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    Home » Recipes » Vegetarian Dinner Recipes

    Mar 4, 2015 · Modified: May 4, 2020 by Becca Heyes · This post may contain affiliate links · 20 Comments

    Butternut squash and black bean dopiaza

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    Total time: 1 hour
    5 from 3 votes
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    Butternut squash and black bean dopiaza - I finally learned the secret to making a creamy, slightly sweet curry sauce! :)
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    Since vegetarian food is often cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and (to some) even more delicious than meat, a lot of companies are starting to feed their employees meatless meals - even if it’s just once a week, as part of the Meatless Monday initiative. One of those companies is Ovo Energy, based in Bristol, who are serving up a delicious vegetarian meal to their employees once a week from March, with the help of Friska. Their aim is to raise awareness of the effects of meat consumption vs. vegetarianism. Take a look at their infographic about going meatless - did you know that if just 500 people gave up one portion of meat each week, 5000 road miles of carbon dioxide would be saved?! Ridiculous.

    Anyway, Ovo have kindly let me share one of their vegetarian recipes with you - this stunning butternut squash and black bean dopiaza - and it’s kind of making me wish I worked in an office so that I had someone to make all this stuff for me every day instead of having to do it myself.

    Butternut squash and black bean dopiaza - I finally learned the secret to making a creamy, slightly sweet curry sauce! :)

    My husband and I love Indian food, and we get an Indian take away once every couple of weeks (okaaaaay, okaay, maybe once a week), but until now I've not known how to recreate the thick and creamy, slightly sweet sauce that a lot of Indian curries have. I always assumed they contained heaps of double cream and maybe even some sugar, so I've always stuck to making tomato-based curries instead. Making curries with double cream and sugar sounds delicious (understatement of the year), but probably not the best habit to get into.

    Revelation: this curry sauce contains no cream! There's no sugar either! All it takes is a bit of coconut milk and (get this) some sweet potato, blended right up into the sauce. Complete and utter genius. The blended sweet potato adds the perfect touch of sweetness, and makes everything nice and thick and rich. This sauce is absolutely perfect, I'm telling you. The spices are spot on too - I don't think I usually use enough spices, because it felt like there was heaps going into this, but it all balanced out perfectly.

    Butternut squash and black bean dopiaza - I finally learned the secret to making a creamy, slightly sweet curry sauce! :)

    Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients, though. If you don't have one or two of the spices, I'm sure you'll still end up with a delicious curry. I wouldn't go jumping in your car just to buy half a teaspoon of onion seeds. In fact there are very few things that I would recommend going out especially for (an entire curry, yes, half a teaspoon of onion seeds, no).

    Butternut squash and black bean dopiaza - I finally learned the secret to making a creamy, slightly sweet curry sauce! :)

    As you may have noticed, I usually use tinned beans in my recipes, but since I was following Ovo's recipe, I decided to give dried black beans a go this time. They were delicious, I'll admit, but the sight of them bubbling away in black liquid wasn't particularly appetising, and I did have to get out of bed the night before because I'd forgotten to put them in a pan of water to soak overnight. So, I'll probably stick to tinned beans in the future. Yes, I'm lazy. If you're less lazy, feel free to use dried beans. I haven't included these steps in the recipe, but you can just soak them overnight, then boil them for about 40-50 minutes until they're soft.

    Butternut squash and black bean dopiaza - I finally learned the secret to making a creamy, slightly sweet curry sauce! :)

    So, do you like the look of the curry? Ovo's chef is a genius, no?

    Butternut squash and black bean dopiaza - I finally learned the secret to making a creamy, slightly sweet curry sauce! :)

    Butternut squash and black bean dopiaza

    If you've cooked this recipe, don't forget to leave a star rating!

    5 from 3 votes
    Print Pin Comment
    Prep Time: 1 hour
    Total Time: 1 hour
    Calories:
    Author: Becca Heyes

    Ingredients

    • 1 large butternut squash peeled and diced
    • 2 tablespoon oil divided
    • Salt
    • Black pepper
    • 1 onion diced
    • 2 sticks celery sliced
    • 2 cloves garlic minced
    • piece Small of ginger thumbnail-sized, minced
    • ½ medium sweet potato ~250g
    • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
    • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
    • 2 teaspoon garam masala
    • ⅔ teaspoon madras powder
    • 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
    • ½ teaspoon onion seeds
    • ⅔ teaspoon black pepper
    • ½ teaspoon turmeric
    • 1 teaspoon tomato puree
    • 400 ml tin coconut milk ~1 ½ cups
    • 10 cherry tomatoes halved
    • 250 ml water ~1 cup
    • 450 g cooked black beans ~3 cups
    • Small handful fresh spinach
    • Small bunch fresh coriander cilantro, chopped

    Instructions

    • Toss the diced butternut squash in about 1tbsp of oil with some salt and pepper, and spread it out in a single layer on a baking tray. Roast at 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F) for around 30 minutes, until soft and slightly crispy.
    • Heat the remaining 1tbsp of oil in a large pan or wok, and add the diced onion, celery, garlic, ginger and sweet potato. Cook over a medium-low heat for around 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the vegetables are soft.
    • Turn the heat down to low, add the spices (ground cumin to turmeric) to the pan, and cook for a couple more minutes, stirring constantly, to toast the spices. Then add the tomato puree, coconut milk, halved cherry tomatoes, and water. Bring to a simmer, and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the tomatoes have begun to break down, and all the other vegetables are soft.
    • Carefully transfer the sauce to a blender, and blitz until smooth. Return to the pan, and add the cooked black beans and roasted butternut squash.
    • When you're ready to serve, stir through the fresh spinach and chopped coriander - the heat of the sauce will wilt the spinach. Serve with rice or naan bread.

    Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.

    Tried this Recipe? Pin it for Later!Mention @EasyCheesyVeg or tag #EasyCheesyVegetarian!

    Butternut squash and black bean dopiaza - I finally learned the secret to making a creamy, slightly sweet curry sauce! :)Love a curry? Here's another option - weeknight tikka masala:

    Weeknight tikka masala

    More Vegetarian Dinner Recipes

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    • 40 Vegetarian Mushroom Recipes
    • Slow Cooker Mushroom Stroganoff
    • Vegetarian Chilli Mac (One Pot!)
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    Comments

    1. Jodie says

      April 27, 2020 at 3:45 pm

      Hi, how many servings does this make? Looks like a great recipe!

      Reply
      • Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says

        April 28, 2020 at 2:40 pm

        Thank you! Apologies, the formatting went a bit funky when I changed the site over to a different type of recipe card, but it makes 4 servings!

        Reply
    2. Navaneetha Nair says

      March 25, 2015 at 11:56 am

      As Jane schofield said Dopiaza means "2" onions , basically in Indian curries this Dopiaza actually means adding onions twice. Your love for Indian food is just amazing. Great blog. Thank you Becca for this wonderful creamy recipe.

      Reply
      • Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says

        March 25, 2015 at 6:09 pm

        That's so interesting, I'm always keen to learn more about other cuisines! Thanks for your comment :)

        Reply
    3. Lorna says

      March 18, 2015 at 1:29 pm

      It's making me hungry looking at this!

      I could just eat this right now!

      Reply
    4. Jo of Jo's Kitchen says

      March 10, 2015 at 1:26 pm

      I don't like cream in curries so I give this one a go

      Reply
    5. Emily Leary says

      March 10, 2015 at 1:21 pm

      Yes, yes, yes. I totally agree, this sauce is a complete winner. I'm going to be using the sweet potato blitz method in all sorts now I know about it.

      Reply
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