Roasted Squash With Coconut, Chile and Garlic Recipe (2024)

Can you tel us why you chose chiles de arbol? I am mystified by chiles and always worry I will choose one that is too spicy. Thanks!

Curry powder and curry leaves are very different things, one being a blend of ground spices and the other being fresh leaves. In my town I get curry leaves at a Korean grocery store that carries a lot of different ethnic foods. Bigger towns with larger Indian populations have Indian groceries which often carry fresh curry leaves.

I had roasted a whole spaghetti squash yesterday and hadn't decided what to do with it. I wasn't sure if spaghetti squash would work well with this particular recipe, but it sure did. I made the coconut-chile-garlic spice mixture and tossed the spaghetti squash in the hot pan at the end. Wow- it was delicious. If you (like me) dislike treating spaghetti squash as a pasta-like medium for Italian sauces, try this instead.

May this be made in my new instant pot?

It would be a very different dish. You would lose the benefit of the drying and browning of the squash, which usually intensifies the flavor and sweetness of a vegetable.

Re: the difficulty finding curry leaves: As a South Indian having living in various places around the world and in the states, one of the best ways to find this irreplaceable and very impactful ingredient is to simply search “Indian store near me” in google. Curry leaf is a unique flavor that I’ve tried to find a substitute for over 25 years as sometimes I’m too lazy to pick some up. It can be grown at home and is a very sturdy plant. Delicious and worth the effort sourcing if possible. G’luck!

The chilis are very easy to break up in their dried state; then soak the pieces. Try to break them open lengthwise, so you can easily remove the seeds (wear gloves until you're more familiar with how chilis affect your skin!) Set the seeds aside and add after cooking, if the finished dish is not spicy/hot enough.

I didn't have enough squash on hand so used sweet potato rounds. Everyone thought the sweet potatoes tasted better than the squash.

"Red chiles, only slightly hot". How do you determine that a dried red chile is only mildly hot? Once scorched, twice shy!

Kalonji is not mustard seeds! Please use the spice labeled black mustard seeds

You could always put them in a food processor.

I didn’t have mustard seeds or curry leaf, and I used packaged peeled and cubed butternut squash. One of the most delicious preparations ever!!! A definite keeper. Can’t wait to try it with every vegetable I can find!!!

Made this with red pepper flakes and brown mustard seeds. Fantastic.

I thought this was going to be way too much work— too many steps and way too many dirty dishes (the food processor, the sheet pan, plus a skillet!) for one little vegetarian side dish that still required a protein and also a side of rice and - ideally- also a side of naan (homemade, in our case) but the end result — served with tofu “butter chicken” and leftover “bright rice” was transcendent.

really good! do use the mustard seeds. i used yellow mustard seeds

I used more squash so increased the other ingredients except oil which I brushed onto the squash rather than drizzle. Didn't have curry leaves as don't cook a lot of curries and used extra yellow mustard seeds as that's what I had. Would add more garlic as just like garlic. Not tried it with lemon yet as just tasted as cooking but still very nice. Excellent and easy recipe. Will try it with sweet potatoes as another commenter mentioned.

This was DELICIOUS! The squeeze of lemon at the end really made the flavors pop. I didn’t bother grinding the coconut, garlic and chilis into a paste. Just minced the garlic and chilis then stired them into the unsweetened dried coconut. Then toasted the mix in the mustard seed butter. Don’t skip the mustard seeds!

Do you deseed the chiles before you soak them?

I made this recipe with delicate and butternut squash and it was delicious. I made some modifications based on what I had on hand (avocado instead of coconut oil; curry and chili de arbol powders). I will look for curry leaves and dried peppers for next time.

The spice combo sounds like it would be tasty on anything.

Coconut stuff amazing.

Soucy sauce ok Nothing special

Unsure about all that messing with chiles, so I just used a locally grown chile powder. Made the coconut-garlic mix in the mortar and pestle and it turned out fine, tasty!

SO, SO good!! We demoed six delicata between three of us...couldn't stop grabbing a few more pieces! In the absence of my mortar and pestle, I just minced the heck out of the garlic/coconut/chile pile and it worked just fine. May have "accidentally" put in a bit extra coconut oil (only because I couldn't imagine how this was going to result in a spreadable topping; know now it would have been fine with the amount indicated in the recipe). Put this topping on anything--it's the new chili crisp!

This crumble is a gift that keeps on giving. Put it on yogurt and add a bit of rice, and voila an instant, delicious snack. I also used the crumble to coat baked chicken breasts and then again in fried chicken recipe with rice flour. It is a multi tasker, much like dukkah.

So the squash are not peeled first before roasting?

Wow, what a great recipe. I made it pretty much as directed and this will now be my go to butternut squash recipe. My wife is a bit sensitive to heat, so next time just one Chile de arbol, but even so we ate 1 1/2 lb of squash in one sitting. I’m also going to be trying this technique with other veggies as it meets two of my main cooking goals: fast and delicious.