Anjum Anand has a new cookbook out – Vegetarian Indian Feast. I’d been looking forward to trying out some recipes from this book and what better week to try one out than National Curry Week?
Anjum’s autumnal squash, butterbean and mushroom cobbler probably isn’t what you’d first think of when you think of curry, but it’s an Indian dish and it’s a pie and who can resist a pie?
It’s called a cobbler because in the book it has the ingredients and method for a cobbler topping, but Anjum says in the blurb above the recipe that the pie can be covered in puff pastry instead, so to save my hands getting dirty, that’s what I did. If you want the cobbler recipe, you’ll have to buy the book (you should buy it anyway, it’s fab).
(The recipe below is my deviation from the original)
Autumnal squash, butterbean and mushroom cobbler (serves 2-3)
200g butternut squash
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
10g ginger (I used that stuff you get in a tube)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tomatoes, quartered
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp garam masala
salt, to taste
good pinch of freshly ground black pepper
5 large chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
200g can butterbeans, drained and rinsed
150g spinach
3 tbsp double cream
25ml milk
1 sheet ready-made puff pastry
- Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Halve the squash, remove any fibres and seeds, but leave the skin on. Place it in a roasting tin and cook until soft, around 30 minutes. Cut into 2.5cm squares.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan until hot. Add the onion and cook until soft and colouring at the edges. Add the ginger and garlic and cook until the garlic just starts to colour. Add the tomatoes, spices and seasoning and cook down until the sauce has thickened and has released oil back into the pan.
- Add the mushrooms, cover and cook for another two to three minutes. Pour in 100ml water and add the beans, squash and spinach and return to the boil. Cook for two to three minutes. Add the cream and milk and adjust the seasoning. Spoon into a large pie dish.
- Lay the puff pastry over the filling and trim the edges.
- Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden.