Thai Curry with Butternut Squash, Chickpeas, & Cilantro Recipe by Curtis Stone

Curry, by far, is one of the most dynamic and tasty ingredients you can put in your mouth. Every single time I eat curry, I’m astonished at what I’ve been missing when I’m not eating it. And to think, it’s not a terribly challenging area of cuisine to undertake. Actually, it’s very simple.

For the past few days, I’ve been craving something that would fill my belly up. Even though I’ve been preparing many dishes that have been wonderful to enjoy, I’ve missed those “stick to my ribs” types of meals. And oddly enough, I’ve also been desiring some butternut squash. Ask me why. I have no idea. So when I stumbled across one of Curtis Stone‘s recipes called Thai Red Curry with Butternut Squash and Chickpeas, I thought it was a sign from above. As I said, I love curry and I happen to know that anything butternut squash really fills me up. This recipe was perfect.

The Recipe

As I was eating this dish last night, I turned to Laura and said, “This is really good. It’s filing too.” And then I continued eating. I only got half way through my bowl because I had just finished a huge salad and we added some Jasmine rice under the curry, but seriously, the butternut quash hit the spot. Since I doubled up on the ingredients when preparing this recipe, we’ve got lots of leftovers, which is perfect because I already want some more.

The Thai red curry paste this recipe calls for will make you say “Wow.” It packs a punch. I picked up a small jar of it at my local grocery store for a few dollars and used the entire amount in this dish. That, combined with the coconut milk is to die for. If you’re not familiar with Indian or Thai cooking, I highly encourage you to give a simple recipe like the one I’m about to share with you below a shot. It’s difficult to mess up and the outcome will certainly be surprising. I’m a huge fan.

Ingredients

Remember, I doubled up on these ingredients, so the photos below will show twice as much food. You may want to consider doing the same since this dish is so good and easily refrigerated for later enjoyment. The ingredient list I’m including below will cover the normal recipe quantities.

Serves: 4

1 Butternut Squash (about 2 pounds)
2 Tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 Cup Thai Red Curry Paste
1 Can Chickpeas, Drained & Rinsed (15.5 ounces)
Sea or Kosher Salt
1 Can Coconut Milk (13 ounces)
1/2 Cup Fresh Cilantro, Chopped

Step-by-Step Instructions

There really ins’t much prep time for this recipe. You should be able to finish everything necessary in about 10 minutes. And the cooking time will take about 30 minutes, so you should plan accordingly for that.

Prep the Squash

Trim both ends off the butternut squash and then peel it in its entirety. After that, slice it lengthwise, clean out the seeds and then cut both halves in half inch pieces. Place everything in a bowl for later use.

Heat Pot & Add Ingredients

I used my Lodge cast iron Dutch oven for this recipe because I had a lot of material to deal with. If you’re preparing the recipe with the ingredient list above, you can use a regular pasta pot. I had to go larger because I doubled up.

Warm the pot over medium heat. Add the 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and the 1/3 cup of Thai red curry paste. Stir both ingredients for about a minute or so until things begin to smell wonderfully.

After that, toss in the sliced butternut squash and mix well until each piece is coated with the curry paste and the oil.

Add in the 1 can of chickpeas and stir well again.

Finally, add the 1 can of coconut milk, 3/4 cup of water, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Simmer & Reduce

After about 10 minutes of covered simmering, remove the lid and add in the chopped cilantro. Stir well.

Keep the cover off and simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, to soften the butternut squash and to reduce the liquid a bit. The squash should be tender after the 20 minutes.

Season & Serve

After about 20 minutes of simmering, stick a fork into the pieces of squash to make sure they’re soft. Also, season with some salt to taste. If everything is good, plate and serve. You can also add some more cilantro as a garnish at this point.

The Final Dish

I loved this recipe. It’s definitely on my “repeat” list. I can’t get over how good that curry paste and coconut milk is when they are combined. Also, I’d consider this a hearty meal because of the squash and the chickpeas.

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