Curry with Butternut, Sweet Potato, and Carrot

We had a lot of butternut squash in 2019. And they lasted a long time. This is what one of them looked like in July of 2020.

With only 4 plants, we got nearly 40 squash, not counting the ones I gave away.  I was trying to think of something interesting to make with butternut, and my husband suggested curry.

I love curry.  It's food you can play with! I am a huge fan of condiments. When I was growing up, my midwestern, farm-raised mother would make curry sometimes. I think she got the recipe out of a magazine. The recipe suggested all sorts of condiments, and we pretty much had them all: chopped cashews, sliced bananas, chopped apples, raisins, chutney, pickles, coconut. Such a variety of flavors and textures.

When my husband and I took a class on Indian cooking, the instructor said that in India, a balanced meal is one that contains all the flavors: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami.  You can see that the condiments balanced the meal.

I didn't have a recipe for butternut curry, but that very day, on PBS, one of the cooking shows showed how to make curry with butternut squash, sweet potato (which we also grew too much of), and carrots.

They made the curry much like I have been making curries for the last 20+ years. I tried to write the recipe down as they made it, but of course they cooked faster than I could write, and I couldn't record the show, so I couldn't blame the show if it didn't turn out. (Also, I failed to write down the name of the show, so I couldn't blame them if I wanted to.)

Fortunately, the recipe turned out just fine. I've made it several times since then. In this picture, you can see that I used white sweet potatoes, which I liked for this recipe because they aren't quite as sweet as the orange ones, and there was plenty of sweetness coming from the butternut.

Curry with Butternut, Sweet Potato, and Carrot

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 large or 2 medium carrots, peeled and cubed

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 C coconut oil

2 Tbs curry powder

2 Tbs flour

2 C vegetable broth

1 C coconut milk

Instructions:

1. Parboil the butternut, sweet potato and carrot for 10 minutes.

2. Saute the onion, and garlic in the coconut oil, for 5 - 7 minutes until the onions sweat

3. Add curry powder and flour to the onion. Blend over medium heat for 1 minute.

4. Add the vegetable broth. Stir into the curry powder and flour to make a sauce.  Stir over medium heat until it thickens.

5. Drain the butternut, sweet potato and carrots, and add to the sauce. Simmer 10 minutes to let the flavors combine.

6. Add the coconut milk.

Serve over rice, with lots of condiments!