Before I get to the knitting, let me show you one of the things I cooked this week. I love fall for cooking, all the turnips and beets, and pumpkins! They’re not just for jack-o-lanterns anymore! I’ve had a couple of small sugar pumpkins in the pantry, waiting for the right moment (get the pie pumpkins, not the field pumpkins grown for gigantic size). We made pumpkin curry with it. Here’s the details and photos. This isn’t a recipe as such, but if you know how to put together a stew, you can figure this one out.
First, whack up the pumpkin, the hardest part. I generally get it cut up into big sections, then about two-inch squares, then cut the rind off. It’s pretty hard to peel the thing whole. I keep the pieces rather large, since they tend to melt into the curry when fully cooked.
Once you get that part done, you’re home free. Slice some onions and garlic, and saute, then add your curry blend.
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I buy curry spices whole and grind them. I’ve made my own blends before, but now I just buy them locally here. They’ll ship, too. This particular blend was the Sri Lankan curry blend. I don’t think we’ve ever tried this before, and it was very good. Here’s everything cut up and ready to go. This process makes all the world of difference in a dish with lots of parts. If you get everything chopped before you start cooking, it’s a piece of cake. Mise en place, the French call it.
After I added the spices, I tossed in some chicken stock, a bit of white wine, part of a can of chopped tomatoes, 2 cans of garbanzo beans (rinsed), and the pumpkin, then cooked it till the pumpkin was done. This really doesn’t take long, and if it’s overcooked it turns to mush, so watch it. At the end, I threw in a bunch of baby spinach we had lingering around. Oh, I also added one chopped hot pepper in at the same time as the garlic, it was a yellow pepper that looked like a serrano and had some heat. And salt to taste.
Serve over rice, and dinner is ready.
On the knitting front, I have 8 repeats of that True Blood Faery band done. I thought I had royally screwed up my gauge, but it turns out I was wrong. The bottom cable chart is 40 rows, and the pattern calls for knitting 20 repeats of chart A. I finished what I thought were 4 repeats, meaning 160 rows, measured, and was horrified to find that the piece was twice as long as it was supposed to be. After I calmed down, I searched Ravelry, read the pattern (now there’s a novel thought), and discovered that each chart repeat is two pattern repeats. It measures out perfectly. Whew.
Whew is right! Glad it’s coming along so nicely.
The curry sounds awesome! I’d never thought of putting pumpkin in my curry, we’ll have to try that. 🙂
Great curry and knitting. Glad you hadn’t really screwed up the Faery.
We made lamb curry last Saturday, it was a first time experiment, it was good but my husband made it too thick so it was super rich and strong with spices. Next time he’s goign to put more liquid in. 🙂
What a relief on that knitting gauge issue! I would have been royally PO’ed.
Pumpkins are a staple food in sub-Saharan Africa, I think, so pumpkin curry makes some sense. It sounds yummy!
I’m glad you researched before ripping!
Mmmm… that curry looks tasty.
“Whew” is right. Odd how something like reading a simple pattern can be so fraught with error potential! I’m glad it was all OK. That curry looks scrumptious!
that looks yummy. I got into the habit of preparing meals like that when my girls were little. They loved to “help” with cooking & baking & it was a lot easier if everything was ready to go & they could just toss it in & maybe stir. With cookies, I’d have all the ingredients measured out & they could toss them in, stir & haelp spoon the dough on to the cookie sheets. Kids love to help in the kitchen & I enjoyed working with them.
The curry looks absolutely delicious! I love fall foods, too. I’m all about soups. They’re my favorite thing to cook. I just love that you can put just about anything into a soup and it tastes good.
I had the same aha moment with the neverending cable. I’m not sure if I’ve got gauge. I had perfect gauge on my swatch… but I think my stitches are “taller” than the intended gauge. We shall see…
I *really* need to move closer to you, so I can “accidentally” drop in when it’s dinnertime …
Yum sounds good! Glad you checked the pattern before ripping! 🙂
Your sweater is starting out beautifully. And what a gorgeous color!
I love ny spindles too 🙂
That looks wonderful. I don’t think it would fly at my house, though. Hubby hates anything that remotely resembles squash.
I’ve never thought of pumpkin with curry. That recipe sounds fantastic.
Oh, this curry sounds yummy!
The band looks promising – I wish I had the time to join you in your kal… but I have to finish my Aberlady first before I start the next big project!
Dinner sounds wonderful! And healthy too!
I love the red color. Looking forward to the FO.
Yum! You give me more and more reasons to want to come and visit! 🙂
OOOH! I adore pumpkin in any form…though I’ve never had curry in any form. That means, though, that the pumpkin curry would be to die for! (Don’t you just love my logic? LOL)
Am so glad you were able to figure things out before doing a total rip. I wasn’t so lucky on a shawl I was making…started from scratch 3 times and decided if it wasn’t right, it was going to STAY not right! Fortunately for me, the 4th time was the charm.
Hope you like your new job!
I’ve substituted pumpkin for butternut squash with quite good results.
Your patience in not ripping the minute you suspected something was wrong is admirable. I have gotten carried away on a few occasions, ripped, and then realized I didn’t have to. I love that color!
Looks yummy. I’ll have to try this when my stepson and his girlfriend are down at Thanksgiving.
I made squash soup the other day, not doing that again. I’ll just go over to Trader Joe’s buy their squash soup and spice it up and it will be done. There was way too much work involved for that soup. It turned out great and I have some soup in the freezer for some future wants so that is the good news.
that curry looks incredible.
and hurrah that you found the chart notes before you totally had undone what was right.;-)
Oh yum!!
Wow, looks good all the way around. Good luck on the new job.