Eggplant And Pumpkin/Butternut Squash Curry

After a visit to the pumpkin patch this fall, we had pumpkin-this and pumpkin-that over the weeks that followed. Personally, we both are not great fans of pumpkin. They are little too sweet for our taste. But the little orange ones were too cute to pass. To compensate for their sweetness, I try cooking winter squash like pumpkin or acorn in a spicy gravy or a creamy sauce. After making lasagna, ravioli, sambar, kootu with the squash, I still had some to finish off. In a whim, I paired it with a globe eggplant that was lying in the refrigerator and made a curry to go with rotis. The results were more than satisfactory.

Now that fall is gone, I chose butternut squash to make this curry again. It was just as delicious as the original recipe. The smoky eggplant and the sweet squash were quite a duo. Made with lots of onion, tomato and readymade spices, this is quite an easy and forgiving recipe. I have made this with both sambar powder and curry powder. With either of these spice mixtures, the curry turned out to be great. I even added a handful of black chickpeas(not in the picture), which hit right on spot. The recipe given below serves four. But make extra, leftovers are even better.

Ingredients

Eggplant – 3 cups, small dice
Pumpkin or Butternut squash – 2 cups, small dice
Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
Onion – 1 big or 2 small, diced
Tomato – 3, diced
Green chilli – 1, chopped
Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp
Black chickpeas – ¾ cup, soaked and cooked (optional)
Sambar masala or Curry powder or Coriander powder+Red chilli powder+Turmeric powder – 2 tbsp
Ground black pepper – ¼ tsp
Oil – 3 tbsp
Cilantro – ½ cup, chopped
Mint – 1 tbsp, chopped
Salt

Method

In a big skillet heat a tbsp of oil and roast eggplant on a medium flame. Eggplant should be slightly roasted and softened. Remove from the skillet and set aside. Similarly, cook pumpkin/butternut squash in a tbsp of oil until done. Remove and set aside.

Heat remaining oil, roast cumin and fennel seeds, and sauté onions for about 3 minutes. Add chopped chilli, tomato, fenugreek seeds, black chickpeas and salt and cook over a medium heat for 5-7 minutes. The tomatoes should turn soft and mushy. Add sambar powder (or your preferred seasoning), cooked eggplant and pumpkin/squash cubes, and cook covered for 10 minutes. Sambar powder should loose its raw smell and everything in the curry should come together. Add black pepper, check seasoning and serve garnished with cilantro and mint. Serve with any flat bread.

Eggplant and squash curry served with naan and raita.

This is my entry to Fresh Produce of the Month, hosted by Marta of An Italian in the US.