Rogan Squash with Coconut Yoghurt & Toasted Almonds
Rogan Squash with Coconut Yoghurt & Toasted Almonds
The bean bowl blueprint in action
Okay sunny crew, here’s a little ripper of a recipe for your long weekend!
It’s a veg-forward, creamy Rogan Josh. We’re using butternut and beans in place of conventional red meat, but use whatever you have to build on your zero waste skills and baptise that Bean Bowl Blueprint from yesterday’s video post.
This dish is immensely flavorful, bean-bombing and rich in antioxidants. We add the garlic just before serving to maximise on allicin’s dance moves (more on that below). Rogan Squash tastes great with quinoa, poppadoms, naan bread or wholegrain sticky rice. Leftovers can be popped into your trusty freezer for another night, or snuggled in beside poached eggs and slices of spring onion.
That sulphur honk raw garlic leaves on your breath? That’s allicin, my friends. She’s awesome. There’s not a food scientist or nutritionist that doesn’t love her. The thing is, allicin is not actually found in garlic. Allicin is the prodigal child of two other special compounds in garlic; alliin and alliinase. When these two groovy compounds meet (say, when we crush garlic), the mighty allicin is born. Pretty cosmic, eh?
// Butternut & Bean Rogan Josh //
Serves 6–8 (double the recipe to serve 12)
2 butternut squash
4 tablespoons coconut oil or ghee
3 onions or leeks, roughly chopped (use fennel for onion intolerance)
20g-25g rogan josh spice blend
1 fat finger-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
250g natural yogurt
1 tablespoon maple syrup, honey or coconut sugar
1 tin pinto beans, drained
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve
Good coconut yoghurt, to serve
80g toasted flaked almonds, to serve
Step 1
If you are choosing to use squash, clock your oven to 200°C, 180 fan-assisted. Feel free to leave this step out if you already have leftover roasted veg to use in this recipe instead.
Dice the flesh of your butternuts into bite-sized pieces, leaving the skin on if it’s light, thin and organic. Compost the seeds and stringy insides. Roast your butternut pieces in the oven with 2 tablespoons of your coconut oil or ghee on two rimmed baking trays for up to 45 minutes (depending on the size of the chunks), shaking the trays several times to ensure even cooking. Remove from the oven once soft and caramelised. Set aside.
Step 2
While your squash is roasting, heat your largest and heaviest saucepan over a nice low heat. Add the onions or leeks, and 2 tablespoons of your preferred fat. Gently sweat for anywhere between 5-20 minutes (depending on size) until sticky and sweet.
Step 3
At this stage, tip in your grated ginger and the Rogan Josh spice blend (go ahead and use mild curry powder or a garam masala if you prefer). Stir for 1 minute.
Step 4
Time to tumble in your chopped tomatoes, yogurt and preferred sweetness to counter the acidity from your tinned toms. Leave to putter on your very lowest setting, until the squash is ready from the oven.
Step 5
Once the squash is cooked, add it to the pan of spiced onions along with your choice of beans (use whatever jarred or tinned beans you have in your cupboard, but please do purchase the best beans you can afford as there is a whopping difference between supermarket own brand, and organic jarred varieties for example. One is yummy, the other is not!)
Stir through your raw, crushed garlic and serve immediately. A squeeze of lime will bring it to perfection. We love to serve this with coconut yoghurt and toasted almonds, or loads of coriander and naan bread. Sticky brown rice is a terrific choice, as is fibre-fuelled black rice. But all the same, it’s savage on its own – earthy and warm, like a mother’s hug.
To toast the almonds:
To toast the flaked almonds, pour a handful of them onto a roasting tray without any oil. Pop the tray into your preheated oven at 200°C. Toast for 4 minutes, watching them very very very carefully. You want to catch the flakes before they brown!
