Woman & Home's Pumpkin and Cauliflower Curry

I have a confession to make.  This recipe was originally for a Thai curry, but I made it into an Indian curry, because I believe pumpkin and cauliflower is better suited to Indian flavours.  So I replaced the Thai red curry paste with Indian curry paste, and seasoned the dish with salt instead of fish sauce.  I also tried my hand at making my own chapatti's from Food and Home magazine.  It tasted so much better than any store-bought version and you'll be surprised at how easy it was to do.  Give it a go - it may be a bit more fiddly than taking something out of a packet and popping it in the microwave, but it tastes amazing!

Serves 4

For the curry, you will need:

500 g pumpkin cut into chunks, or 1 butternut peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 medium cauliflower, broken into florets
1 red chilli, sliced (and deseeded if you prefer less of a kick)
3 tbsp. sunflower oil
6 shallots, peeled and chopped (I used 6 pickling onions)
2 tbsp. Indian curry paste
400 g can coconut milk
1 tsp light brown sugar
coriander to garnish

Heat the oven to 220 degrees Celcius.  Mix the pumpkin, cauliflower, chilli and 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large roasting tin.  Season and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring once or twice, until cooked.

Meanwhile, fry the onions/shallots in the remaining oil with the curry paste for a few minutes (or until the curry paste smells fragrant).  Add the coconut milk, a pinch of salt and sugar, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to allow the mixture to simmer for 15 minutes.  It should reduce by a third. 

When you are ready to serve, stir the vegetables through the sauce, check the seasoning and sprinkle with coriander.

For the chapatti's, you will need:

2 cups of cake flour (sieved)
a pinch of salt
30 ml olive oil
180 ml hot water (3/4 cup)

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.  Pour in the olive oil and mix in just enough water to make a soft dough (I used the whole lot). 

On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic.  Cut into 8 or 10 evenly sized pieces, cover and let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll each piece of dough out into a round-ish disc.  Heat a large, heavy-based frying pain to hot and coat lightly with oil.  Fry each chapatti until it's nice and golden with "brown spots" (around 30 seconds on each side). Cover the cooked chapatti to keep warm.