Doi Methi Kumro – Sweet and Sour Winter Squash with Fenugreek

This was a somewhat unusual rendition of the winter squash, touched by the flavors of my household an interesting mix of flavors from Bengal and the north of India, but like a lot of regional food in my household the Bengali flavors dominating. Actually the touch that is rather boldly thrown in from the northern regions is the kasuri methi or the dried fenugreek leaves, which works beautifully with the natural sweetness of the winter squash, resulting in today’s dish – Winter or Butternut Squash with Fenugreek.

Bengali cuisine does feature the use of fenugreek, but usually like most greens in its fresh form or as crushed seeds.Pairing the dried or fresh methi with sweet carrots, is very typical in winter in the northern regions, but it works very well with sweet and seasonal squash. I keep the name and suggestion generic as it works well with both delicata and butternut squash.

This is actually an adaptation that I have done effectively mostly for convenience rather than anything else. It is not always easy to find fresh fenugreek leaves and also for some reason, they tend to not have the robust and characteristic maple tinged flavors that is distinctly reminiscent of the flavors of life. It is really in a dish like this that I think lies the essential elements of the flavors of life, tartness, touched with a touch of the bitter however retaining the essential elements that are sweet and savory. I have recently found a lot of comfort in keeping the flavors of our food simple, it is also great to realize that this simple food is amazingly nourishing and in several cases (where I remember to keep the chilies down, much appreciated by the kids)

The squash of choice that we have worked with this year is the Delicata Squash. a much favored variety named after its rather delicious taste. I personally enjoy its rather pronounced sweet taste and absolutely love the fact that it tends to cook much quicker than a lot of other varieties of orange squash. It is actually quite amazing how pretty the outer skin is, it is a shame that this cannot be captured to the cooking pot. Unlike the skin of the summer squash or zucchini, this skin is rather tough.

This variety ended up being nice and prolific, allowing me to test and develop an entire plethora of recipes for the cookbook. The squash stores beautifully, and so we had a crop of about 28 squashes that lasted us comfortably through fall and a lot of the winter. It also inspired us to keep some of the root vegetables such as the carrots in the soil through winter.