Name: Squash & Black Chickpea Curry
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 1 tsp asafoetida/hing; 1 tbsp panch phoron; 1 tsp sugar; 400 ml/14 fl oz/1⅔ cups boiling water; 400 g/14 oz canned black chickpeas/kala channa, drained and rinsed; 2 tsp salt; 1 tsp garam masala; 2 tsp ground coriander; 2 tsp ground cumin; 1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into large bite-size chunks; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 dried red chilli; ½ tsp ground turmeric; 5 cm/2 in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped; ¼ tsp chilli powder

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Meat Free Mowgli

By Nisha Katona

Published 2022

About

This squash curry is a typical Bengali dish, although pumpkin would be more generally used in India, and is thick, sweet and very filling. Black chickpeas, or kala channa, are quite common in Indian cooking and they make a nice change from regular chickpeas/garbanzo beans, giving the dish a slightly nutty flavour. They are slightly higher in fibre and iron, too, so make a very nutritious addition. Serve with flatbreads (try my Bengali Plain Flour Puris).</