Butternut squash dal with crispy chilli paneer
A sweet and spicy new autumn classic, ways to make it into a feast for friends, and a Sunday reset meal to end all meals
The early autumn months bring in some of my favourite vegetables. Squashes ranging from dark green to pale orange, funky-looking mushrooms and frilly brassicas. While the natural sweetness of squash usually finds itself along cheese and woody herbs, I fancied something a little hotter. A dal is the ultimate comfort food in my household, and combining it with seasonal squash and a crispy, spicy paneer topping is the perfect way to pep it up.
As always, there’s a recipe that you can use to feed yourself on one of these increasingly dark weeknight evenings, curled up in front of Married At First Sight UK (no, just me?) and ways you can add to it to create a Friday night feast for friends.
Butternut squash dal with crispy chilli paneer
Serves four (or one with three leftover portions for lunch)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
1 medium-sized butternut squash
3 garlic cloves
thumb-sized piece of ginger
1 1/4 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
175g red lentils
400g tin coconut milk
500ml vegetable stock
200g paneer
coriander, yoghurt and mango chutney to garnish
rice and naan bread to serve
Peel, deseed and chop your butternut squash into 2cm chunks and set aside.
Place a large saucepan on a medium heat and pour in one tablespoon of the vegetable oil. While the oil is heating up, finely chop the onion, then add the onion to the pan and give it a good stir. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a splash of water if the onions start to brown.
While the onion is cooking, finely chop or grate the garlic and ginger, then add to the pan with one teaspoon each of the chilli, cumin, coriander and turmeric (reserving the 1/4 teaspoon of chilli powder and turmeric for the crispy chilli paneer) and 1/2 a teaspoon ground fenugreek. Fry for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
Add the squash and red lentils to the pan, stir and then add the coconut milk and stock. Give the dal another good stir and bring to a gentle simmer. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
Chop your paneer into 3cm chunks and toss in a bowl with 1/4 teaspoon chilli powder, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric and some salt. Pour the remaining tablespoon of oil into a frying pan and place it on a medium heat.
Once the oil is hot, tip in the spice-coated paneer and fry for a few minutes on each side until the paneer is golden and crispy, then take off the heat and set aside.
Season the dal to taste with salt and pepper, then spoon it onto a large platter or individual plate. Top with the crispy paneer, fresh coriander leaves, yoghurt and chilli flakes. Serve scooped up with naan bread or with rice and mango chutney.
Cardamom and orange G&Ts
I made a batch of these at the weekend for some friends and they were a great little twist on a classic pre-dinner drink. Fragrant and spicy with a citrus kick, they’d be a great party starter if you’re making this dal and paneer for a Friday night. To make the syrup for the G&T, put one cup of sugar and one cup of water in a small saucepan with a quarter of a cup of cardamom pods and a few orange peelings. Bring to the boil, simmer for 15 mins then leave to cool. Use 25ml in your G&T and garnish with an orange wedge.
Pickle-spiced chickpeas (aachari chole)
An easy way to make a meal into a feast is to up the veggie side action with something simple like these spicy chickpeas from Delicious. Made with mostly store cupboard ingredients, it can be whipped up in an extra-dinner-guest-related emergency.
Ginger, coconut and mango yoghurt pots
I am well known in certain circles (read: two friends) for my ‘homemade muller corners'. They are the easiest pudding ever, and while I usually go for Lidl’s salted caramel yoghurt, milk chocolate digestive and raspberries in a bowl, you could mix and match to make a pud that matches the flavours of your main. For this meal, I think crushed ginger nuts, coconut yoghurt and fresh mango marinated in a little lime juice would be delicious.
Sunday reset bolognese
Bolognese is made for Sundays. If I find myself with a spare Sunday evening at this time of year, you’ll find me chucking random vegetables into a food processor to sweat with onions, garlic and woody herbs for a veg-packed bolognese. I then add lentils, chopped tomatoes, a splash of red wine and stock before simmering low and slow and slopping about with pasta and parmesan. Mushrooms are also a great addition, just make sure to chop them up small and sweat out all that water for a mushroom flavour boost. A teaspoon of soy sauce is my secret umami weapon.
A genuine 10 minute meal
I’ve been completely obsessed with making these mega-easy peanut and chilli oil noodles on busy weeknights. They take 10 minutes, use mostly store cupboard bits with your choice of brassica, and are seriously tasty. It’s a rough recipe based on Meera Sodha’s sprout and chilli peanut noodles. To make noodles for one, take one nest of egg noodles and plunge into boiling water for 4 minutes. In a frying pan, add as much thinly sliced cabbage, sprouts or broccoli as you like and fry for 5 minutes. Make the dressing in a small bowl: one tablespoon of peanut butter, one tablespoon of crispy chilli oil, one tablespoon of rice wine or white wine vinegar, one tablespoon of soy sauce and a pinch of MSG. Whisk with a little water to thin out, then chuck it with the drained noodles into the veg pan and warm through.