If you’d visited my garden this year in late summer all you would have seen was a wilderness of overgrown pumpkin vines. They took on a life of their own, clambering over everything, climbing up the elderflower tree, sprawling over walls, plunging brave tendrils in the pond, shooting confident roots down into every part of the lawn and basically taking over in every sense of the word. I didn’t mind. You have to respect anything that grows with that kind of rampant confidence, especially when you know it’s going to reward you with the sweetest, brightest orange pumpkins.

Pumpkins belong to that special category of vegetables where the homegrown variety is leagues ahead of the store-bought (tomatoes are, incidentally, king of this category). If you are happy to let your backyard be held hostage by a green invader for approximately two months of late summer, I highly recommend throwing a few plants in! And then you can roast it up until it’s golden and plop it on top of a spicy, hearty, delicious bowlful of green lentil dhal!

Green Lentil Dhal with Roast Butternut Pumpkin

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups green lentils

4 cups water

1 x 400g can whole tomatoes

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 cup pitted dates, chopped into thirds

For the roast pumpkin

~ 2 cups of butternut pumpkin, cut into rounds 1-2 cm thick

2 tsp olive oil

A generous pinch of salt

A few spoonfuls of natural yoghurt, two large green chillies, thinly sliced, and a handful of fresh coriander (to serve)

Method

Put all the ingredients (except those for the roast pumpkin) in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook, partially covered, for 40 minutes, stirring every now and then to make sure the lentils don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

While the dhal cooks, roast the pumpkin. Toss the chopped pumpkin in the olive oil, sprinkle with a good pinch of salt, and place on a lined baking tray. Roast at 200˚C for 40 minutes or until tender and starting to caramelise on the edges.

Serve a few spoonfuls of dhal topped with the roasted pumpkin, a spoonful of natural yoghurt the chilli and coriander.

Note: For a vegan version, simply omit the yoghurt, as pictured (or go for a coconut or non-dairy yoghurt)

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