SWEET POTATO AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH TAMARIND MASALA

VEGETARIAN SIMPLE ONE POT COOKING

Fabulous recipe, a sweet and sour moorish gorgeous dish, this was out of my normal stick to love my favourite curry recipes probably because firstly I love my favourites and secondly I have a mischievous side, which is great but not always helpful when reading recipes, ingredients and methods and I can find myself cooking the theory in my mind which comes with a pre judging of the results, in all honesty most times my natural instinct (28 yrs cooking) is often served well however I love it when there are those recipes that have blown me away which is a great leveller and reminder to never think you know what you think you know because you actually don't know until you try something new!!!

This is one of those recipes that even while cooking and tasting I was still not sure about, but it turned out to be a brilliant side dish or main that we will cook again and again.

Prep Time 10-15 minutes / Cooking Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 2 as main 4/6 as side dish)

2 tbsp coconut oil or ghee

2 tbsp mustard oil 

1 sweet potato peeled and diced

1 butternut squash peeled and diced

6 pink fir apple potatoes diced (or white)

2 fresh green chillies sliced long ways

50g ginger grated

1 small hand full raisins

100g dates chopped

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 tbsp nigella seeds

1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder

1 tsp ground coriander

Sea Salt Black Pepper

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

3 tbsp tamarind liquid

(how to make your own below)

fresh coriander to finish

Heat the oils over a just medium heat in a deep saucepan with a lid, add the fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds and ginger, cook for a minute or so, add the sweet potato, squash and potatoes along with the chillies, coriander and chilli powder, cook on a low heat for ten minutes, add a hint (50ml) of water or vegetable stock if you feel the pan needs it, I did several times!  

Then add the dates, raisins, sugar, salt and pepper and stir in well, add a hint of liquid and place the lid back on for a further ten minutes, gently turning over the vegetables occasionally, not stirring, until all the vegetables are cooked and just holding their shape.

Stir in the tamarind and now taste your wonderful dish, adjust the seasoning with the sea salt and pepper, you want a sweet and sour tangy balanced flavour then finish off with the fresh coriander serve as a side dish or as a main with lots of rice, flat breads and home made fruit chutney.

HOME MADE TAMARIND WATER

You can buy tamarind pulp already made or you can source whole and dried tamarind seed pods as shown below, I like to make my own tamarind water, all you have to do is pour over some boiling water over either of these and leave to infuse for ten minutes or so and then pass through a seive and collect the pulp and water that's all it takes.