Butternut Squash Almond & Chickpea Curry - hot & bright
This hot and nutty vegan curry is made with ground almonds, chickpeas, butternut squash, black pepper, cardamom, ginger, garlic, onions and coriander. It’s hot and bright. Perfect for a damp and dull evening. And it’s a heart-healthy recipe.
This recipe is inspired by Chicken, Pistachio & Black Pepper Curry from Sabrina Ghayour’s Feasts. It’s gorgeous. It’s very spicy but also very bright with flavour. This vegan curry is a simpler dish - but also tasty.
I often like to throw a few raisins into a curry. Just at the end so they retain all their flavour. Their sweetness cuts nicely through the heat. If you can find some golden sultanas throw in a few into this. They are yummy.
I toast pumpkin seeds without removing their cases. I eat them like that. I think they taste a bit like popcorn. Try it - you just might like it.
Butternut Squash Almond and Chickpea Curry
Yield: Serves 4
Suitable for: Gluten-free diet
Ingredients:
- 1½ tbsp black peppercorns
- 6 green cardamom pods, seeds
- 5 large garlic cloves
- 2 medium-sized chillies
- 50g fresh coriander
- 2½ ″ ginger root, peeled
- 100g ground almonds
- 2 onions, peeled & chopped roughly
- 6 portobello mushrooms, sliced
- 2 x 400g tins chickpeas, drained & rinsed
- 1 medium-sized butternut squash, peeled& cut into ½ ″ cubes, reserve the seeds
- 1 small tin of sweetcorn, drained
- ⅓ cup golden sultanas
- salt
Instructions:
Prepare herbs & spices
Grind up the peppercorns and cardamom seeds in a coffee grinder or pestle and mortar. Place aside for later use.- Place the ground almonds, garlic, ginger, four-fifths of the coriander and the chillies into a food mixer. Mix until everything is chopped up small. Add in ¼ cup of water and mix around again. You want it to become a smooth paste. It will probably need another ¼ cup of water before your curry paste has the right consistency.
Make the curry
Fry the onions on a gentle to moderate heat until they start to brown. Add in the mushrooms. Turn up the heat and keep stirring regularly to avoid sticking. Cook the mushrooms until they’ve lost most of their moisture. Add in the chickpeas. Sprinkle over the ground pepper and cardamom and stir around till every is well coated.- Add in the curry paste and cook for a couple of minutes. Stir in a large pinch of salt. Add in the butternut squash and stir around well. Add in about a cup of water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.
Toast the seeds
While the curry is cooking roast the seeds from the butternut squash. Place in the a lightly greased baking tin. Sprinkle with a little salt. Bake for 15 minutes at 180 C or until they turn golden brown. These taste great - like popcorn with a different texture.Remove from the heat & add the sultanas
When the butternut squash has cooked, taste and add more salt if necessary. Remove from the heat. Stir in the sweetcorn and half the sultanas. Leave to cool for 15 minutes.- Serve with brown or wild rice or a mix of both, and with with a sprinkle of fresh coriander, baked butternut squash seed and golden sultanas.
Enjoy!
