Squash obsessed: Butternut squash and pea curry

Finished product: Curry with homemade naan 

Living in Washington, DC has its benefits, including a variety of restaurants, so I can cycle through Indian, Thai, Chinese, Ethiopian, and all the other amazing ethnic cuisines offered in the city. Even though Galveston is near and dear to my heart, it had a few flaws, including the lack of ethnic food beyond Mexican and Vietnamese food. During my years in Galveston, I mastered a few key Indian and Thai dishes. My go-to dish, for cheap and easy eating is curry. I was actually taught how to make curry by an Indian graduate student who was a research assistant in the lab where I worked in college. This guy was living a very stereotypical Indian immigrant experience, written about beautifully by Jhumpa Lahira, in her book the Interpreter of Maladies. He had moved to DC from Delhi to get his PhD in Biology and eventually business degree so he could run a pharmaceutical company back in India. He even had a relationship with a woman in a different caste who his parents didn't approve of. He lived in a two bedroom apartment, near the GWU campus, with 4 other Indian guys who were also in graduate school. My friend, instead of languishing without home-cooked Indian food or eating out all the time, learned to cook and taught he a few tricks such as this basic curry formula, which can also be tweaked to make lentils.

The basic ingredients

Curry is a mainstay meal because you can always keep the ingredients on hand in your pantry and you can use almost any vegetable as the base. I usually make kidney bean curry, and if you don't have an Indian friend to teach you how to make curry, I love this basic recipe from Smitten Kitchen. 

The key to keeping curry interesting is to play around with the ratio of onion to garlic to ginger as well as adjusting the spice level by experimenting with different chili powders and also using different types of fresh chile peppers. Some days I double the ginger and cut down the garlic or I puree the onions instead of merely chopping them.

The fall season is always marked by an overabundance of squash. Even if I have a butternut squash at home on my table, I'm still drawn to the squash at the farmer's market. So instead of making lentils or kidney bean curry, I incorporated butternut squash into my basic curry recipe. My major critique of using squash in this curry, is that it turned out sweeter than expected, much sweeter than when I have used carrots or sweet potatoes in the past. Because I assumed the squash would be sweet, I doubled the ginger I usually use

Butternut squash and pea curry

Ingredients:
2-3 tbs of oil, olive oil or canola
1 onion, finely chopped
garlic 3 cloves, minced
ginger, about 4 inches worth, comes about to 2 tbs of grated ginger
one can of diced tomatoes
1 bag of frozen peas
one butternut squash, keep the skin on, cut into small cubes, about chick pea sized

Spices

Spices:
1 tbs of turmeric
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs coriander
1 tbs chili pepper
1/2 tbs cinnamon
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp black pepper
salt

1. Prep work: Dice the onions, mince or crush the garlic, grate the ginger, and cut the butternut squash into chickpea sized cubes (with the skin on)

2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saute pan

Onions with spices

3. Add the onions, garlic and ginger, and cook for 2-5 minutes until soft, try not to brown

4. Once the onions are soft, add the spices and a few twists of freshly ground pepper to the onions and dry fry the spices and onions all together for 2 minutes, or at least until fragrant

5. Add the canned tomatoes with their liquid to the onions and spices. This will act like deglazing, allowing you scrape up all the spices that may have stuck to the pan

add the squash

add water to the squash before simmering

6. Allow the liquid portion to come to simmer, then add in the butternut squash. Add about 1 cup of water, just enough to have most of the squash submerged. Again, with the pan uncovered over medium heat, allow the liquid and squash to come to a simmer.

7. With the pan uncovered, simmer the squash curry for 10 minutes, which will expedite cooking time and allow some of the liquid to cook off. 

8. Then turn the burner to low and cover the curry. Let the curry cook covered for about 20 minutes, with some minor bubbling at the edges. Uncover and stir 2-3 times to make sure the curry is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. If the curry is sticking, turn down the heat and add a touch more water (a few tbs). 

9. After 20 minutes, the squash should be soft and the mixture should have thickened. Taste the curry now and add salt and pepper as needed. 

The last two steps 

(If you feel like your curry tastes too much like "spice" ie subtly gritty and bitter, add about a 1/2 cup of water and cook for an extra 10 minutes. This happens to me sometimes because I go overboard on the spices. The solution to cut down on the amount of powdered spice you use.) 

10. Once your curry and spiced and salted to taste, add in bag of peas and mix well to incorporate. Then cook the curry for another 5 minutes so the peas are entirely thawed and cooked through and the mixture can become a bit thicker

(Since I usually eat my curry with just naan, I like a thick, creamy consistency. If your tendency is to eat Indian food over rice, then you can cook it over a lower heat or for less time.)  

11. Turn off the stove and let the curry sit for 10 minutes before eating to let the flavors meld.  Eat with naan or over rice. 

I am not a baker by nature; I do not have the patience or attention for detail and problem solving that is required for making really good bread. However, flat breads like pizza dough, pita, and naan are quite easy to make. Working with dough, the kneading, the rising, and shaping the bread is incredibly satisfying and sometimes therapeutic (depending on the week I've had). I will post the Mark Bittman Pita recipe I use for both naan and pita on another post when I make pita with my Jordanian
neighbor.