Roasted Butternut Squash Curry

When we cam back from India last month I was pretty sure I never wanted to look at another curry again. Don't get me wrong, the curries we had were wonderful but we had a lot of them. (I have to tell you, we ate so much curry that the last night in India we were thrilled to have a Pizza Hut outside our hotel & went there for dinner. It's almost embarrassing but that pizza tasted so good.) Well, it didn't take me long to get over that & here we are making curries at home again. We just can't resist, they taste too good & are so perfect for cooler weather.

Since we had half a butternut squash leftover from last week's Roast Vegetable Salad we decided to try a creamy squash curry. I thought butternut squash would have enough flavor to stand up in a curry unlike a milder variety like Delicata. It may seem like a lot of spices in this dish but they really blend together wonderfully. This is a very mild curry, with the slightest bit of heat, add more cayenne or a little Sriracha if you are like Matt & want it hotter. The squash & onions are roasted with a mixture of spices & turned out so good you could just do that part of the recipe to serve as a sidedish.

This dish was originally meant to be vegetarian but I had some leftover cooked chicken I wanted to use up so I threw it in. You can easily make it vegetarian though by leaving the chicken out & using vegetable stock instead of chicken.

Roasted Butternut Squash Curry

1 1/2 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded & cut into 1-inch cubes
1 medium yellow onion, peeled & quartered
1 1/2 T olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled & crushed
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground cardamon
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t ground ginger
1 c chicken stock
1 1/2 t garam marsala
1 t chili powder
1 1/2 t ground coriander
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t cumin
1/2 c yogurt
1/4 c ground almonds
2 T salted butter
2 T heavy cream
1/4 - 1/2 c cooked, shredded chicken (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Place the squash, onion & garlic in a small roasting pan. Pour in the olive oil & stir to coat. Add the cloves, cinnamon, cardamon, pepper & ginger. Stir until all the vegetables are coated well. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the squash is tender but not smooshy. (You can do this step ahead of time & refrigerate until ready to use.)

Put the chicken stock into a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garam marsala, chili powder, coriander, cayenne & cumin. Whisk in the yogurt. Add the almonds, butter & heavy cream. Once the butter has melted add the squash, onions & chicken if using. Bring to a simmer & let cook uncovered for about 15 minutes.

Serve over rice

2 - 3 servings.

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