I was inspired to make this dish while thumbing through February’s issue of Yoga Journal that my dear friend SS had subscribed for me as my birthday present. The original recipe is called Butternut Squash and Green Beans in Coconut Milk Curry, and was also adapted from 5 Spices, 50 Dishes: Simple Indian Recipes Using Five Common Spices by Ruta Kahate (Chronicle Books, 2007). I had decided to finally use my acorn squash that had been sitting on my kitchen window will for about 2 months instead, and made the curry using the method that I am more familiar with. I think this dish would be much better with butternut squash,  sweet potatoes or yam. The recipe also called for using chopped cashews, which I did not have. What does a domestic goddess do? She modifies again and uses pinenuts.Pinenuts tastes much creamier than most nuts I know, with the exception of macadamia …. mmmm yummmm….

The important part of making any curries would be the tadka. The magazine gave a bried introduction of making tadka to those who are new to making Indian food. My tadka for this dish consists of mustard seeds, ginger and curry powder.

Ingredients

• 1 acorn squash, peeled and cubed into 1″ pieces
• 2 cups of green beans, cut into approx 2″ lengths
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 t mustard seed
• 1 thumb-size ginger, skin removed and cut to matchstick pieces
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 cup water
• 2 T curry powder
• Salt & sugar to taste
• 2 T pinenuts or chopped cashews

Method

1. Cook the squash in boiling water for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. Dry roast the nuts and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in a wok or any cooking vessel. Add ginger and fry until fragrant. Add mustard seed and cover. After the seeds stop sputtering, add the curry powder and  and mix thoroughly with the mustard seed.
4. Add green beans and cook until tender.
5. Pour coconut milk and add the squash back into the wok.Bring the coconut to a boil, then immeditealy reduce to low heat.
6. Season with salt and sugar to taste. Sugar may be ommitted if using sweet potatoes or yam.
7. Garnish with roasted nuts.
8. Serve with steaming hot rice.

We had leftover wonton noodles from last night, so I made a simple vegetable curry with okra, eggplant, tomatoes and tau foo pok to go with the noodles.

My curry varies depending on whatever I can dig out of the fridge. For this version, here’s what I have included:

Ingredients
Mix 1 cup of curry powder (any mix you like) with water to turn into a thick paste. Add a few tablespoons of oil into this mixture.
1 cup of blended chili. You can use chili boh if you like, but since I don’t have any, I blended some chipotle chili intead.
1 can of coconut milk
1 thumbsize ginger, grated finely
Handful of Mustard seed
Okra (bendi), eggplant (brinjal), tomatoes, tau foo pok
I wish that I had serai, but didn’t get it since this is last minute

Method
If using brinjal, fry in hot oil and set aside.
Heat 3 tablespons of oil. Fry mustard seed in hot oil until they start to pop. Add grated ginger and fry until fragrant.
Add curry paste mixture into the oil and fry until fragrant.
Pour chili paste into the curry mixture and mix until combined.
Add bendi and tomatoes into the mixture and coat evenly.
Pour in vegetable broth to dilute the mixture. Let the vegetables cook in the broth until semi-softened.
Add in tau foo pok to the simmering pot.
Add in the can of coconut milk and mix evenly when the vegetables are almost done.

Season with salt and brown sugar. Stir in the brinjal prior to serving.
Garnish with fresh beansprouts and parsley. Also include a wedge of lime/lemon if a little hint of sourness is desired.