Squash and Chickpea Red Curry
made this for staff food at the restaurant and it was a HIT!!!
Once a week, all the chefs make a staff meal for the restaurant. When it came to my turn, I partnered up with the junior sous chef and we made a spicy and comforting squash and chickpea red curry to celebrate all things fall, spicy and comforting. Truly a weeknight classic (and also amazing for meal prep)- go give it a try!
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash peeled and cut into chunks
1 tbsp red curry paste (for the squash- adjust to your preference)
1 tbsp oil
Curry
1 tbsp red curry paste (adjust to preference)
3 cloves of garlic chopped
1 inch ginger chopped
2 spring onions sliced on the bias
1 bell pepper chopped
1 onion cut into large chunks
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
3-4 tbsp of lime juice
Rice
1 cup of basmati long-grain rice
Enough water to cover
1/4 tsp salt
Method:
Curry
Preheat the oven to 400 F or 200 C. Peel and cut your butternut squash into medium-sized chunks. I like doing a bit larger than bite-sized. Cover with the oil and curry paste. Mix it together and put it on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put in oven and bake until golden brown and soft. It should take about 25-30 minutes. Halfway through, flip around to make sure all pieces get browned.
While the squash is cooking, start your curry. In a pot over medium-high heat, put 1 tbsp of oil in. Saute your ginger and garlic in the oil and fragrant. Then add in your onions and saute again until sweated down and soft. Add in your curry paste and cook out until dark red. It’ll become fragrant and will start releasing the oils. Then, add in your bell peppers and stir to cook down and coat in the curry paste. Pour a can of coconut milk in and mix to combine. Let simmer for 10 minutes on low heat to help develop the flavors. Add in your squash and let cook in the curry for 5-ish minutes. Add the lime juice off the heat so that the lime flavor stays fresh. Season with some salt, around 1-1.5 tsp).
Serve over some basmati rice.
Rice
You can use a rice cooker and follow package instructions. I make it on the stovetop using the following method. Rinse your rice until the water runs clear. Then, soak it for 15 minutes and drain that water as well. Fill up a pot with enough water to cover the rice. Bring the water to a boil, then add in your rinsed and drained rice. Cook on a boil for around 6 minutes. You want to cook the rice to an “al-dente” sort of texture. This means that there is a bite to the rice, or in other words, you are parboiling the rice. An easy way to see this is to take a grain of rice and split it in half, and if there is a tiny dot of opaque white in the center, then that is perfect. Drain the rice, and then put back in the pot and cover with a lid. Let steam for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork and keep covered with a lid. I add a pinch of salt at this stage for extra flavor.