crispy Shallots
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp canola oil - or vegetable oil or sunflower oil, divided
- 500 g butternut pumpkin - peeled, de-seeded, cut into 3cm pieces
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 4 tbsp Massaman curry paste - store-bought or homemade, see notes
- 420 g canned chickpeas - drained
- 400 ml coconut cream - or coconut milk
- 2 tbsp peanuts
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp cashews
- 1 small onion - peeled, sliced thinly
- vermicelli rice noodles
- 2 tsp palm sugar - or brown sugar, or to taste
- 1 tbsp fish sauce - optional, or to taste
- 1 tsp chilli flakes - optional, or to taste
- 1 tsp chilli oil - optional, or to taste
- 1 tsp crispy shallots - store-bought is
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander - and fresh basil leaves if you like
Instructions
- Put a medium sized pot of water on the stove to boil.
- To a wok or frying pan over medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of canola oil (or vegetable oil or sunflower oil), heat until shimmering, add the pumpkin pieces, sprinkle on the cumin and stir-fry until the pumpkin browns and even chars. Use tongs to turn the pumpkin pieces over, after a few minutes turn again to brown and char a bit, then transfer to a bowl.
- Clean the wok or pan with paper kitchen towels or under hot water if needed and dry it. Return the pan to the heat, add a tablespoon of oil, heat until shimmering, add the curry paste, and stir it over the heat, releasing the flavours and aromas. Pour in the drained chickpeas, stir to combine with the paste, then add the coconut cream (or coconut milk), stir to incorporate, reduce to low and leave to simmer.
- To a small pan over medium-high, add the peanuts and stir-fry for a minute or so until crunchy and brown in parts. Peanuts release natural oils so no need for oil. Transfer to a small dish and set aside. To the same pan, add a teaspoon of oil, heat, add the cashew nuts, stir-fry until brown, then transfer to the same dish.
- To the same pan, add another tablespoon of oil, heat until shimmering, reduce to low, add the onion slices and fry until soft and transparent. Increase the heat to medium-high and fry the onions until brown and crispy, then transfer them to the chickpea curry and reduce the heat to low.
- Add the vermicelli rice noodles to the pot of boiling water, use a fork to separate the noodles, and cook according to the packet instructions, anything from 1 minute to 4 minutes.
- To the pan with chickpea curry, add the pumpkin pieces and half the crispy cashews and peanuts, and stir. Taste, and if you think it’s a little unbalanced, add a teaspoon of palm sugar (or brown sugar), tablespoon of fish sauce, a teaspoon each of chilli flakes and chilli oil, all optional but probably needed. If you’re not a fan of spicy-hot, reduce the measures. Stir to combine everything and leave to simmer.
- Drain the vermicelli rice noodles into a fine mesh strainer, cool under a cold water tap, then shake and perch over a large pot and leave to drain completely.
- Transfer the noodles to bowls, ladle the pumpkin chickpea curry over the noodles, garnish with lime slices/wedges, and sprinkle on some crispy fried shallots and fresh coriander (or fresh basil).
- Serve with dishes of crispy fried shallots, the remaining nuts and cashews, fresh herbs, more lime slices/wedges, and fresh chillies or chilli flakes so guests can adjust to their liking.
Notes
Nutrition
Please do let us know in the comments below if you have any questions or feedback if you make our recipe for a rich pumpkin chickpea curry with cashews and coriander. We love hearing how our recipes turn out for you and reply to every comment.
lara, we’re big fans of the pumpkin chickpea curry and have tried a lot of recipes but this is the absolute best. so easy with store bought pastes but we’re going to make terrence’s Cambodian curry paste from scratch on the weekend. we love your recipes 😻 😻
Hi Tina, lovely to see you here again and thank you for the kind words. So thrilled you’ve enjoyed it and you’re going to try it with a paste made from scratch. I’d recommend trying the Cambodian saraman curry paste (link in the post). It’s got a lot of spices but the result is a deeply flavoured curry. Make more than you need and you can also make a more traditional chicken or beef curry — if you’re not a vegetarian that is. Thank you so much for taking the time to drop by :)