Pumpkin and Pineapple Curry

I learned a big lesson with this recipe: pumpkin doesn't freeze very well except as puree. I was suspecting it after it mysteriously disappeared into the chili last week. But this recipe confirms it. It looks good as it thaws, just regular pumpkin, if a bit watery. But add heat for more than a few minutes and don't even think about stirring it or it's gone. Hmmm, I wonder why I never read that in the thousands of pages in books and online that I've read about cooking with pumpkin. On the other hand, no commercial company has made a go at it either. I've never seen frozen pumpkin for sale. However, I just googled it and it is available in Vietnam.

Both of the packages that I've used so far were French reds, so maybe other types will hold up better in the freezer. It sort of puts a damper on some of the ideas that I had for all that frozen pumpkin I've got; I'll just have to be creative. If you're in the states and wondering why I continue to give recipes that call for fresh pumpkin, it's because I have readers in the Southern Hemisphere where it is now pumpkin season. I still see butternut squash in the stores here and they can be easily substituted since lots of my recipes call for squash to begin with and I substitute pumpkin.

On to pumpkin and pineapple curry (which did start life as squash and pineapple) - I really like this stuff. I was the only one who ate it, not because they didn't like it but because I was the only one home. I like the warmth of Thai curry paste, sort of like radiant heat for your mouth. You could add some chicken, but I found it filling by itself over rice.