This chicken pumpkin curry is creamy, hearty, and delicious. Combined with tender chicken in a coconut milk curry sauce, this savory and sweet dish is a great way to use chunks of pumpkin in a main dish, making it a fabulously different way to enjoy pumpkin spice!
Combine chicken pieces with 2 teaspoons tapioca starch, 1 teaspoon sea salt, and black pepper. Stir well to coat. Set aside.
Combine chicken broth, fish sauce, coconut sugar, and tapioca starch in a measuring cup or bowl and whisk well. Set aside.
Heat a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil and add the chicken.
Brown the chicken on both sides, cooking until chicken is about ¾ cooked; remove from pan and set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan and add curry powder. Quickly stir for about 10 seconds to toast the spices. Add 2 tablespoons of water to the pan and scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan with your spatula.
Add onions, garlic to the pan and cook for 2 minutes.
Add pumpkin chunks to the pan and stir.
Whisk reserved chicken broth mixture and add to the pot with the coconut milk. Bring to a gentle boil.
Add chicken back to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes to heat through and until pumpkin chunks are fork tender. Sauce should naturally thicken.
Transfer to serving dish and garnish with toasted sliced almonds and green onion, if desired. Serve with hot steamed rice.
Notes
Substitute chicken thighs with chicken breasts, if desired.
In place of pumpkin, use potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, daikon, green or red bell peppers, etc.
Adjust curry powder, fish sauce, and other seasonings according to your own taste.
If sauce is not thick enough, mix ½ teaspoon tapioca starch with 1 teaspoon cold water into a slurry and stir it into the sauce.
Tapioca starch can be replaced with cornstarch.
Serve over hot white rice, cauliflower rice, or with flatbread for dipping.
Top with chopped scallions and sliced almonds, if desired.