Curried Butternut and Coconut Gratin
Curried butternut and coconut gratin
Yield: 4
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 1 H & 30 MTotal time: 1 H & 45 M
Ingredients
- 1 x 400ml can full-fat coconut milk (reserve 2 tbsp to serve)
- 1 large banana shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
- Thumb sized piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 x 400ml can plum tomatoes
- 1 tbsp medium curry powder - we use Burmese
- ¾ tbsp tomato paste
- Salt
- 1 large butternut squash, halved, seeds scooped out , then cut widthways into 2-3mm slices
- 30g coconut flakes
- 1 x tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 1 slug olive oil
- 1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve
- For the topping
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 10 dried curry leaves
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7. Put the first six ingredients in a blender with a teaspoon and a half of salt and blitz smooth. Whisper a little oil on the base of the pan to stop it sticking. Arrange the squash slices in a round, 28cm cast-iron pan or baking dish, then pour over the curry coconut milk mixture.
- In a small bowl, mix the coconut flakes with the pomegranate molasses and a grind of salt, and leave to soak.
- Cover the pan or dish with foil, bake for 60 minutes, then remove the foil, drizzle over the oil, cover with the coconut flake mix and bake for 10 minutes more. Turn the oven to a high grill setting, then grill for four or five minutes, until nicely browned on top.
- Put the oil in a small saucepan on a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the curry leaves and fry for 15 seconds, until the leaves are crisp.
- Drizzle the aromatic oil and curry leaves plus the reserved two tablespoons of coconut milk over the gratin. Serve with lime wedges. Yotam Ottolenghi suggest serving it with a crisp salad, but we preferred it with rice.
- The original version appeared in The Guardian on 10 October 2020. (I've made some changes to suit our palate)
