Spicy Nights (III)

Swede and Pumpkin Curry, originally uploaded by Lisa Fagg.

This dish is remarkably delicious! I was curious to see what swede would taste like curried, having never had it before. Too, I had 2 of the beasts in my larder and was not in the mood to have my usual mashedcarrotsandswede! The addition of the 'pumpkin' (in this case, butternut squash) was an inspiration born of necessity; one of those was rapidly ageing in the larder and needed to be cooked! My customary trawl of the interweb yielded quite a few good places to start (e.g. this one) which I took and modified:

Shalgam Curry (or, in this case, Swede and Pumpkin Curry!)

1 medium swede (500-600 gm or equivalent weight of turnips)

300 gms or 1 medium butter nut squash or pumpkin

1 medium onion, chopped

200-300 gms (2/3 can, approx.) chopped tomatoes

2 tsp ginger puree

2-3 cloves of garlic

2-3 green chillies, chopped

20 fresh curry leaves

1-2 tsp salt to taste

1 tsp. sugar

Chopped fresh corriander

ghee and/or oil for frying

1. Peel the swede/turnips and chop into 2-3cm pieces.

2. Boil the swede until soft or pressure cook for 3 minutes.

(I found this took around 30 minutes or so)

3. When nearly done, add the pumpkin/squash and cook with the swede until both are done.

4. Heat the ghee or oil in a frying pan and fry the chopped onions, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and garlic until golden brown.

5. Add chopped tomatoes to the onion/garlic/chilli mixture, add salt to taste and 1 tsp. sugar. Mix together and cook for 20 minutes or so (adding water if necessary) until the gravy is golden in colour.

6. Add the swede and pumpkin, mushing gently with a spoon to create an uneven texture, cover and cook for a further 10 - 15 minutes or until the curry is well cooked.

Garnish with chopped corriander and serve.

(This amount will serve 4)