A delicious, fragrant, and easy homemade yellow curry from scratch. This curry paste was inspired by the laksa from my cookbook, The Global Vegan. It was so tasty that I wanted to turn it into a wholesome veg curry.

Typically, the vegetables are cooked in the curry sauce, however for something different, this curry is served with crispy baked veg on top - extra crunch! If you have an aifryer to cook the veg - even BETTER! I am still yet to purchase one but plan to very soon. I also love tossing the herbs in lime zest and juice to garnish on top, adds a really zesty punch to the curry.

Hope you enjoy this new free recipe on my blog. For more delicious recipes, check out my two bestselling vegan cookbooks here.

Baked Cauli & Pumpkin Yellow Curry

Serves 4

A delicious curry made completely from scratch! The addition of baking the vegetables instead of boiling in the curry makes it much more delicious with crunchy textures and extra sweetness.

Ingredients:

Curry Paste

1 lemongrass stalk (white part only), finely sliced *see notes

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated

2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 long red chilli, finely sliced

1 Tbsp oil (such as avocado or olive)

3 Tbsp natural peanut butter

2 Tbsp fresh coriander root, finely chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp cracked pepper

1/2 tsp ground coriander seed

For Curry

1 tsp oil (such as olive or avocado)

1/2 brown onion, finely diced

1 Tbsp coconut sugar

1 vegetable stock cube

400g can coconut milk

400ml water

1 Tbsp soy sauce

5 kaffir lime leaves

1 cup frozen garden peas

1 1/3 cup uncooked jasmine rice

1 lime - juice and zest

Baked Veg

1 tbsp oil (olive or avocado)

1/4 kent pumpkin, cut into 2cm cubes

1/2 cauliflower head, cut into small florets

1/2 tsp Cumin powder

1/2 tsp Coriander seed

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

Pinch of Salt and pepper

Garnish

1 cup thai basil

1 cup coriander leaves

1/2 lime, cut into wedges

Fresh sliced chilli, to taste

Sesame seeds

How to make:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius, fan forced and line 1-2 baking trays with baking paper.
To make the curry paste, place the ingredients in a large mortar and pound with the pestle. Mix, pound and stir for 10 minutes or until you have a smooth, wet paste- you’ll need to use quite a bit of force! Alternatively, you can use a small food processor or blender to blend it smooth. I like to use my vitamix mini blending jug attachment for a speedy process.
Place the cut pumpkin and cauliflower into a large mixing bowl, drizzle over the oil, spices and salt and pepper and toss to coat evenly. Spread veg out across lined trays so that are lying flat, untouching, and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes, or until cooked, golden and crispy.
Rinse rice until water runs clear, cook rice as per packet instructions in a rice cooker or on the stove.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Add the curry paste and fry, stirring, for 30 seconds, then add the onion and sauté for 1 minute. Add the coconut sugar, crumbled veggie stock cube, coconut milk, water, soy sauce, and kaffir lime leaves, reduce the heat to medium, simmer for 5 minutes. Add the garden peas and allow to simmer for a further 2 minutes.
Place the fresh herbs and chilli into a bowl, add 1 tsp of the lime zest and 2 tsp of the lime juice to the bowl and toss to coat the herbs.
Once veggies are baked and rice is ready to serve, remove curry sauce from heat and stir the rest of the lime juice and lime zest through the curry.
Serve the rice and curry into bowls, top with baked pumpkin and cauliflower pieces. Garnish with fresh herbs, chilli, extra lime wedges and sesame seeds.

Notes:

If you cannot find fresh lemongrass you can get pre-blended lemongrass tubes in the fresh herb section of your supermarket.

Thai basil can be difficult to find sometimes. It has a different flavour to Mediterranean basil, hence I would suggest swapping it for additional coriander, tarragon, curry leaves, or Vietnamese mint.