Squash Risotto

I used a kabocha squash, but any type would work well. You can vary the vegetables, as usual.

Ingredients:

1 squash

oil

1 onion

1 tsp honey

5-8 Brussels sprouts

1 vegetable stock cube

250 g risotto rice

boiling water

mint

lemon juice

black pepper

truffle oil

Instructions:

1. Wash the squash and rub it lightly with oil. Roast at 200 C for 60 minutes. Then take it out, halve it, and roast for another 10 or 20 minutes.

2. Dice the onion. Fry it lightly in oil and honey.

3. Wash and halve the Brussels sprouts and add them to the onion. Fry for 5-8 minutes.

4. Add the stock cube. Mash it to break it up.

5. Add the rice. Let it brown slightly with the onion and sprouts (about 2-4 minutes).

6. Pour boiling water over the rice. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then.

7. Once the water has boiled away, add some more. Cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

8. Peel and de-seed the squash. Chop it into pieces.

9. Test the rice. If it is firm but not crunchy, it’s ready. If it’s too crunchy, add more water and cook a few more minutes, then test again.

10. Put the squash in and stir.

11. Season with mint, lemon juice, black pepper, and truffle oil to taste.

Glazed Courgettes and Brussels Sprouts

This is such a wintry side dish but because I make so many different recipes, it’s June as I’m posting it! I served it over couscous, which I spruced up with plain soya yogurt, lemon peel, and lemon juice.

Ingredients:
1 courgette
about 10 Brussels sprouts
1 tsp oil
2 tsp honey
1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions:
1. Wash the vegetables. Slice the courgette and halve the sprouts.
2. Heat up the oil in a frying pan and lightly fry the veg. Add the honey so that they caramelise.
3. Continue frying for a few moments, then add the lemon juice. Fry 2-3 more moments.
4. The honey and lemon juice will make a little sauce at the bottom of the pan, so serve the veg with the sauce poured over it.

Rogan Josh Curry with Carrots, Okra, and Brussels Sprouts

Once I realised that Brussels sprouts aren’t all bad, I wanted to try cooking with them even more. When a jar of rogan josh curry sauce caught my eye, I decided to make a curry with the sprouts and other vegetables. Curries can be varied quite easily; any curry paste you want to use works just fine, and you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. I happened to have okra (also called lady fingers, appropriately enough for our dykey household!) and carrots, so that’s what I went with, but I’ve made curries with broccoli, cauliflower, peas, corn, and chickpeas, among other things. Sometimes I add tofu, too. In this case, I also included some coconut milk, which I like even though it isn’t necessarily traditional in Indian curries. And I served it all over brown basmati rice. The curry was lovely on an evening when we’d done a bit of shopping and then gotten caught in the unpleasant, snowy, slushy weather. It was nice to come home and warm up with curry, sitting on the sofa next to my beloved M.

Ingredients:
100 g brown basmati rice
1 bag Brussels sprouts (about 20)
1 bag okra (about 10)
2-3 carrots
oil
4-6 tbsp rogan josh curry paste
1 tin coconut milk

Instructions:
1. Wash the rice and boil it over low heat for about 30 minutes.
2. Shred or finely chop the Brussels sprouts, then dice the okra, and peel and dice the carrots.
3. Stir-fry the vegetables in a little oil, then add a tablespoon at a time of the curry paste, stirring it in well.
4. After the vegetables have cooked, add most of the coconut milk to the pan (leave about 2 tbsp). Add the remaining milk to the rice.
5. Serve the curry over the rice.

Fennel and Brussels Sprouts

‘Tis the season for Brussels sprouts, a vegetable I’ve never particularly liked. That’s probably because my mother boiled them until mushy, then plopped margarine on them. Not exactly a delicious dish, although my mother’s cooking is generally pretty tasty, albeit meat-centred (which sadly means I don’t eat it these days).

But I thought it was high time I tried these veg again and now that every grocery store is pushing them, I finally caved and got some. Rather than boil them, I decided to shred them and then fry them lightly with garlic and fennel. This served to create an aromatic side dish that helped to banish my memories of margarine-covered mush.

Ingredients:
1 fennel
2 garlic cloves
1 package Brussels sprouts
olive oil
sea salt

Instructions:
1. Chop the fennel and the garlic. Either shred the Brussels sprouts or chop them finely.
2. Fry all the vegetables in olive oil for 5-8 minutes, then season with salt and serve as a side dish.