Butternut Curry with Spinach and Cashews

Colourful, fragrant, and full of texture, this dish shows you don’t need meat to make a good curry. Lentils, chickpeas, and nuts add protein to the melting pot of vegetables and spices for a healthy, balanced meal.

INGREDIENTS

•medium butternut squash, about 21⁄4lb (1kg)

• 1 onion

• 4 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil

• 1 tbsp butter

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger

• 1 small hot green chile

• 1 tsp ground turmeric

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 2 cinnamon sticks

• 1 tbsp freeze-dried curry leaves (optional)

• 1⁄2 cup (100 g) red lentils

• 3 or 4 ripe tomatoes

• 1 (14-oz/400-g) can chickpeas, drained

• 3⁄4 cup (100 g) cashew nuts

• 2 large handfuls baby leaf spinach

• salt and pepper

METHOD

1 Peel the squash and cut into 4 pieces. Scoop out the seeds. Cut the flesh into large cubes about 3cm across.

2 Halve and slice the onion. Put a large frying pan, or wok over medium-high heat. Add the oil and butter, wait for 30 seconds, then add the squash and onions, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are starting to soften.

3 Thinly slice the garlic and finely grate the ginger. Slit the chile, without cutting through the stem (stalk) end.

4 Boil a saucepan of water. Stir the garlic, ginger, chile, spices, and curry leaves into the pan and cook for 2 minutes, until fragrant.

5 Stir in the lentils, then pour in 400 ml boiling water. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring a few times. Preheat the oven to 180°C and coarsely chop the tomatoes.

6 Stir the tomatoes in with the chickpeas, then simmer for another 10 minutes Season the curry with salt and pepper.

7 Sprinkle the nuts over a baking sheet and roast them in the oven for 5 minutes.

8 Stir in the spinach leaves and sprinkle the nuts over the top. Serve with chapatis, naan breads, or rice and your favorite relish or chutney.