Thai Butternut Squash Red Curry (paleo, gluten-free, vegan option)

Thai Butternut Squash Red Curry with step by step pictures. A flavorful fall recipe – Butternut Squash Curry or Pumpkin Curry in a coconut red curry gravy. It’s paleo, gluten-free and vegan option is available.

The Time my Mom went searching for me on Halloween 🙄

Back in the day when I was 15, I went trick-or-treating with a couple friends. We left around 3 pm, and I wasn’t home by 6 pm. So guess what my mom decided to do? Anyone? Well, she drove around town looking for me in the dark. Granted she had an idea where I’d be trick-or-treating, to this day I’m surprised she actually found me. 

I vividly recall walking with my two friends, and I heard someone from a distance screaming my name, “Honeyyyyyy.” Yup, that’s actually my nickname. In my head I was like, that can’t be. I continued to walk and chose to ignore the voice. Next thing I know, my mom literally pulled up in front of me and yelled at me in Hindi (in front of my friends) to get in the car. Needless to say, I was M-O-R-T-I-F-I-E-D. 

On the way home I fought with her asking her why was she was looking for me, I’m 15 years old, and it’s only 6 pm to which she fired back, “it’s dark out, how much candy do you need?” 😂 I guess, but still, it’s Halloween! 🎃

Ahhh.. I cringe every time I think back to that day. I still don’t know if my mom driving around town looking for me was the right thing to do. I was 15! And with friends! What do you think?

Thai Butternut Squash Red Curry

Anyway, on to some happy food thoughts. October and November are all about pumpkin season, so why not try this Thai Butternut Squash Red Curry made with pumpkin (or butternut squash), coconut milk, and all those Thai flavors. You can also make my Tofu Thai Red Curry So creamy, delicious, and tasty!

thai butternut squash red curry recipe is:

Gluten-Free
Vegan (omit fish sauce and replace with soy sauce)
Versatile (use pumpkin or butternut squash)
Full of Flavor
Ethnic
Creamy
Warm & Comforting
Perfect for a night in, skip the takeout

how to make thai butternut squash red curry step by step?

1. Begin by chopping the ginger and garlic, and cubing the pumpkin/butternut squash. Just fyi – I used butternut squash for this recipe.
2. Heat up a dutch castiron on medium heat, once hot, add oil followed by the garlic and ginger. Cook for about 30 seconds until the raw smell goes away.
3. Add the butternut squash or pumpkin. Stir well and cook for 6-7 minutes on low-medium heat. Make sure the butternut squash does not get mushy.
4. In the meantime, slice the red bell pepper and chop the string beans into 1 inch pieces. Open up the red curry paste and coconut milk cans.

5. Back to the butternut squash, this is what you should have. You may notice the bottom may be slightly burnt, that’s okay, we will deglaze it later on.
6. Add the thai red curry paste along with just a 1/4 cup of coconut milk. Deglaze the bottom. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes.
7. Now the pour the remainder of the coconut milk. Mix well and cook on low-medium heat for a few minutes until the sauce warms through. You now have butternut squash curry.

8. Add the red bell pepper and beans.
9. Followed by the fish sauce (if you’re vegetarian, omit and use gluten-free tamari instead). 
10. Then coconut sugar.
11. Now add the kaffir lime leaves and water. Simply fill up the coconut can with 1 cup of water and add to the curry.

12. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes until the sauce is warm. Turn off the stove.
13. Top with Thai basil leaves and baby bok choy. The heat of the sauce will wilt the bok choy.

14. Serve Thai Butternut Squash Red Curry with brown rice.