Cuban-Style Sweet and Sour Squash with Peppers and Basil
Cross-posted to 
cookbook_challenge.
From The Roasting Tin around the World by Rukmini Iyer. This will be the last recipe from this book I post. Truth be told, I'm feeling a little embarrassed about posting so many, even though I was/am cooking my way through it and the challenge comm specifies these should be recipes you were intending to try. If you've liked these recipes can I suggest you purchase a copy of the book since it is currently in print? I have just acquired my Mum's cookbook though, so I think next year, I will try cooking my way (selectively) through that.
Ingredients
1 butternut squash, cut into eights
4 pointy peppers, mixed colours
2 red onions, halved
4 cloves of garlic, grated
8cm ginger, grated
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 tsps caster sugat
60ml white vinegar
60ml water
2tbsp olive oil
sea salt flakes
extra virgin olive oil
A handful of pumpkin seeds
A large bunch of fresh basil
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan/200C/gas 6.
2. Put the squash peppers and onions into a roasting tin with everything in one layer.
3. Mix the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, caster sugar, vinegar, water and oil in a small bol then pour over the vegetables and mix.
4. Cover with foil and cook for 45 minutes.
5. Remove the foil, turn up the heat to 200C fan/220C/gas 7 and roast for 15-20 minutes until the peppers have a good colour.
6. Remove from the oven, season as necessary. Drizzle with the virgin olive oil and scatter over the pumpkin seeds and basil.
Changes, Mistakes and Substitutions
I made half quantities of the veg, but full quantities of the liquid. Sainsbury's delivered regular red peppers instead of pointy peppers, so I quartered these and used instead. I also quartered rather than halved the onion. I used 2 tsps of garlic paste and 2 tsps ginger paste instead of grating fresh. The change that made the most difference, I suspect, and which I didn't think much of at the time, was that I selected my largest casserole dish with a lid and used that instead of a roasting tin with foil. Although large, the vegetables weren't in one layer. The result was that the vegetables that cooked in the liquid were properly cooked and had a nice sweet and sour flavour, while the ones that weren't were a bit under-cooked and dull.
Verdict
The verdict is mixed, probably because of the issue with the layers during cooking. I shall make again and see what its like when all the vegetables are in the liquid. This entry was originally posted at https://purplecat.dreamwidth.org/805064.html.
cookbook_challenge.
From The Roasting Tin around the World by Rukmini Iyer. This will be the last recipe from this book I post. Truth be told, I'm feeling a little embarrassed about posting so many, even though I was/am cooking my way through it and the challenge comm specifies these should be recipes you were intending to try. If you've liked these recipes can I suggest you purchase a copy of the book since it is currently in print? I have just acquired my Mum's cookbook though, so I think next year, I will try cooking my way (selectively) through that.
Ingredients
1 butternut squash, cut into eights
4 pointy peppers, mixed colours
2 red onions, halved
4 cloves of garlic, grated
8cm ginger, grated
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 tsps caster sugat
60ml white vinegar
60ml water
2tbsp olive oil
sea salt flakes
extra virgin olive oil
A handful of pumpkin seeds
A large bunch of fresh basil
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan/200C/gas 6.
2. Put the squash peppers and onions into a roasting tin with everything in one layer.
3. Mix the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, caster sugar, vinegar, water and oil in a small bol then pour over the vegetables and mix.
4. Cover with foil and cook for 45 minutes.
5. Remove the foil, turn up the heat to 200C fan/220C/gas 7 and roast for 15-20 minutes until the peppers have a good colour.
6. Remove from the oven, season as necessary. Drizzle with the virgin olive oil and scatter over the pumpkin seeds and basil.
Changes, Mistakes and Substitutions
I made half quantities of the veg, but full quantities of the liquid. Sainsbury's delivered regular red peppers instead of pointy peppers, so I quartered these and used instead. I also quartered rather than halved the onion. I used 2 tsps of garlic paste and 2 tsps ginger paste instead of grating fresh. The change that made the most difference, I suspect, and which I didn't think much of at the time, was that I selected my largest casserole dish with a lid and used that instead of a roasting tin with foil. Although large, the vegetables weren't in one layer. The result was that the vegetables that cooked in the liquid were properly cooked and had a nice sweet and sour flavour, while the ones that weren't were a bit under-cooked and dull.
Verdict
The verdict is mixed, probably because of the issue with the layers during cooking. I shall make again and see what its like when all the vegetables are in the liquid. This entry was originally posted at https://purplecat.dreamwidth.org/805064.html.