Pumpkin curry

Pumpkin curry is a delicious meal. You can make it with - or without meat! :)

You'll need:

- 0.5kgs -that's about 1 pound- of meat: poultry (optional)

- 1 medium sized pumpkin

- 2 carrots

- 4-5 cloves of garlic

- 2 medium sized onions

- 1 chili pepper (optional)

- 1tsp ground coriander

- 1tsp ground cumin (if you prefer, you can use whole cumin seeds)

- 2tsp garam masala (it's a mix of indian/south asian spices)

- 2tsp powdered ginger

- 2tsp of curry powder 

- about a quarter of tsp of cinnamon

- 150mls of coconut milk

- olive oil

- salt

- long grain white rice or light french fries for garnish

Wash the meat and cut it into "cube-shapes". Wash and peel the carrots, then slice them to circles. Peel the onions, slice them lenghtwise (straight-cut). 

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan, add the onions and fry them till golden. Add the spices to the onions and fry them together, meanwhile constantly stirring. When it's done, add the carrots and meat at the same time (if you do it with meat) and keep stirring. When the meat starts to turn white (or if not using meat, when the carrot is half cooked) the spicy mix and the meat might stick to the pan's side and bottom. In this case, add a little bit of water (10mls maximum) to remove the sticky mixture from the pan's side and preventing it from being burnt. Keep on stirring until the meat gets white, then pour water till it covers the food nicely, and add the garlic plus the chopped chili. Cover the frying pan and continue cooking.

Peel the pumpkin and chop its flesh to smaller "cubes". Add it to the curry and cover the pan again. About 5mins later start to check the pumpkin. When it's soft, pour the coconut milk into the pan, boil it altogether for about a minute then its done! :)

Serve it with long grain white rice, or *light* french fries.

The recipe can be used in the G.I. diet: low glycemic indexed foods 

If you substitute the rice with the light french fries, the curry can be eaten in Paleo-Diet

It's good for the South Beach Diet - for phase 2 and 3 (or phase one if you leave both potatoes and rice)