Pre-Thanksgiving musings - a shrimp curry

It is that time of the year when most of us feel reflective, the growing season is winding down, the year is ending the days are getting smaller and yes, it is Thankgiving. Like most people who love to cook, it is my favorite holiday of the year. I also like to reflect more on the things that I can be grateful for. From simple things like the joy I feel in the kitchen to more complicated things. Something that really helps is my children's after-school program that runs holiday coverage. They are right across the road, this helps on a day like today. I was at home but diwas running around trying to get all the shopping done, but did feel a little guilty, so my compromise was to make the kids some warm lunch and drop it off. A classic that never goes out of style is the grilled cheese. How I did theirs today was with oatmeal bread and some turkey and tomato in the center.

They came home very excited, to smells of a kitchen in action. Once they were in bed, I realized that I had to  fix dinner. This gets tricky, since the focus is on the next day. Anyhow, I looked at all that I had around me, it actually was converted into a very flavorful shrimp curry.

Shrimp Curry with Butternut Squash

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 inch piece of peeled ginger

3 pods garlic

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/4 cup oil

1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds

10 curry leaves

1 -2 crushed whole red chilies

1 red onion, finely diced

1 cup butternut squash, diced

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

6-8 cranberries

3/4 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 pound of shrimp, shelled and de-veined

1 teaspoon honey

1-2 green chilies

1 teaspoon chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Place the ginger, garlic, cumin and coriander in a mortar and pound to a paste (this can be done in a grinder).

2. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds and when they crackle add in the curry leaves, crushed red chili and the onion and the spice paste and cook on medium low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly until the onions begin to turn golden.

3. Add in the tomatoes and the squash and continue cooking for another 10 minutes, stirring the mixture frequently until the tomato softens and melts down into a pulp.

4. Add in the water, cranberries and the salt and bring the mixture to a simmer. The mixture should be a fairly think sauce, with pieces of fairly soft butternut squash.

5. Add in the shrimp and the honey and let the shrimp cook for about 5-6 minutes.

6. Finely chop the green chilies and stir into the curry.

10. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

11. Stir in the cilantro, turn of the heat and serve immediately with rice.

I am also thankful for this blog and for all the people who read this, it is a great source of happiness for me, for reasons I cannot explain.

An event, backyard cooking and more...

Anshul's summer project is begining to bear fruit - more vegetables to be precise, but we are really proliferated with lovely green spinach, red beets and yet new big tomatoes. I am a little tired tonight to post the garden pictures, but promise to do this over the weekend!

This particular recipe is the begining of what I shall be calling backyard cooking, recipes inspired by what I can find in my backyard - in this instance the tomato and the cilantro are from the backyard. The rest of the recipe just came together.


Butternut Squash and Zucchini Curry

The recipe has lots of lemony notes that are a perfect contrast to the sweet butternut squash used here. I have also added crumbled paneer (I made this a couple of days back) for some richness and body. The recipe is gently tempered with mustard seeds, that makes a lovely nutty contrast to the onions and garlic scapes that are used to form the base of this rather simple homestyle dish.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons mustard or extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds
1 medium sized red onion, peeled and cut into a dice
1/2 cup finely chopped garlic scapes
1 large tomato, cut into a dice
1 zuchini, cut into a large dice (basically the size here is in between a cube and a dice)
2 cups, diced butternut squash (this can be pumpkin)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon red chili powder (optional)
3/4 cup crumbled paneer
1 lime or lemon, halved and seeded
3/4 cup chopped cilantro


Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the mustard and nigella seeds and cook for about 30 seconds until the mustard seeds begin to pop.
2. Add in the onion and garlic scapes and saute on low heat for 3-4 minutes until the onion is wilted and transluscent.
3. Add in the tomato and cook for another 3-4 minutes until soft.
4. Stir in the zuchini and butternut squash with the salt, turmeric and chili powder (if using this) and the paneer, mix well, cover and cook for 7 minutes till the vegetables are soft.
5. Squeeze in the lemon or lime juice and the cilantro. Remove from heat and serve.

If you like this kind of cooking, please check in through next week. The Westchester bloggers are doing a blogathon to promote the local farmers markets. You can see the blogs in the, "In the neighbourhood section of my blog. If you are a food blogger in Westchester, please join the Westchester Food Bloggers group on Facebook to join the fun!

Greek Insprired Mashed Butternut Squash

My idea of ultimate comfort food is mashed potatoes, I try to compromise just a little by using squash. This particular variation was inspired by this lovely recipe with stunning absolutely drool worthy pictures of

Skordalia - a greek variation of mashed potatoes meets aeoli.

Well, in this recipe butternut squash meets Skordalia that in turn meets alu bhartha (indian mashed potatoes).

I loved the idea of using the garlic and the olive oil, just add some lime juice instead of the vinegar, added some yogurt, cilantro and lots of black pepper and salt as needed. We all loved it. The gentle tang of lime juice worked well with the sweetness of the roasted butternut squash.

Mashed Butternut Squash

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash

1 large potato (preferably russet)

4 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup strained or greek lowfat yogurt

1 lime

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Roast the squash in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

2. Microwave the potato (covered in cling wrap) for 2-3 minutes.

3. Cool and peel the potato, cook the squash and peel and remove the flesh, discarding the seeds.

4. Grate in the garlic, add the olive oil and yogurt and mix till relatively smooth.

5. Squeeze in the lime juice and stir in the salt, pepper and cilantro.

6. The mixture should be smooth and creamy.

7. Enjoy with any food of your choice - rice, lentils, roast chicken the options are endless.

Stir fried butternut squash with spicy grilled shrimp.

Well, I should have posted about mother's day, etc, etc. For starters I actually did not cook much this weekend and also ended up with a mixed bag over the weekend.
Let me see, had a fight with my husband, mixed up a fun party invite, thought it was Sunday when it was actually Saturday day - I did have a decent dinner on Saturday, for some reason I decided to stretch my luck and go out for lunch on Sunday as well. I am recovering from my son's lunchtime performance. I shall blog about it only when I am recovered from the impact of the latter.

Anyhow, this recipe uses my favorite spice panch phoron, the classic bengali 5-spice mixture. This is a comforting spice blend for me, I have grown up listening to its musical splutter when thrown into hot oil and then taste its wonderful balanced 'all in one" taste. Anyhow, I have used this in a weeknight dinner with butternut squash and shrimp,

Stir fried butternut squash with spicy grilled shrimp

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients

1/2 lbs large peeled and deveined shrimp
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
2 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive or mustard oil
1/2 teaspoon panch phoron (bengali 5-spice nigella, cumin, mustard, fenugreek and fennel seeds)
1-2 whole dried red chilies
1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 cups peeled cubed butternut squash or pumpkin
1/2 frozen peas
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Lots of freshly ground black pepper

Method of Preparation

1. Coat the shrimp with the turmeric, chili powder and half the salt.
2. Spread the shrimp on a baking tray, spray with cooking spray and begin to broil on low.
3. In the meantime, heat the oil in a cooking pot and add the whole red chilies and the 5-spice mixture.
4. When the mixture begins crackling, add in the ginger and shallots and stir for 1-2 minutes and add in squash with the remaining salt and begin cooking on low.
5. Turn the shrimp after 5-minutes and cook on the other side for 2-3 minutes and turn off the oven. The shrimp should be golden orange with light brown spots at places.
6. Cover and cook the squash till almost done (about 5 minutes).
7. Remove the cover and stir in shrimp and peas and cook on medium high heat until the peas are done and the squash is begining to brown at spots.
8. Stir in cilantro and black pepper.

This dish is best enjoyed with rice and dal.

Sweet and Spicy Apple Buttnernut Rasam

This soup like many other creations in my kitchen started as a dish for my little ones, however after tasting this, I felt the flavors had potential to do more that provide good nutrition, they could grow up. A little bit of this and that produced an interesting rasam.

A traditional rasam is plentiful in tomatoes and a fairly thin soup. My variation is thicker than the typical broth but still thin enough to pass muster.

Sweet and Spicy Apple Butternut Rasam

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

2 granny smith apples

2 cups of butternut squash peeled and cubed

4 tomatoes finely chopped

1/2 cup brocolli slaw (optional)

3 tbsp toor dal (pigeon peas)

2 tsp salt

2 cups vegetable broth

1.5 tbsp rasam masala

1 tbsp ghee

1.5 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/3 cup yogurt

1/4 cup cream

4 tbsp chopped cilantro

2 limes juiced

Method of Preparation

1. Peel the apples and cut into chunks.

2.Place with squash, brocolli slaw, dal, tomatoes, broth, salt and rasam masala, into a pressure cooker and cook for 10 minutes and cool for 5 minutes. Alternately, simmer for 45 minutes on a a low flame till all the ingredients are very soft and pureed.

3. Beat the mixture till smooth with a wisk and add 2 cups of water and check for the salt.

4. Heat the ghee and add the cumin and mustard seed. When the seeds start to crackle add this to the lentil mixture and bring to a boil.

5. Let this simmer for 5 minutes.

6. Remove from the heat.

7. Beat the yogurt and cream together till very smooth and gently stir into the soup.

8. Top with the cilantro and lime juice.

9. Serve in individual bowls either over rice and alone.