2010 Cooking Club Week 46: Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry

olaola

... with flatbreads!

I've been making this recipe for a while now, but watching Jamie's 30 min meals - he made something VERY similar and added cauliflower. Which I've since done, and it tasted great. So add it yourself if you fancy it.

Start on the flatbreads. I find if I leave them for a while before rolling & cooking they rise better. All they are is self raising flour and enough water to make a soft dough. I add different ingredients into the flour before the water - cumin seeds, grated garlic, coriander etc. Whatever I have knocking around really. Give it a bit of a knead and cover it with clingfilm while you work on the main event.

You'll need:
1 Butternut squash (if you can't get one, a sweet potato will do) peeled & cut into cubes
Can of chickpeas
Can of tomatoes
Spinach
1 clove of Garlic
1 Onion
Natural Yoghurt (optional!)
Curry paste (I use Patak's, you can use spices if you prefer)
And whatever extra spices you like to pop in, I like to put in fresh coriander, and some toasted ground cumin seeds.
Rice - whatever type you fancy

I just pop some paste in a pot, and add chopped onion & garlic. Fry over a lowish heat until the onion is softened. Add in the tin of tomatoes and the butternut squash and bring to a simmer. The squash should take about 20 mins to cook, so about 15 mins in add in the drained chickpeas and give it a taste. You can add your extra spices in now too. Just before it's cooked, you can throw in some yoghurt if you like it creamier style. And put a good few handfuls of spinach. When the spinach is wilted, it's good to go.

The flatbreads, I do these while the curry is cooking. Get a heavy bottomed pan and heat it (dry) to as hot as you can get it. Roll out rounds of the flour mixture - whatever size you want. Put the bread in the pan, let it sit on one side for about 20 seconds, then flip. Leave for about another 40 seconds and then flip again and leave until cooked. This way they'll bubble up nicely and look more 'authentic'! Wrap them in tinfoil or a teatowel and leave them in the oven to stay warm, they keep successfully like this for a while.

This is the way I cook my basmati - cover the rice in the pot with about 1" of water. Bring to boil and let the surplus evaporate (you'll see holes in the rice at this stage) then cover the pot with a square of kitchen paper and a good tight fitting lid. Keep over a VERY low heat for at least 10 mins.

I'll add pics during the week, and as always this tastes even better the next day A whole butternut squash will feed 4 people, esp if you add in the cauliflower.

unkel

This is one of my regular vegetarian dinners - highly recommended

As Jamie Oliver, I use the Patak Jalfrezi paste but instead of butternut squash, I use a bit of potatoe and a lot of cauliflower. Here's the link to Olivers' recipe.

Try this all you meat lovers out there - I promise you won't miss the lack of meat in this dinner!

olaola

Here is a pic of the flatbreads that I did last night (for another dish)

Little Alex

I just made this now, olaola. I'm actually going to have it tomorrow night, but I had a few mouthfuls of it already and it tastes very nice! I used both sweet potato and butternut squash, which both look almost identical, and both of which were tender at the same time.

The flatbread was gorgeous and i've already eaten half of it! One thing I have to say is that you need to know your pan for making it. I tried the first one without any oil and it just stuck to the pot. Disaster. For the second one I melted some butter first and then put the dough in. That did the trick.



PS: Good to see your doggy again! :pac:

what2do

Thanks olaola this was yummy! Had it for dinner last night and then lunch today... I was looking forward to lunchtime all morning!

I actually put in sweet potato and butternut squash plus the chickpeas and it made for a lovely combination.

Definitely a winner that I'll be doing again:)

nice1franko

Had a go at this last night. Improvised a little bit - added green beans and butterbeans instead of spinach and chickpeas (just because I had the former and not the latter).

I'd no self raising flour so just used plain for the bread and didn't let it prove at all so it was FLAT bread. BTW it was feckin gorgeous. It would have been delicious on its own with just a few dips like hummous, pesto or salsa. Did mine on the griddle.

nice1franko

Oh yeah... and the curry was gorgeous too! Agree with unkel, you won't miss the meat in there. Looking forward to second helping tonight.

The paste I used was pataks Garam Massalla.

foodaholic

I cooked this during the week. Its a real winter dish. I used Sweet potatoes as couldnt get butternut squash. Think I would have prefered the squash though. Thanks olaola

boosh_fan

Looks delicious! Can't wait to try it

BaZmO*

Made this for dinner tonight and it was lovely. Don't think I've ever had a purely vegetarian meal. Mad I know.

I had all the ingredients in the cupboard except for the Butternut Squash (which I couldn't get so used sweet potato), and the Chickpeas.

Used Pataks Tika Masala Curry Paste, but I forgot to put it in with the Onions and Garlic. Just chucked it in with the tomatoes. Doubt it made any difference though.

I added the Yoghurt, Cumin and Chopped Coriander towards the end.
Think I may have used a bit too much Sweet Potato as it was a little too dry towards the end, so I just added some water.

The Flatbreads were fantastic. Never thought of making them before but they'll make a great alternative to buying Naans when I'm making a curry. I put some Cumin Seeds and chopped Coriander in them which was lovely. Never thought to roll them out :rolleyes: I just tried to make them as flat as I could by hand. Real blonde moment there.

Great dish. Thanks!

olaola

Finally made this again last night! Apologies for the delay in the piccies
Only got three in before the aul phone died for the evening. But the others here have done a great job in recreating the final dish!



You can ignore the dog medication in the tub behind the tomatoes



I like the chunks, chunky!



Just after I stirred the spinach in, you see the flatbreads on the RHS and the rice cooking behind.

Hope you all enjoyed it! Happy Christmas btw, I've really enjoyed this idea in 2010, and I defo think we should do a recipe book for next year!

unkel

And for anybody having difficulty sourcing a butternut squash, Lidl nearly always have them for €1.49 each.

boosh_fan

This is in the slow cooker now, for dinner tomorrow. Smells delish. Can't wait to try the flatbreads too

edit: It was yummy! Forgot to get spinach though. The bread was great.



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Tusky

I made this today. In the Jamie Oliver recipe he says to use Pataks Jalfrezi paste. I tried everywhere (Dunnes, Fresh, Tesco & various Indian shops) but couldnt find it. Anyone know who stocks it ? Used mild curry paste instead.