Curried Buttercup Squash with Green Lentils

Tags

Asafoetida, buttercup squash, food, Garlic, green lentils, Onion, recipe, vegetarian food

Happy New Year to All! This is my first post of 2014. Hope everyone partied hard on New Year’s Eve and brought 2014 in with a big bang!

Since this is my first recipe of the year I thought I would post something that brings back memories of eating at my parent’s place in Bangladesh. Thought this would be a good addition, after eating all the turkey and different types of meat over the holidays, a vegetarian dish would be more welcome! I have made this with Buttercup squash, but it is usually prepared with pumpkin, so you know if you don’t have any squash handy, pumpkin is definitely an option. I find that most recipes you can interchange pumpkin and squash anyway, does anybody think that is not the case, please let me know!! Also, sometimes you can use sweet potatoes instead of the pumpkin and it still has that nice tangy, sweet and spicy flavours when cooked in the same way.I love eating this with chapatti! Hope you enjoy it! 🙂

Ingredients

1 Buttercup Squash

1 ½ Cup Green Lentils (cooked or from a can)

½ Cup Diced Tomato

1 Large Onion, chopped

7-8 cloves garlic, crushed

1 Tbsp Jaggery, grated

2 green chillis, chopped

1 Tsp chili flakes

½ Tsp turmeric powder

1 Tsp coriander powder

1 Tsp mustard seeds

1 Tsp cumin seeds

½ Tsp Asafoetida

Method

Split the squash in half. Scoop out the seeds. Grease a baking tray and put the 2 pieces face down on the tray.

Heat oven to 375 F. Roast for 15 -20 mins, or till it is half-cooked.

Take out of the oven, let it cool for a few minutes, then peel the skin and dice into cubes.

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and let them sputter.

Add cumin seeds, chilli flakes, garlic and green lentils and sauté for a few minutes.

Add in the chopped onions and sauté until they are transparent.

Add the pumpkin pieces, Asafoetida, tomatoes, turmeric and salt and let it cook covered on low heat for 15 minutes.

Add chilli and coriander powder along with jaggery and mix well.

If the mixture looks too dry then add in some water, otherwise just cook on low heat for a few minutes until the squash is fully cooked.

Serve hot with chapatti or another type of flat bread.