Vegan Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry

Vegan Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry

Spice Blend: 3 cardamom pods, ¼ t whole coriander seeds. 4 black pepper pods, ¼ t red pepper flakes, ¼ t crushed dried orange peel, 1/8th t fresh grated nutmeg and ½ cinnamon stick. *

1T canola oil

1 shallot, minced (about ¼ C)

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated (about 1T)

1 small garlic clove, minced (about 1t)

12 oz diced squash (that is the size of the containers of pre-cut squash you’ll find in the produce section of the grocery store—You could peel, cut, seed and dice your own…)

15 oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed. (Again, you could make the chickpeas from dried—takes a few hours, tho’.)

1 C vegetable broth (This keeps it vegan. If you prefer chicken broth, use it.)

Salt to taste

1. Grind together all the spices except for the cinnamon stick. Place the mixture and the cinnamon stick in a dry, heavy bottomed frying pan and heat on medium until it becomes fragrant and the color start to deepen.

2. Add the oil, shallot, garlic and ginger. Cook on medium low until golden.

3. Add the squash, chickpeas and vegetable broth.

4. Cover and cook until the squash is soft, maybe 10 minutes. Uncover and cook on medium until the broth is mostly gone. Remove the cinnamon stick and check for flavor. Salt to taste.

Makes 4-6 Servings

*If this is too much work (takes about 10 minutes) you can use a commercial curry or garam masala mix. Won’t be the same, but will still be tasty.