Simple Measure

Phew. It’s been eventful here lately. Let me backtrack to the weekend before last. It started on Friday when I found an apartment on Craigslist that looked interesting. Two days later we were signing a lease and giving our 30 days to the current landlord.

Thing is, we weren’t really looking for a new place. Sure, we’d been itching for bigger digs, and I’d been casually combing the listings for months. But nothing made me reach for the phone.

But when we saw this apartment, we knew we had to take it.

I mean, the kitchen’s bigger. And there’s room for me and Jared to have our own work spaces, which has become more important lately. And the porch with a swing, backyard with a peach tree and sprinkling of stained glass didn’t hurt either.

A celebration was in order, and as luck would have it, the pantry held everything I needed to make one of our favorite special occasion dinners. The hardest thing about this green curry is peeling the acorn squash, but if you’re up for that small challenge you’re in for a terrific meal.

Green Curry with Acorn Squash
Add your own favorite veggies to this flexible dish. Anything goes!

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

1 Tbs green curry paste

1 tsp. ginger, minced

1 can coconut milk

1 two pound acorn squash, peeled and cubed

1 block tofu, drained and cubed (you can substitute chicken)

2 tomatoes, chopped

¼ cup cilantro, minced and divided into two parts

2 cups cooked Jasmine rice

10 cardamom pods

¼ tsp. garam masala

¼ tsp. ground coriander

1 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs Shoyu sauce (or your favorite soy sauce)

2 Tbs vegetable oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Gently crush the cardamom pods with the flat side of a large kitchen knife. Add the pods to your rice to flavor it while it cooks. As the rice is cooking, start peeling the squash. There’s many ways to go about doing this and I’m still figuring out what works for me. This time I peeled as much of the squash as I could and then halved it. After scooping out the seeds with a spoon, I cut the squash into quarters and then began cubing it, taking care to slice away any remaining skin.

2. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and Shoyu sauce and sauté for about 10 minutes, or until onions are soft and translucent. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking or burning.

3. Shake the can of coconut milk well and add it to the pan. Throw in the butternut squash, garam masala, coriander, tomatoes, tofu and curry paste. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes.

4. Stir in cilantro and continue to simmer until squash is very tender.

5. Serve over rice garnished with cilantro.

Serves 4