I’ve always associated butternut squash with fall. But Miami’s growing seasons have surprised me once again. Last week’s summer sales from Redland Organics offered fat, fresh butternut squash.

But with temperatures in the 90s and big-hair-inducing humidity, I strayed from my usual winter squash repertoire of risotto, soup and polenta. Instead, I looked to the hot climate of India (and this original recipe from thekitchn.com) for inspiration and made a butternut squash curry with coconut milk and tamarind.

I don’t want my other recipes to feel self-conscious, but this is the most delicious dish I’ve made in a while. Sweet squash, just enough heat and spices, rich coconut milk and tangy tamarind concentrate yielded a thick, complex curry that touched every taste receptor on our happy tongues.

The squash remained firm after 45 minutes of cooking, which made this vegan meal surprisingly hardy. Leftovers only got better and were summarily killed the next day.

We ate this with sauteed spinach and basmati rice, but it also would make a beautiful side dish for an Indian feast. Just don’t tell the main course that the butternut squash is stealing the show.

Butternut Squash Curry with Coconut Milk
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 tablespoons canola oil
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 1/4-inch thick coins of fresh ginger
1 jalapeno, stems and seeds removed, and diced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
1 cup water
2 teaspoons tamarind concentrate
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Instructions
Heat a small frying pan on medium heat, add coriander, cumin, and fennel seeds, and toast until the spices are fragrant and just begin to darken. Remove spices from heat, and allow them to cool. Pulverize mixture in a spice grinder.

Heat oil in a wide, deep frying pan or wide, shallow pot. Add garlic, ginger, and jalapenos; cook until garlic barely starts to turn pale golden. Stir in toasted spices, turmeric, cayenne, and red pepper flakes, and cook 2 minutes. Add butternut squash, coconut milk, water, tamarind concentrate, and salt. Bring curry to a boil, and reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, for 40 to 45 minutes. Squash should be tender, and sauce should be thick.

Serve, and top with cilantro.

Serves 4 (main courses) and 6 (side dishes)

I’ve loyally prepared my Carrot Soup with Lemon and Ginger since 2006. This is the other carrot soup.

It’s not that I was unhappy with my standby, but I felt a pull to dabble with a chilled version. One that was exotic (curry and coconut milk) and low-maintenance (we didn’t want anything to get messy).

This soup really is as simple as it gets: Saute vegetables and spices, simmer them in broth, puree with silky coconut milk, and squeeze in lime. Then there’s the chilling, of course—six to 24 hours of it. This is definitely a meal to plan in advance, but it will patiently wait for you to return home from work and satisfy you as fast as you can ladle and slurp down a bowl.

I used good-quality, hot curry powder—a must—and served it with warm naan. And other than a few tweaks, I stuck pretty closely to the original epicurious.com recipe.

I did my usual morning prep for this, and I snuck a sip of the soup fresh off the stove. To be honest, it was just as good hot as it was cold—whatever your fancy.

Will it replace my first carrot love? Probably not. But it’s nice to spice it up once in a while. 

Chilled Carrot Soup with Curry and Coconut
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
1 small onion, diced
1-inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 1/4 pounds carrots
2 1/2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or less if using salty stock)
Juice of 1 lime

Instructions
Melt butter in a medium pot. Cook scallions, onion, ginger, and curry powder until vegetables are soft and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Add carrots and cook 5 minutes more. Pour in stock, bring to a boil, cover, and cook until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

Puree carrot mixture in batches with coconut milk. Transfer puree to a bowl, and stir in salt and lime juice. Refrigerate until cool, 6 hours to overnight.

Serves 4 to 6

With half of a roasted pumpkin on my hands (left over from pumpkin sage risotto) and per William’s request, I made a big pot of curried pumpkin soup—laced with coconut milk and fruity apple. A fat tablespoon of curry powder (I used an Indonesian variety, heavy on coriander and cumin) and a dash of cayenne offset the soup’s sweeter elements and provided just enough background heat to keep things interesting.

Although the home-roasted pumpkin was initially stringier than canned puree, a minute-long whirl with the immersion blender yielded a plenty creamy bowl of soup (perfect for mopping up with a hunk of bread). 

This recipe was almost vegan, but I added two teaspoons of Asian fish sauce at the last minute for extra oomph. Lemon juice would provide a distinct zip as well, while keeping the recipe in bounds for vegetarians. 

Curried Pumpkin Soup 
1/2 3- to 4-pound pumpkin, roasted
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and diced
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder
Dash cayenne pepper
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
3 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fish sauce (or lemon juice to taste to keep it veg) 
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Instructions
Roast pumpkin (here are great step-by-step instructions), chopping half of the pumpkin into 1/2-inch cubes and reserving the second half for another use.  

Heat oil in a medium-sized pot on medium heat. Add onion, apple, garlic, curry powder, and cayenne pepper, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, until onion is tender. Add pumpkin, coconut milk, and vegetable stock to the pot, and bring to a boil, scraping up brown bits. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.

Cool slightly and puree soup with an immersion blender (or in batches with a traditional blender). Stir in salt and fish sauce. 

Serve topped with cilantro. 

Serves 6

Seriously, this is the easiest weeknight meal I’ve made in a while. As much as I loathe “dump” recipes—where you combine a few cans of food and make supposed magic—this truly fits into the “dump” category. I chopped a few vegetables, dug canned goods out of my pantry, and dumped everything together to make a flavorful vegan dinner.

And after a week of stuffing meat down my face, this made me feel a whole lot healthier, too. But healthy doesn’t equal no-fat, low-cal. Just good wholesome food. 

If you can’t tell, I believe all of meals, regardless of their meat content, have to have fat—at least a little. My chefs at Le Cordon Bleu preached that fat (and of course salt) carry flavor and bring a dish to life. Coconut milk fulfills that role here, adding creaminess and luxury that few veggies can match. The coconut milk, along with rice and protein-packed beans, filled us up generously. 

I’d gladly dump and serve this any night. 

Chickpea Soup with Coconut Milk and Curry
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, finely  diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon hot curry powder
2 cups vegetable stock
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Kosher salt and pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro 
2 to 3 cups cooked rice of your choice 

Instructions
In a 4-quart pot, heat oil over medium. Add onion, red pepper, jalapeno, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Stir in curry powder, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in vegetable stock and coconut milk. Bring to a boil. Whisk in tomato paste, turn down heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over rice, and top with cilantro. 

Serves 4

Growing mung bean sprouts for the first time this week felt like a 2nd grade science experiment. Little green beans sprung to life in a pot on on my counter. If you’ve never tried it, here’s how: 

1. Rinse beans in a fine colander, and remove any non-bean debris.
2. Soak beans overnight in a large bowl of water. 
3. Drain beans, and place them in in a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth. 
4. Bundle the cloth, and secure it closed with string or a rubber band. 
5. Place the cloth with the beans in a pot with a lid on top.
6. Leave the beans on your kitchen counter or in another warm location for one to two days. (Mine grew for about 36 hours and yielded one-inch sprouts.) 

Just as magical as growing the fool-proof sprouts was this curry dish in which they starred. I based my recipe on a curry from VeggieBelly.com, making a few adjustments. The spice blend was neither subtle nor overwhelming (I tend to get curry powder happy). And the bean sprouts maintained a firm texture, giving this vegan dish necessary heartiness—not to mention protein. I served the curry over rice to sop up all the juices.

Mung Bean Curry
1/2 pound mung beans, sprouted
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 large onion, diced
3 medium tomatoes, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 tablespoons cumin powder
1 tablespoon ground coriander
4 cups water or vegetable broth 
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup chopped cilantro

Instructions
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add onion and  cook until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, garlic, and ginger, and cook until the tomatoes break down, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in turmeric, chili powder, ground cumin, and ground coriander, cooking for 1 minute more. Add mung beans, water, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. 

Taste curry, and adjust salt as needed. Stir in lemon juice and cilantro (reserving just a bit for garnish). Serve over rice. 

Serves 6

I planned on making a vegetarian version of Jamie Oliver’s chicken tikka masala, but, apparently,  I had run out of garam masala and didn’t have any cardamom on hand to make my own blend. Instead, I decided on a sweet korma, which I rarely order out (I prefer heftier heat) but found quite satisfying at home.

I picked up a pre-made korma blend while visiting William’s parents in England. But you can blend your own or use spice proportions similar to those in this Food Network recipe.  

Next time I might add vegetables—red bell pepper, tomato, or peas. But this is a good starter recipe, and it would work with a variety of curry powders.  

Tofu Korma
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons korma curry blend
1 tablespoon lemon
1 14-ounce container, extra firm tofu
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream or coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro 

Instructions 
Combine yogurt, korma blend, and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Stir in tofu and refrigerate for a half hour or more. 

Heat oil in a large, wide saucepan over medium. Add onions and cook 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and ginger, and cook 1 minute more. Add tofu and yogurt mixture, and cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring. Stir in cream and water and bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat to low for 10 minutes.

Remove lid, and add sugar and salt. Cook for another 5 to 7 minutes, until mixture has thickened. Stir in almonds, and cook for 3 minutes more. Serve over rice and garnished with chopped cilantro.

Serves 3 to 4

This is another modified Easy Vegetarian (Rylan Peters & Small) find. This dish has a pleasant level of heat and a golden balance of veg, protein and carbs—not to mention fiber. With minimal prep and one-dish cooking, these curried lentils are ideal for a weeknight dinner (and next-day leftovers). They also would make a nice side dish for a larger Indian meal. 

I served sauteed zucchini and plain yogurt on the side. And if we weren’t out of naan and chutney, I would have eaten those as well.

Curried Lentils with Lentils and Spinach
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 serrano chile, sliced into thin rings
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
2 teaspoons hot curry powder
1 1/2 cups brown lentils
2 cups water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
8 ounces baby spinach, roughly chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped

Instructions
Heat oil in a medium-size sauce pan over medium. Add onions, garlic, chile, cumin, and curry powder. Cook for 4 minutes. Add lentils, and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Pour in water, and bring to a boil. Stir in salt. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook lentils for 25 minutes (lentils will still be a bit firm).

Stir in spinach and tomatoes. Cook until spinach is wilted, and serve.

Serves 4