Whacky Pumpkin Curry Pasta

Yesterday's nice-sunny Sunday was spent with Connie as she wanted to learn something to make for her other friends on the coming week. That said, the whole cooking experience began from buying the ingredients itself. We had to walk our way up to Randwick to get the ingredients, though I think that with the final product, the ingredients could have all been bought around Kingsford area. Anyway, not that I'm complaining as Connie's a good company. By the time we got back to her place, it was already 2pm, far behind schedule as we spent too much time hovering around, hence we had to pull a quickie before it gets too late and the meal end up as a dinner instead. So quickly, we manage to pull the dish off in 45, faster than I thought as I was expecting no less than an hour, but the outcome was pretty good as well...

This time around I decided to throw a bit of West into a wholesome of East, i.e. the pasta base with the Thai curry, which was really aromatic, I should have remembered the brand though, so that everyone else can get their hands on it. Anyway here are the ingredients:

300-500g pasta (any type will do, boil in water until desired softness)
1 large red Spanish onion (finely chopped)
3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
50g shitake mushroom (chopped, rinsed, seasoned with sugar, salt and dry Basil)
about 300-500g pumpkin (any type will do, you can use butternut as well, coarsely chopped)
2tbsp Thai red hot curry paste (or more for those spice fans, you can use panang curry or yellow curry as well)
about 300g small washed potatoes
200g of tuna flakes
100g of diced tomatoes (just use the canned ones for those who are lazy, they come with the tomato sauce as well)
5tbsp vegetable oil
about 1 cup of milk (you can use coconut milk as well)
grated Parmasen cheese for finishing
salt and pepper to taste
half a bunch of Australian corriander (or use any herb that you like, basil and curry leafs are good options as well)

The methodology is simple, it's like making a curry dish, but add in more of the tomato to make it more subtle. Start of by poaching the chopped pumpkin and potatoes in salted water until the pumpkin are soft and tender, the potatoes will be further cooked in the curry later, so don't worry about them.
Meanwhile, dry-fry (or called toast) the chopped onions and shitake mushroom on a medium-high heat, add in sugar and salt when the ingredients start to dry, followed by vegetable oil and turning to high heat, saute for about 5 minutes or until the onions start to brown. Add in the garlic, saute until fragrant and add in curry paste, followed by diced tomato and half a cup of milk, mix well and simmer until it boils.

Add in the half-poached potatoes and the remaining milk upon boiling, leave to simmer. Meanwhile, mash the poached pumpkin evenly add some salt and pepper to taste. Done with that, add in the tuna flakes into the sauce and mix well, add seasoning to taste and bring to boil again on medium-low heat, add in the mashed pumpkin at last (so that much of the sweetness is retained), turn to low-heat and mix well. Done, serve with pasta, coarsely chopped herbs and finish off with grated Parmesan cheese.

Last note, feel free to add more water to make the sauce more diluted than the dry-pasty version that I like, and you could also substitute the tuna flakes with any other meat, preferably of stronger aroma, like minced beef or pork, or even herb-seasoned sausages, but make sure to pre-roast them to intensify the flavours.