My Indian kitchen: Sweet and Sour Butternut Squash

My Indian kitchen: Sweet and Sour Butternut Squash

I find myself buying butternut squash three at a time. Is that ridiculous? I'll usually roast them and then eat the chunks with rice or kamut or barley for lunch or a snack or a side dish. But I have the attention span of a goldfish recipe-wise, and I get bored of making the same foods over and over again. So as much as I love roasted everything, when I found a recipe for Indian squash I dove right in. I also doubled the recipe, knowing how it would be delicious because it came from Madhur Jaffrey I've written in the past about how Madhur Jaffrey's recipes are always perfect. If something goes wrong it's definitely my fault, but her latest book, "At Home with Madhur Jaffrey" is proving me wrong. There's nothing sour in the sweet and sour butternut squash recipeno lemon and no lime. And the recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp of added sugar, as though butternut squash wasn't sweet enough on its own. So I made this recipe as written, and found it pretty disappointing. It was just squash with a few spices, no heat, and nothing sparkly taste-wise. When you call something "sweet and sour" you expect two distinct flavours that work well in contrast. Nope. So when I got around to leftovers of this dish I sprinkled it with lemon juice. Suddenly, it was as though the whole dish lit up! All the spices were present and the sweetness wasn't overpowering. I'm almost 100% sure the tablespoon of lemon or lime juice just got left out of the recipe all together by accident. (Well, I was 100% sure until I saw a reprint of the recipe in the NYTimes that was an exact replica of the bland version from the book.) Ingredients 1 1/2 tbsp mustard oil (I used sunflower oil, though mustard would have a tiny bit more bitterness to it, which would be nice) a pinch of ground asafetida (I grated more than a pinch-worth of the onion-y smelling stuff. It's good for digestion and smells great when you cook it) 1/2 tsp mustard seeds (brown or yellow) 4 cups butternut squash (peeled, seeds scooped out, and cut into 1-inch slices width-wise) 1/4 1/2 tsp salt (as always Jaffrey's original recipe calls for way too much, so this is the lowered quantity that works just fine) 1/4 tsp 3/4 tsp cayenne (depending on your cayenne-appreciation. Adjust to taste) 1 tbsp plain yogurt (or coconut milk, or leave it out all together. Instead of adding the yogurt to the cooking dish which would kill the good bacteria, I just stir it in at the end actually, I let individual diners stir it in themselves at the end, so when you reheat leftovers you don't kill the good bacteria either) 1 2 tbsp lemon juice (or lime) 2 tbsp chopped cilantro, for garnish (I used mint, which was so flavourless from being in my freezer for awhile that it didn't make a differencebut it didn't get in the way either) Directions: Heat a very large pot or frying pan over medium heat for a minute and then add the oil. When hot, add the grated asafetida and mustard seeds. The seeds should pop right away. Give them a stir if they don't, then add the squash pieces. Brown the pieces on both sides (about 2-3 minutes per side). It might be hard to fit all the squash in the pot at once, especially if you do a double recipe like I did, so give them the space they want and work in batches if you have to. When all the pieces are browned add 1/4 cup water, cover the pot and turn the heat to low. Let cook about 10 minutes or until the squash is tender enough to eat. It shouldn't fall apart and get mushy because you browned it which kind of solidifies the exterior. This is not baby food. Then add the salt, cayenne, yogurt (or save it for later. If you use coconut milk instead, add it now), and lemon juice (or lime). Turn the heat to medium and stir and cook, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Taste the sauce now (there shouldn't be much of it) and add more lemon, lime, cayenne, or salt as needed. Stir in the cilantro and serve (optionally with yogurt).

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