Warming and nutritious, my butternut squash curry will soon become a firm favourite in your kitchen. Using mainly store cupboard ingredients, it’s the perfect pick me up soup. Plus, it contains one of my favourite ingredients: red lentils. In just a matter of minutes, you will have a bowl of curry in front of you, ready to nourish you and provide you with a healthy meal.
My hero: red lentils.
I have always loved lentils, and red lentils in particular. They are very inexpensive to buy and I love the way they almost dissolve into the background of the recipe that you are cooking. Classically used in a quick lentil dahl, they also love to sit alongside vegetables of a similar colour: sweet potato, carrot and butternut squash obviously coming to mind.
When adding some garlic and red lentils to these vegetables it creates a beautiful creaminess. When I’m eating them, I love to leave them in their whole stage, slightly fallen in amongst the stock and the vegetables. But for some, blending the lentils with the vegetables provides the ultimate comfort in a bowl. A great recipe if you haven’t tried them before is this – Kitchari; the most delicious blend of red lentil and rice paired with spices, tomatoes and spinach – trust me, it’s heavenly!!
https://inastew.co.uk/recipe/tomato-spinach-kitchari/
The friendly vegetable: butternut squash
Butternut squash is always a winner in a bowl of soup, particularly when making a curry like this one. It’s versatility means that you can roast it or soften it in a pan. It loves to take on board the flavours of other ingredients and in my curry they take the form of tumeric and garam masala; subtle yet warming with a hint of spice from some hot chilli powder.
The biggest challenge with a butternut squash is peeling and chopping it. Be really careful if this is the first time you’ve attempted to cut one. It practically needs a chain saw! Probably the safest tool is the vegetable peeler. It does take a little bit more time, however, you won’t loose any of the tasty flesh or your finger either!
Knife skills: remember the basics.
When you are chopping the squash into small cubes, as with any chopping, use the bridge method. You probably already do this, but if you do need a reminder, watch the video below. It’s a method I taught my children and one I always use when in the kitchen.
If you are a complete beginner, watch this video below, and even if you’re not, it still provides a useful reminder of kitchen safety.
When cutting vegetables, try to make them as uniform as possible to allow them to cook evenly. The other consideration when preparing your vegetables is what they will be like to eat. Imagine taking a spoonful of your soup and the vegetable pieces are unevenly cut or very large. It will make it very difficult to eat and in some ways it will spoil the whole eating experience. Keep them in a nice uniformed size and cut all your vegetables consistently. Remember it is as much about the looks as it is the taste.
The nutrition lowdown
If like me, you like to know the nitty gritty detail behind the foods that you eat, then take a read of my blog post all about complete proteins.
https://inastew.co.uk/2021/10/06/what-are-complete-proteins-and-why-do-we-need-them/
Cheap & tasty food
A big consideration in my kitchen is the cost. Even before the rise of food prices, I simply couldn’t afford to feed my husband and 2 teenage children with ready made food from the supermarket or fresh meat from the butcher. Being a home cook has meant that I have had to be a smart cook and in doing so I have found that making food from scratch makes feeding my family very, very economical. This spicy dish of deliciousness proves this perfectly. It doesn’t have to form the centre piece to you meal but what is brilliant about it is that it makes a perfect partner to some chicken, fish or maybe a meat curry. Put simply, it makes the food you cook go so much further.
Cost breakdown: a cheap and economical meal
1kg bag dried red lentils = £1.80
Butternut squash = £1.50
Tin of sweetcorn (198g) = 55p
Garam masala = 95p
Hot chilli powder = 95p
Zero salt veggie stock cubes = £1.75
Total initial cost = £7.50
Cost to make for 4 I estimate would be – £2.15 – that’s just over 50p per person!
Now you can see why I am so passionate about cooking from scratch. It makes such brilliant financial sense. And it makes sense for your health too.
Check our the options on one of the popular supermarkets –
If you invest in some spices and stock cubes, you have some of the basics required to make so many dishes. The butternut squash can be used in this curry but it also delicious roasted and served in a salad with leaves, pine nuts and feta. It really is the most laid back vegetable that will happily pair with so many other flavours. Roasted with parsnips and carrots; it makes a great side with roast chicken.
The Recipe for my delicious butternut squash curry
Click the link below for the quick and easy recipe – it will take you to my ‘Feast’ page where you can find all my recipes.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post. It would be amazing if you made this and let me know what you thought. Your comments and thoughts make me a better home cook.
Laura
