Vegetarian Pumpkin Curry With Peppers: Perfect For Cooler Weather & Meatless Monday

It's cold. It's raining. It's grey out. When the weather turns into such grossness, I crave warm meals that I can eat while curled up on a couch. Think soups, chili, bowls of bubbling cheesy polenta, or in this case a curry.

When coming up with a title for this curry, I completely forgot the name of the main ingredient, and called it a pumpkin. It's actually a red kuri squash. Use whichever squash or pumpkin you have on hand. You may have to cook it a bit longer or shorter depending on its texture, but otherwise you should be all set.

Vegetarian Pumpkin Curry With Peppers: Perfect For Cooler Weather & Meatless Monday
Serves ~ 4

Ingredients
1 red kuri squash, or any small pumpkin or squash, halved, seeds removed, peeled {I loved OXO peeler for this task}, then diced ~ you want about 4 cups of final diced "pumpkin"
olive oil ~ enough to barely cover the bottom of the Dutch oven
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoons ancho chili
1 teaspoon salt
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1" ginger knob, peeled, minced
1 can (~ 14 ounces) coconut milk
1 cup defrosted peas
juice of 1 lime
to serve: rice, fresh cilantro

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven. Add diced kuri squash and sauté for 10-15 minutes or until it turns slightly golden brown.
2. Add all the spices and salt and sauté for 5 more minutes.
3. Add peppers, garlic and ginger and more oil if needed and sauté for another 5 minutes.
4. Pour in coconut milk, mix everything and bring to a simmer. Cover the Dutch oven and simmer the mixture for about 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
5. Add defrosted peas and lime juice and heat through.
6. Serve over rice garnished with cilantro.

This was a super easy meal to make and perfumed my entire condo with warm and spicy scents. Keep in mind the curry will thicken as it sits, so you may want to add a bit of water when you reheat it the next day. I'm freezing one portion and hope it will be good out of the freezer.

What do you like to cook/eat in the cold rainy weather?