Creamy squash curry

This Autumn's vegetable discovery has been the onion squash.  Packed with flavour and colour, I've been adding it to all of our curries recently.  It's one of the easiest squashes to prepare - much less resistant to the knife than butternut and pretty quick to cook too.

Stats: Serves four adults, or two adults, two children and a couple of portions for the freezer.  

Ingredients

One onion squash

400g potato (preferably waxy)

300g sweet potato

one tablespoon sunflower or conconut oil

four garlic cloves

two small onions

one tablespoon ground ginger

two teaspoons coriander

two teaspoons cumin

two teaspoons chilli flakes

one star anise

400g tinned tomatoes

400g canned coconut milk

two tablespoons garam masala

100g frozen peas

Method

First of all, peel the potato and sweet potato and cube.  Place in a large pan of water, bring to the boil and cook until softened - around 12 minutes.  

Meanwhile, prepare the onion squash - wash and chop off the ends.  Cut in half, scoop out the seeds and discard them.  Cut the squash into cubes - you don't need to peel first.  Finely slice the onion and garlic.

In a wok, or a large pan, heat the oil and over a medium heat gently fry the onion and garlic for five minutes, stirring regularly to prevent burning.  Add the ginger, coriander, cumin, chilli flakes and star anise and stir for a minute, coating the onion mixture with the spices.

Add the squash to the pan.  Regularly stir.  Around this point, your potato should be ready - remove from the heat, drain and put to one side.  After about ten minutes, the squash should be slightly blackened, at which point you add the potato/sweet potato, tomatoes, coconut milk and garam masala.

Prepare your rice - I'm currently enjoying a simplified version of jeera rice alongside most of my curries.  Your curry should be on a medium/low heat, simmering gently.  After eight minutes, add the frozen peas.  

Remove the star anise and serve over the rice.  

Really popular with my two year old - who made good work of it with her fork skills.  Although we are beyond the days of baby-led weaning, I can see this would work well.  Big soft chunks of vegetables but also peas to develop the pincer grip.

Looking for something else to do with my new favourite squash?  This minty recipe from Natural Kitchen Adventures or for a sweeter option - almond and squash cake from Tin and Thyme are both on my 'to make next' list.