Butternut squash zucchini - Thai green curry

When there's a bit of chill in the air, a warm hearty curry really warms me up and is infinitely satisfying.  The beauty of curry, is that many starchy, root vegetables, and legumes can make wonderful additions and bring your taste buds to flavor town. Being vegan or vegetarian is doesn't mean you have to sacrifice flavor, spices and root vegetables can create some amazing combinations. If you have some tips to share, I'd love to hear them! Add some umami, some flavors, a bit of zing, dinner is now much more interesting. Today's dish is also very versatile, you can serve it with some rice, bread, naan, or even just crackers. I am making butternut squash zucchini green Thai curry. 

What you need:

- half of a butternut squash, peeled and diced to cubes

- 3 zucchinis, diced to cubes

- 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

- 1 cm ginger, finely chopped

- 4 cups of almond, coconut, or cashew milk (non sweetened)

- 2 cups of water

- 1 can of lentils

- 1/2 bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped (skip if you don't like cilantro)

- 2 limes, zest and cut in quarters

- 2 tbsp of green thai chili paste

- S and P to taste

- cooked rice (or go to notes on how to make rice)

Recipe:

- put oil in a deep pan and stir fry ginger and garlic. add the green thai chili paste and break it apart

- add nut milk and water until boiled and turn heat to med. add squash and cook for 10-15 min until tender. Test it with a fork, it should go through easily.

- add zucchini, cook for another 5 min until tender.

- squeeze in lime juice, you can use half of the lemon wedges juice and save half of the lime wedges for later.

- add the lentils, stir and let it simmer for a few min. You can mush a few squash pieces with a spoon to get a creamier soup. otherwise the squash pieces stay more or less in tact. depends on how you like it.

- serve over rice 

Note:

- I cooked 2 cups of rice to be served with this dish. Rice maker comes in handy this time! You can use naan, pita, other form of bread/carb. I sprinkled some of my lime zest into the rice, really added some nice acidity and freshness to the simple rice.

- The green curry paste is often found in Asian specialty stores. I bought a can of it and it lasts forever. It's full of lemongrass, green chili, kafir lime flavors. These flavors really take me back to the streets of Bangkok. If you don't have access to this paste, a tbsp of regular yellow curry powder would do wonders just fine. The squash + zucchini combination is great with any strong-flavored curry spices, so no need to having to get the exact curry paste.

- The creamy squash adds sweetness and lots of bright orange colors to the soup. Contrast with the fresh and slightly crunchy zucchini, the textures are a great compliment to each other. Hungry yet?