Pumpkin Masala
Description
Are you trying to count calories? Finding that gluten free, dairy free processed products are full of fillers like maize, starches and the like?
I know I’ve found this a lot. That’s why I try and make everything from scratch, unless I’m being indulgent… or lazy. Something interesting I found was those little packages of spice/herb blends that claim to help us create a delicious meal just by adding onion, water etc. (e.g. chow mein spice blend, butter chicken, curried sausages) aren’t just spice blends. There are an OK minority, but most have ingredients that are dairy powders such as whey, milk products and wheat. They say in bold, they contain or may contain gluten and dairy… What’s more is, it’s actually cheaper to make your own even if you’re not gluten or dairy intolerant!!!! So say you buy jars of herbs and spices, varying at $1-3 each, having a healthy spice rack is cheaper than buying little packages of pre-blended spices because you can make all kinds of blends by utilising google and your spice rack at home!
So rant over – in a nutshell, my point is it’s better for us to use whole spices and herbs than packets.
My only downfall is garam masala – a jarred spice blend that you can buy under G in the spice rack. I am a sucker for cumin oriented spices.
Moving on, this delicious recipe serves 6 – however, if you’re hungry and there’s only 4 to feed then go for it. I’ve done the math, at 4 serves it’s about 250 calories per serve and that was being over-accommodating with the ingredients! (I used foodstandards.gov.au)
If you can’t find masala chai (because I am lucky enough to have a beautiful spice shop where I live), omit it. There’s enough spice to not worry, just use the water.
Ingredients
| 5 c pumpkin, peeled and diced roughly (1-2cm pieces) |
| 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil |
| 150g tin chickpeas, drained |
| 1 cm. ginger, grated |
| 1 brown onion |
| 400g tin diced tomatoes |
| 1 bunch coriander |
| 1 c. packed spinach |
| 1 c. boiling water |
| 2 cloves garlic, minced |
| spice blend: |
| 1 tbsp. ground cumin |
| 1 tsp. chilli flakes |
| 1 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika |
| 2 tsp. garam masala |
| 10g masala chai tea blend |
| pinch salt and pepper |
| pinch white pepper |
| 2 tsp. crushed coriander seed |
| 1 tsp. nutmeg |
Directions
- 1
- Steep the masala chai tea blend in the cup of boiling water while you prep the pumpkin, ginger, garlic and dice the onion.
- 2
- Preheat the oven to 225C (fan forced).
- 3
- Drizzle the oil into a large roasting dish.
- 4
- Toss the chopped pumpkin, onion and the chickpeas in garlic and the olive oil and then pour into a large roasting dish.
- 5
- Make the spice blend by mixing together the cumin, chilli, paprika, garam masala, salt, pepper, coriander seed and nutmeg in a small bowl or mortar and pestle.
- 6
- Coat the pumpkin mixture with half the spice blend and toss together again.
- 7
- Pour in the diced tomatoes and the ginger.
- 8
- Strain the masala chai tea blend and pour the liquid into the roasting dish.
- 9
- Gently mix everything together, before sprinkling the remaining spice blend over the dish.
- 10
- Stir gently, leaving some of the spices on the top to form a crust in the oven.
- 11
- Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes, at 20 minutes, remove the foil and discard. Stir gently and cook a further 25 minutes.
- 12
- Once cooked, stir through the spinach.
- 13
- Serve topped with shredded coriander.
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