Maldivian Squash Curry

I've been enjoying this book, which I had for Christmas. It has lots of the kind of recipes I like to eat in the week - spicy, quick and easy. The restaurant in Covent Garden is supposedly a hippy, big-bowl type joint. We have already enjoyed a couple of recipes from this: sweet potatoes in a peanut sauce and this Maldivian curry. The original features mango but we substituted that for sweet potato and extra lime juice. It was a good excuse to try my new Steenbergs set, too - elegant glass pots of fresh new spices. The result was delicious.





However, this is why I am not a food photographer. I hope it does not deter you too much. If you like korma then you'll enjoy this version.

Adapted from World Food Cafe 2

4tbsp butter
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1" piece ginger, grated
10 curry leaves
1dsstsp brown mustard seeds
1tsp coriander seeds
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground cardamom seeds
1/2tsp turmeric
225g squash (prepared weight), in 3cm cubes
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup black-eyed beans, cooked
200ml coconut milk
125ml plain yoghurt
Squeeze lime juice
Salt and coriander, to taste

Melt the butter and saute the onion, garlic, ginger and curry leaves. When the onion is soft add the spices, squash, tomato and sweet potato and stir, cover, and cook 5 minutes (gently). Add the coconut milk, 1/2 cup water and the beans, then simmer gently until the squash is just tender (be careful, as it disintegrates quickly after this point) - 15-20 minutes. Stir in the yoghurt, lime juice, salt and coriander to taste.