PUMPKIN/BUTTERNUT SQUASH CURRY

Recipe by Mish Sen

Mish Sen’s pumpkin curry and root veg chaat serve up a sophisticated taste of fall.

Story by Stacy Brook

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Mish Sen has a mission: to make Indian cooking accessible to beginners, with dishes easy enough to make on busy weeknights.  “I am all about shortcuts. There's no shame in that!” says the Chaska-based cookbook author and influencer.  “It doesn’t mean you’re not being authentic.”

She ticks off the misconceptions that people may have about Indian cooking: there are too many ingredients and too many steps, the ingredients are hard to find, it will take too long.  “It's a whole bunch of overwhelming scenarios, so then people say, ‘I'll just eat it in the restaurant.’”

“Even for me, being in the culture, I did get very overwhelmed with cookbooks, and I just don't have the patience,” she says.  When she moved to the United States from Kolkata at age 21, she was juggling grad school, a new marriage, and finding her bearings in a new culture—she had limited time for cooking.  “I was always looking for the shortcut, how do I make this simple?  I really had to learn it by trial and error.”

Initially, Sen’s approach was just for herself, as she worked full-time as a seventh grade English teacher and later in digital marketing.  When her marketing work ground to a halt in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic, she decided to take advantage of her downtime by focusing on her Instagram account and blog, which feature Indian recipes and instructional videos.  It quickly became apparent that she was tapping into an eager audience, and her Instagram account currently has over 35,000 followers.  She built on her social media success with a cookbook, Indian Kitchen Secrets: 52 Easy-to-Make Indian Recipes for Beginners, published in 2021.

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Sen’s cookbook and online content are intended to show readers that they can cook many Indian dishes with ingredients from their regular grocery stores, no trip to a specialty market required.  “You really only need a handful of basic spices—turmeric, whole and ground cumin, whole and ground coriander seeds, chili powder, and a garam masala blend—and you can use them to cook a lot of different dishes,” she explains.  

When possible, Sen embraces convenience ingredients, like the premade garam masala spice blend from Frontier Co-op.  “They make the best garam masala, so I buy theirs!”  Other shortcuts include pre-minced garlic, canned diced tomatoes, and pre-cut butternut squash.

She encourages people to be flexible in their approach to Indian cooking and customize it to their tastes.  For example, they can leave off the cilantro garnish if it’s not to their liking, or add chicken broth if they feel it enhances the dish’s flavor.  Sen wants people of all backgrounds to see Indian cuisine as something that can be easily cooked at home, and she provided us with a couple of recipes for inspiration.

Sen’s pumpkin/butternut squash curry is an old family recipe.  It has a warm, vibrant spice profile (tempering the spices in the oil really makes the flavors shine) and the chickpeas add a nice chew that contrasts with the tenderness of the cooked pumpkin.  Sen served us this curry over extra long grain basmati rice, which can be purchased online or at an Indian grocery store.  

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This pumpkin/butternut squash curry is the Bengali Kumro Chokka, a traditional dish made with pumpkin (kumro) and chickpeas (chana). It is a flavorful and nutritious dish commonly prepared in Bengali households.

3 cups pumpkin or butternut squash (kumro), peeled and diced into small cubes
1/2 cup brown chickpeas (kala chana), soaked overnight (canned garbanzo beans can be substituted)
1 tomato, chopped
1 Tbsp ginger paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1⁄2 tsp garam masala spice blend
Salt to taste
Fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
Mustard oil (preferred for authentic flavor) or any neutral oil

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Heat oil in a pan over medium heat.

Add cumin seeds to the hot oil and let it crackle.

Add ginger paste. Saute until the raw smell of ginger disappears.

Add turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, and red chili powder. Mix well.

Add the tomato pieces and cook till they are pulpy. Covering and cooking on low for a few minutes speeds up the process.

Add the diced pumpkin and chickpeas to the pan. Mix gently to combine the ingredients.

Add salt to taste and mix well. Sprinkle a little water to help cook the pumpkin.

Cover the pan and let the Kumro Chokka simmer on low heat until the pumpkin is cooked

through but still holds its shape. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Open the lid and with the back of a cooking spoon mash the pumpkin/squash gently.

Sprinkle some garam masala and mix well.

Garnish with cilantro.

The roasted root vegetable chaat contains an impressive range of flavors and textures—our photographer confessed that he never realized parsnips could taste this good.  The earthiness of the vegetables is balanced and brightened by the pomegranate seeds, yogurt, and tamarind chutney, and the diced onion and sev add a welcome crunch.