Coconut Squash Curry with Ham

This easy one pot squash curry is perfect for a lazy day where you don’t want to babysit the stove, but you still want that ‘extra something’ for dinner. The sweetness from the squash pairs up amazingly with the creamy coconut, and did I mention? It’s a great way to use up leftover meat!

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As a kid, curry was never a very popular dish in our household. My first experience with curry was when my parents took me to a Hong Kong style cafe restaurant. I remember it being very saucy, usually bland, almost always with chicken. This was great because I had something to mix with my plain white rice – which I hated, but curry was still a meh kinda thing for me.

 

 

Then I moved out on my own to Waterloo, and this was when I was exposed to North Indian/Pakastani curries — the raddas, the acharis, the saags and the karahis.

 

Curry was never the same to me after that experience and embarrassingly, it had also made me a bit of a curry snob. Nowadays, I only get my curry from this little hidden gem, and even though I tried (over and over and over again) I could never (ever) recreate the flavours, …that is until now!

 

 

One morning, I had a craving for curry but I was too lazy to drive across town to pick up takeout. I had squash, I had ham and I ran with it. I won’t lie. I didn’t have any high hopes for this curry. Ham is no goat, and squash? Well, besides sweet isn’t particularly very flavourful, but I was desperate.

 

 

Being a lazy day for me, it was a one pot meal — less dishes for me 🙂
I was floored by the results of this coconut squash curry I had just created. It was actually flavourful! …and it was creamy – not from the coconut milk, but from the squash itself! It was spicy and sweet — again from that magic ingredient, squash. Being the curry snob that I was, this actually satisfied my curry craving.

 

Tip #1: Burnt is flavour. When you brown the the curry powder, curry paste with the onion, garlic and ham you might notice that a lot of the bits will stick to the bottom of the pan and slightly burn and turn brown. Don’t panic! This is flavour! 🙂  Once the squash starts to cook and soften, it will releases liquids – use the liquid to scrape the bottom of the pan. The burnt will give the curry a nutty flavour.

 

Tip #2:  It will look very dry after you put all the ingredients into the pot. Don’t fret — the squash will save the day. Squash  has a lot of water in it. As it starts to cook down, it releases a lot of liquids which creates that saucy creaminess in this dish.

 

 

After this meal, I learned that good curry doesn’t have to have 500 spices and to have faith that sometimes food and random ingredients you’re not familiar can surprise you sometimes!

 

Have you ever had an experience where you were surprised at how well an experiment turned out in your kitchen? How about an experience where it was actually horrific? (Like my Coffee Miso Cauliflower test. Don’t try that flavour combo. Just don’t. It’s gross.)

 

Follow me on Instagram and show us with #pupswithchopsticks if you made this! Share your yummy foods with me! 🙂

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