Butternut Squash & Lentil Dahl

We originally made this recipe after receiving one similar in a Gousto box. We had signed up to their subscription service to try new recipes, as we'd found we were often making the same dishes each week. We were lacking culinary inspiration!We have our beloved go-to curry recipe, that we make large batches of from time to time. But neither of us had made a dahl before, and yet whenever we go out for Indian cuisine, we always choose a dahl.This recipe is super simple to recreate, and you can easily adapt the recipe to add other ingredients, or change the flavours slightly. For example you could add okra or green beens, or mushrooms to add more vegetables. Or you could make less dahl and serve with rice or naan bread. It's up to you! I love that about cooking.Ingredients (serves 4):

• 2 brown onions, chopped
• 1 butternut squash, cubed
• 100g solid coconut cream, chopped
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 garlic cloves, diced
• 30g fresh ginger, diced
• 200g dried red lentils, rinsed
• 2 cans green lentils
• 20g coriander, chopped
• 1 lemon, quartered
• 1 tsp nigella seeds
• Salt and black pepper
• Vegetable oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees and boil the kettle.
2. Heat a large frying pan with a drizzle of vegetable oil over a medium heat. Once hot, add half of the chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Cook for 5 mins until softened.
3. Meanwhile, add the butternut squash cubes and the remaining half of the onion to a baking tray. Drizzle with vegetable oil and season with salt and black pepper. Cook for 15 - 20 mins in the oven until tender.
4. While the squash is roasting, dissolve the vegetable stock cubes and coconut cream in 700 ml of boiling water.
5. Once the onions have softened in the frying pan, add the ground turmeric, diced garlic and ginger, and cook for a further 1 - 2 mins.
6. Once fragrant, add the red lentils and canned green lentils (no need to drain). Add the coconut stock and stir for 15 - 20 mins until all of the water is absorbed and the lentils are cooked.
7. Once the lentils are cooked, stir through half the chopped coriander and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon. (At this point, add more boiling water if the dahl needs it).
8. Serve the dahl in bowls, topped with the roasted butternut squash and onion. Garnish with the remaining coriander, nigella seeds and a further drizzle of lemon juice.