Another South African Indian diasporan dish, this pumpkin and mushroom curry with eggs is easily turned vegan—just leave out the eggs. This dish is closer to the famed "Durban curry" than other South African recipes I've published here. In other words, it's fairly spicy. But, you can easily make it in milder forms.
The most famous "Durban curry"and many of South Africa's curries from the east coast are notable for their lack of dairy products or use of nuts. This makes them great for those who are lactose-intolerant or allergic to nuts.
This is one I cook often and is probably closest to the (in)famous "Durban curry": it's fairly spicy (though you can easily tone it down); it contains no meat (and is easily turned vegan); and, perhaps unusually for me, it doesn't use stock of any form. Equally odd for me, it's not a "one dish" recipe. This doesn't necessarily mean it requires longer to cook, merely a little more coordination.
It's not a "creamy" dish—for example, it doesn't involve coconut. And, though it involves a degree of reduction that sees it thicken beautifully, it doesn't take hours to make, though it benefits if you cook it slower and longer.
The curry paste
The curry paste I make for this dish—in the recipe below— is a variation of my version of what's called Mother-in-law Masala in South Africa (or more pejoratively as Mother-in-law's Tongue). You can buy it from specialist retailers around the world. It's pretty fiery, largely down to the cayenne. If you don't want to make your own curry paste, I suggest buying a a store-bought Madras or Rogan Josh curry paste and adding cayenne, since these are the closest "readymades" to it that are widely available internationally.
It's not really that spicy in the quantities used in this recipe—I'm still churning out recipes I remember as good summer hols meals for kids—and it's not as spicy as the gold standard Durban curry, nor would I place it at the "vindaloo machismo" level of curries in general. However, if you're skeptical or don't like things too spicy, leave out (some of) the cayenne and/or fresh chillies. Conversely, if you like things hotter, add two chopped small hot green chillies at the same time as adding the red chillies.
A note on pumpkin
If you can get your hands on it, the comically named flat white boer pumpkin is the best for this dish. But it's not that easy to come by in Europe. The main thing is that you need to use pumpkin that isn't going to disintegrate easily. My recommendation as an alternative—what I'm using here—is kabocha, a Japanese pumpkin variety that has become widely available globally in more recent years. Kabocha's skin is edible, so if you're a fibre freak, you don't need to peel it. I still do for this dish. Another tip: always use a sharp knife to cut the skin away from pumpkin unless you like throwing away broken peelers...
Yes, you can use butternut squash as an alternative. If you do, I advise omitting the sultanas. This dish has a kind of sweet-'n-sour thing going on—with the lemon and sultanas—but it goes overly sweet (for my tastes) if you use butternut squash and sultanas. But, hey, if that blows your skirt up... We've all eaten at those Hare Krishna places etc.
Storing
If freezing this dish (or storing sealed in the fridge for a couple of days) don't include any uneaten eggs, especially once peeled. They make fantastic egg salads or egg mayonnaise, so you won't waste them. But, for reheated frozen or chilled portions, it's safer and better to simply add pre-hardboiled eggs before serving.
Also, if freezing, this is a dish that is best slowly defrosted overnight in the fridge before reheating. The high water content in both the mushrooms and pumpkin means that it can turn "gooey" if reheating in a microwave from frozen.
Side dishes and condiments
There really isn't any rule here, though I strongly recommend serving with rice—rather than naan breads, roti or chapati etc. The classic side carb is "Durban yellow rice". In reality, the only constant in most recipes for this side dish is turmeric. Usually it involves cooking basmati rice with 1tspn turmeric added to the cooking water, often with a couple of bay leaves, a chunk of a cinnamon stick and/or a couple of cardamom pods. When you get into the realms of the evangelical, it can involve cooking it in stock, bone marrow or dagga (cannabis). I kid you not. Others still swear by adding saffron, honey or peas to the boiling water or any combination thereof. Knock yourself out.
Its traditional condiments are actually a bit of treat. Choose from fresh sambals—such as sliced banana in milk, chopped raw onions and tomatoes bathed in vinegar or diced mango—or delicious chutneys and achars. Mrs H.S. Ball's chutneys are definitely a way to go. The classic Original Chutney from this heritage South African brand is now widely available in the UK, but if you can, scour for a specialist outlet that offers their astounding peach chutney that works so well with this dish.
Yet, after banging on about no dairy products, I'm actually having it with a little raita made with puréed mint and black pepper. Okay, I had some yoghurt that needed to be used.
This recipe serves 2 to 3 diners. You know what a calculator is if you want it otherwise.
Shopping list
for the spice paste
2 tspns cumin seeds, toasted and ground
2 tspns coriander seeds, toasted and ground
1 tspn cayenne pepper
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground cumin
3 tsp ground coriander
3 tsp turmeric
2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
A pinch of salt
1 x 5cm cinnamon stick
5 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
4 cloves
the pumpkin and mushroom curry
1 large brown onion (or two smaller), sliced
2 tspns garlic & ginger paste (or the equivalent in puréed ginger and garlic)
2 hot red chillies; deseeded and finely chopped
200g small brown button mushrooms, washed
Approx. 250g pumpkin, peeled, sinews removed; cut into irregular, large pieces
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
2 tspns turmeric
1 tspn yellow mustard seeds
A generous dash of peanut oil or sunflower oil
400g can peeled tomatoes
1 fresh lemon (NOT lime!)
1 red bell pepper, cut into fairly large pieces
a small clutch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
A handful of sultanas
1 egg per diner
Cooking Method
for the spice paste
Grind all the dry spice paste ingredients together by hand with a pestle and mortar or using a spice grinder
Add a little water and blend into a paste. You can do this immediately before cooking or some time before. It keeps well, sealed, in the fridge or frozen in ice trays
for the curry
Heat the oil on a medium-to-high heat in a deep pot with a lid. When hot, add the garlic & ginger paste and sizzle. Add the red chillies and sizzle for barely a minute. Add the onions and seal them. Add the ground cumin, ground coriander and 1tspn of the turmeric. Stir to prevent sticking, adding approx. 40ml of water (or as needed). Cover and sweat for a few mins in this "juice". For the next 8 to 10mins, stir regularly, adding water (approx. 20 to 30ml at a time), re-covering to sweat, but stirring to make sure the ingredients don't dry out
Only when the onion shows signs of truly softening—don't be fooled by the "dye" of the spices—add 2 tspns of your spice paste and thoroughly stir in. Add the red bell pepper and stir this in too, ensuring it's coated with the juices. Repeat the process of sweating, adding small amounts of water (20 to 40ml at a time) to ensure a minimal amount of liquid remains in the pot
When the bell peppers soften, add the raw pumpkin. Stir to seal and coat in the juices. Add a further 2 tspns of spice paste, stirring in. Add the lemon juice (with the pith) and cook this off, stirring constantly. When the pot is almost dry, pour the juice from your can of tomatoes into the pot and stir. Cook these ingredients together, still on a fairly high heat, until almost dry. Then add the tomatoes. Stir in, but don't break them up—this will happen naturally to some extent during cooking
While the tomatoes are heating, pour boiling water into the tomato can, swilling around so that it dissolves any remaining juice. Pour enough of this liquid into the pot so that the ingredients are not entirely covered. Keep the rest of the liquid in the can because you'll use it later in the cooking
Bring the ingredients of the pot to a vigorous boil and boil for approx. 3mins. Add the chopped coriander to the top of the pot without stirring. Boil for a further 5mins, stirring to prevent sticking only if needed. Cover, and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Simmer for about 20mins, stirring every 5mins or so. During this time, you may notice that the sauce already begins to reduce (ah, the other secret power of pumpkin about which we haven't got time to go into here...)
In another pot with a lid, heat a little oil on a medium-to-high heat. When hot, add your yellow mustard seeds, garam masala and the remainder of the turmeric. Add your whole drained mushrooms and stir. Sauté with the spices. The mustard seeds are likely to pop and "spit"—hence the lid. If you can, avoid adding any water: the mushrooms will exude liquid after the first few minutes. When the mushrooms are half-cooked, remove from the heat and allow to rest, covered. NB: you can complete this step earlier, even the day before, and store sealed in the fridge
When your tomatoes and pumpkin are cooked, and the "sauce" has notably reduced, add the mushrooms (and their juices) and the sultanas and stir in. Lower the uncooked eggs in their shells into the pot using a spoon. (NB: Depending on your room temperature, the shells my crack. This isn't a problem. Just don't stir them vigorously and they will remain intact)
Add the remaining liquid from the tomato can to ensure that the eggs are at least ¾ covered. Re-cover the pot and simmer for a further 10mins
About 5mins before you plan to serve, add the spinach (if using) and gently stir in, ensuring that you don't break up the eggs. Re-cover and simmer for 5mins. NB: you want to make sure your eggs have simmered in the mixture for at least 12mins in total to ensure they are nicely hardboiled
Remove for the heat and allow to rest, covered, for 5mins. Using a spoon, remove the hardboiled eggs from the pot. Cool for a few minutes on a plate—don't run them under the cold tap! Being careful not to burn yourself, gently peel them then return, whole, to the pot and allow them to soak in the sauce for a few minutes
Serve with rice and any desired condiments
Alternatives
Vegans and vegetarians
All you need to do to make this dish vegan (or vegetarian if you're the kind that regards eggs as an animal product) is to simply not add the eggs. You can add additional quantities of other ingredients, but it really doesn't need it.
The spinach isn't traditional. It's not often made with leafy green vegetables. But I'm a big fan of stealth chlorophyl. So, it's up to you.
Carnivores
This dish, or a version thereof, is probably cooked more often with chicken instead of the mushrooms and pumpkin. If you want a poultry version, cut pieces of chicken, turkey or other bird into bite-size pieces and treat exactly as the mushrooms are handled above.
Pescatarians
I've never tried it with fish, but octopus and crayfish outings have had me reeling in a food stupor. Treat octopus (or squid) in much the same way as the mushrooms above. With crayfish, lobster, crab or any other larger shellfish, first boil before breaking out the cooked meat. Then sear the cooked meat minimally with the same spices as with the mushrooms above. Only add back into the curry in the final 3mins of simmering.
Pairings
I usually have this dish with sparkling water or beer (it works fantastically with an SAFA Carling Black Label, for example), more out of practicality than planning.
On the wine front, there are many fantastic international wines that work well. But, for emotive reasons, I gravitate towards South African wines with this one—which is vaguely nuts because no wine is grown in the region where this dish originates and the distance between there and South Africa's wine-growing regions is more than three times greater than the distance from London to traditional French wine terroirs.
It's also a curious dish because the sheer breadth of its flavours don't make it obviously pivot decisively in the direction of either red or white. I tend to be led by season—Jesus, I better not let Karel hear me admit this—often preferring it with reds in the winter and crisp whites during warmer summer weather.
For me the best white pairing I've had with this dish was Ken Forrester; The FMC Chenin Blanc 2016. And, no, that level of indulgence is not my default setting—I know people, who know people, who got me some bottles. Back on more quotidian ground, it also works well with this affordable number, The African Horizon Chenin Blanc. Is that chenin blanc thing coming through? Yeah, call me simple, but this grape's peppery tones work well with vegetable or fruit curries.
On the red front, my memory is a little more hazy (I wonder why) but KWV Classic Collection Pinotage (one of my go-to producers for South African reds) was entirely serviceable, while this Baden Spätburgunder from Lidl is the overall champion for value-for-pairing.
And, yes, it really works well with rosé, especially if you're doing the octopus version—well at least Delaire Graff Cabernet Franc Rosé 2021.
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