Roasted Pumpkin w/ Chilli Yoghurt & Shallots
Cold yoghurt and hot food: a match made in culinary heaven. Spicy curries with homemade raita, piping hot, sweet porridge with a dollop of natural yoghurt - there's just something about the juxtaposition of the smooth, cold creaminess with hot, intense flavours that works undeniably well. That is the secret of this dish. Sweet roast pumpkin, fried chilli and shallot tops with cumin, coriander and cayenne pepper pack a spicy punch while swimming atop clouds of Greek yoghurt. It's cold, it's hot, it's spicy, it's sweet, it's salty, it's tart. Your tongue will be so assaulted by textures, flavours and temperatures it won't know what's hit it. It won't mind.
Roasted Pumpkin w/ Chilli Yoghurt & Shallots
Serves 4 as a side or 2 as a main
Ingredients
1 kg pumpkin (peel left on)
3 Tbsp olive oil
1⁄2 tsp salt
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1 cup cold Greek yoghurt
A handful of fresh coriander
For the sautéed shallot tops
1 bunch shallot tops (200g), roughly chopped
1⁄3 cup olive oil
3 chillies, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1⁄2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dashi stock
Pinch of salt
Note: If you can’t find shallot tops you can use spring onions instead - remove the roots and roughly chop the rest of the spring onion (both the green and white parts).
Method
Preheat your oven to 200 ̊C conventional (180 ̊C fan forced).
Cut the pumpkin into slices about 3cm thick. Toss the sliced pumpkin in the olive oil and salt, place on an oven tray and roast for 60-80 minutes (it’s done when it’s soft all the way through and has started to brown and caramelise on the outside). Once the pumpkin is done you can turn off the oven and leave the pumpkin in there to stay warm while you cook the shallot tops.
Put all the ingredients for the shallot tops in a medium saucepan and cook on moderate heat until the shallot tops are very soft and the spices are fragrant (about 5-10 minutes). Remove the shallot tops (leaving the other ingredients in the oil) and pop on a plate.
Spread the Greek yoghurt onto the bottom of a serving dish, drizzle over the oil and spices that the shallot tops were cooked in, lay the roast pumpkin on top of the yoghurt, top with the shallot tops and serve with a few wedges of lemon and some fresh coriander.
