Jackfruit, Pumpkin & Spinach Curry (Low Fat)

Something's bugging me and I was wondering how you would all feel about it (if you don't want to listen to ramble feel free to skip down to the recipe). At the gym this morning there was a very thin girl on the bike in front of me. I oscillated between longing for a body like hers and feeling like I should feed her. Talking to my father on the way home (yes I go to the gym with my father, he's sick & its nice to see him every morning) he mentioned he'd asked our trainer about her and he said she's definitely not sick, she's just slim. This is roughly what she looked like... you could see her ribs, shoulder blades and vertebra through her top and her thighs were roughly the size of my upper arms. So hearing 'she's just slim' coming from someone I trust with my health is kinda messing with my mind. I've worked so hard to focus on muscle tone and health over being thin but if I could be thin & healthy (physically & mentally) I would still choose that. How thin is too thin to you? Is it possible to be healthy and that thin? hmm onto vegetables...

Since my first experience with young green jackfruit went so well with the Young Jackfruit Sambal Salad I decided to use it in a curry. It was just as wonderful as I predicted. This will definitely be appearing on my plate again. I prefer the texture of the jackfruit to tofu (which usually appears in my currys) but it's on par with lentils/beans... perhaps they would work well together? one way to find out!

This curry is full of flavour and veggies, I would be great with millet, quinoa, brown rice but we made cous-cous. I'm willing to try things again because your tastes do change and I'm constantly trying to get my husband to try new foods (usually vegetables and fruits) so I have to do the same! but surprise surprise I still don't like it- so I can vouch for the fact this curry is good enough to have without it.

Jackfruit, Pumpkin & Spinach Curry

Curry, cous-cous, green beans, green chili pickle

Makes 4 serves
1 can young green jackfruit
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp coriander
1 tsp cloves
1 tbsp mustard seeds
3 large green chillis- seeds in, they're mild but flavourful! Adjust to taste
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 small butternut pumpkin
1/2 cup light coconut cream (or sub in blended tomatoes)
2 tbsp ground chia seeds
1 cup frozen spinach
thumb size piece of ginger
fresh coriander to garnish
1 tbsp lemon juice
'chicken' stock to cover (approximately 4/5 cups)

• Grind whole spices & chia seeds
• chop chilies & pumpkin
• pumpkin, spinach, chili, stock, ginger in pot- simmer till the pumpkin is tender
• chop and add jackfruit- simmer for 10 minutes-ish
• add lemon & coconut
• enjoy with cous-cous/millet/rice/quinoa/buckwheat... whatever you fancy!

I hope you give jackfruit a try- its really yummy, filling and low cal. It's going to be a regular in my cupboard for sure! How easy is canned jackfruit + frozen veg curry on a weeknight? I made another version with blended tomatoes instead of the coconut cream in the gravy- less calories & fat and worked very well. 
Thank you so much for the comments on my last post! I really truly appreciate every comment I get but those in particular were just what I needed to hear when I was making a change in my diet. I'm all in now- I'm cutting the fats, limiting the carbs, enjoying fruits and eating my weight in vegetables- wish me luck?
Hope you're all enjoying yummy plant based meals xxx