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This delicious, well seasoned, and nutritious Pumpkin Ital Stew is Rasta approved, cooked down in coconut milk, and a great flavour of the islands without the heaviness from meat. Its a quick and easy weeknight dinner recipe, keeps you full, and is packed with nutrients.
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What is Ital Stew?
Ital is a Caribbean Rasta term directly coming from the word v-ital. Ital is a culture, way of living, style of cooking food, and overall consciousness of life. Most Rastas live a plant based lifestyle free from over processed foods and high sugar/salt diets. The name of this blog was dedicated to the rasta word ital. Even though I am not a Rasta woman, I still carry many of the sentiments of the philosophy in my daily routine.
Ital stew is a delicious combination of hearty vegetables cooked down in aromatic herbs and coconut milk. It is truly light and will leave you feeling full without the heaviness that comes with meat and other animal products. This dish is not strict and can be subbed with many other vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, butternut squash, or even Caribbean yam.
What you’ll need- Pumpkin Ital Stew
- Fresh Pumpkin– Jamaican pumpkin aka calabaza squash is green on the outside and bright orange on the inside. Can be easily replaced with kabocha or butternut squash.
- Butter beans– One of my favorite beans! They add a rich flavour to the dish as well as more protein.
- Onion
- Tomatoes
- Bell Pepper
- Scotch Bonnet pepper
- Thyme
- Scallion aka Green Onion
- Garlic
- Coconut Milk
Seasonings you need
- Jamaican All Purpose– A must for all Jamaican inspired dishes. Use this link to grab your own bottle if you don’t have some.
- No Salt Seasoning– This is a key ingredient to cooking low sodium dishes while instilling rich flavour! Grab some here.
- Curry Powder– My favorite, most rich JA curry powder is by Blue Mountain Country. Buy some using this link to bless your kitchen.
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Italian Seasoning
How to make Pumpkin Ital Stew
Step One:
Chop the tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, and scallion into small pieces and grate the garlic. Chop the pumpkin into semi medium chunks or preferred size. Leave the thyme and scotch bonnet whole. (The seeds of the scotch bonnet are extremely spicy!) Sauté in hot oil for about 3 minutes or until fragrant.
Step Two:
Once the fresh herbs are aromatic, add in the dry seasoning, chopped pumpkin, coconut milk, and cooked butter beans and cover the pan. Allow to simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.
Step Three:
Once the pumpkin is fork tender, salt the dish to taste and serve with your side of choice!
How to store Pumpkin Ital Stew
This delicious, heart healthy rasta ital stew is great for meal prep and tastes even better when it sits and marinates in the fridge! Due to the coconut milk, the recipe can last up to 5 days in the fridge or about 1.5 weeks in the freezer.
Pumpkin Ital Stew tastes heavenly paired with authentic Jamaican Rice and Peas or Coconut curry quinoa! Find both of the recipe on the Jamaican section of the food blog.
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