A beautiful fragrant veggie chickpea curry with korma spices made creamy with rich coconut milk and perfectly roasted pumpkin pieces. Served with Tuscan kale and slivered almonds on a bed of fluffy rice, this curry is sure to become a weeknight favourite.
Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Place pumpkin pieces, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Toss to combine. Place pumpkin on prepared sheet and bake in pre-heated oven for approximately 15 minutes until pumpkin is just done. Remove from oven and set aside.
Heat ghee/coconut oil in a large cast-iron pan on high. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, coriander root and fennel seeds. Sauté for a couple of minutes until onion becomes soft. Reduce heat to low. Add spices, salt and sugar. Cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly till the spices are cooked through. Add the coconut milk, veggie stock and chickpeas. Increase heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes until curry turns a shade darker and becomes really fragrant.
Remove from heat. Stir through the kale leaves and roast pumpkin pieces. Top with slivered almonds, coriander leaves and serve with lime wedges over rice.
Notes
Coriander (Cilantro) Root - It is just the actual root of the herb still attached to the bunch of fresh coriander you buy (see picture above). This needs to be washed thoroughly before use as it always has some dirt sticking to it. If your bunch doesn't come with the root attached, just use the stalks which are the main flavour ingredient. If you have neither on hand, a teaspoon of dried ground coriander (from spice section in most supermarkets) will do the trick. Add this when you add the other spices.