For the marinade, pop all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix together, checking for seasoning. Plonk in the pumpkin wedges and coat them liberally. Leave to get friendly while you potter about with the rest of the components.
Add sliced onions, whole garlic cloves, curry leaves, vegetable oil and a good pinch of salt flakes to a deep roasting tray and mix. Place tandoori pumpkin on top, drizzling any leftover marinade over the pumpkin/onions and pop in the oven at 190℃ (170℃ fan) for 50 mins. Check halfway through and mix the onions through to give them an even soften.
While the oven’s doing its thing, in a medium sized saucepan add rice, whole spices and 1 tsp of salt flakes. Cover with triple the amount of water to rice and place onto a high heat. Bring to a gentle boil and parcook for approximately 6 minutes. You want the rice to be slightly tender as it will finish cooking when in the oven. Strain off the water, reserving all of the spices.
Once the pumpkin’s softened and getting a bit of burnish, transfer the pumpkin and whole unpeeled garlic cloves out of the tray for a moment. Pour the rice mixture in with the reserved spices, onion, release the garlic from their skins and pop back in, squashing slightly, mixing all together. Add in 1 cup of water, ¼ teaspoon more turmeric and another 1 teaspoon of salt flakes. Mix it all together thoroughly, taste for seasoning and then add the pumpkin pieces back on.
Whack back into the oven for another 25 minutes. Keep an eye on the rice, check it’s not burning and when done check the pumpkin is cooked through - no one likes al-dente pumpkin. If your pumpkin needs longer, transfer to another roasting tray and pop back in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
While the pumpkin is cooking, make the coriander yoghurt. Combine everything in a jug and whiz with a stick blender until smooth. Taste for seasoning.
In a small frypan or the wiped out saucepan used for the rice, add in 2 tbsp of neutral oil, bring to a heat gently. Line a plate with paper towel. When the oil is hot, gently add in the curry leaves and fry for only 5 seconds, stirring quickly so all sides get coated with oil. Pop on the paper towel until needed.
To finish the dish, sprinkle over reserved coriander tendrils and fried curry leaves and dollop on coriander yoghurt or serve on the side.