* Recipe written exclusively for Charby Ibrahim – The Ancestral Body. Nutritional Health Coach, Personal Trainer www.theancestralbody.com.au *

Whenever I feel a cold might be coming on, I crave orange foods. Assumingly due to feeling like I need to pump up my Vitamin C levels. I naively assumed from my childhood memories of sucking on Vitamin C tablets, that all orange foods were jam packed full of Vitamin C.

While pumpkins are not as high in Vitamin C as I imagined, they are packed with Vitamin A (supports good vision), and more importantly, really high in anti-inflammatory carotenoid antioxidants which help support a healthy immune system. They also contain a good dose of fibre to aid digestive, which is particularly important for me and others who don’t get any fibre from grains or legumes (and did everyone watch Catalyst – Gut Reaction 2 a few weeks ago about the connection between a diet high in fibre and gut health, and also to control asthma? It’s well worth a watch if you’re interested in gut health – I’m so glad that this is finally getting some attention and major research as I really believe that gut health is integral to good health, and that poor gut is inextricably linked to many health issues. I predict we’re gonna hear a lot more about gut health in the near future! Fingers crossed…).

Baking the pumpkin gives it a richer, sweeter taste, and for further anti-inflammatory properties I add turmeric (read more here for why I try to sneak turmeric into most savoury dishes), cinnamon for sweetness (and it just goes so well with roast pumpkin), curry powder for a little flavour zing and and coconut milk for taste and saturated fat. Leave it baby food thick if you want to use a fork, or thin it down with stock or water.

Makes 1-1.5 litres (depending on how thick you make it)

ingredients

  • ½ pumpkin – skin on, seeds removed, cut into even slices / crescents (my favourite for this dish is the green-skin Japanese variety but any will do just fine)
  • 1 onion – peeled & roughly chopped cut into 8 even chunks
  • 6-8 cloves of garlic (separated, skin on)
  • 2-3 Tbsp melted coconut oil
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • freshly cracked black pepper
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • water/stock – (optional depending on how thick you like it)

method

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
  2. Arrange pumpkin on 2 baking trays lined with baking paper in one layer
  3. Divide onion segments and garlic between the 2 trays (scatter amongst pumpkin)
  4. Drizzle the lot with the melted coconut oil
  5. Sprinkle the curry powder, cinnamon, turmeric, salt & pepper evenly over the pumpkin/onions/garlic
  6. Cook in the oven for 30-40 mins (or until pumpkin is very soft and onions and garlic browned)
  7. Remove from oven and leave to cool a little
  8. Carefully peel the garlic cloves
  9. Put everything together in a blender (including the pumpkin skin) with the tin of coconut milk and blend until smooth (or chunky if you like chunky!)
  10. Transfer to a saucepan on the stove and heat on low heat with the lid, taste and add seasoning / stock to taste and to thin it down to your liking.
  11. Keeps in an air-tight container in the fridge for 1-2 weeks and freezes/thaws well.

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