This was the year I fell in love with squash.
Featured comment
I LOVE this recipe and make it every fall. It is so heart-warning and delicious. And, itās very easy to make (though, I have never been able to find yellow curry paste all these years in CA, PA, and now DC and usually use red curry pasteāsometimes green in a pinch)
This recipe absolutely changes the quinoa. The flavors are so unique. There is no other recipe like it!
Michelle
From the first day of this blog I’ve been a squash liker, but for some weirdos (ahem) it takes moving to the Philippines to become a full on squash l-o-v-e-r.
If we’re being honest, I’m actually more of a second photo creamy squash sauce lover, but it’s all the same anyways. Squash. Vegetable. Healthy.
Since we’ve moved to the Philippines I’ve posted more about squash than any other vegetable, hands down, unless you count lentils as a vegetable.
We’ve had squash soup, squash pasta with turkey and spinach, walnut-squash macaroni and cheese, squash lentil curry, 30 minute squash coconut curry, thai basil coconut lentils (with squash), and so on and so on and so on.
Colorful, versatile, healthy, widely available in the Philippines, and delicately, sweetly flavored? Yeah, this is the year for squash.
But this right here is not really my thing: QUINOA.
I know it. That’s pretty much an F in Food Blogging.
Everyone loves it and I really want to love it, but then somehow I’m sitting in the other corner, still trying to make it, um, taste good.
Something strange happened in our hot little apartment last week. Bjork asked me to make quinoa for dinner. Sooo basically he was abducted by aliens? It was weird. I gave him an extended silent stare and then asked in my most loving but a little bit condescending food voice: do you even know what quinoa is?
When he confirmed that it was “those little crunchy things”, I knew that I needed to try a little harder to make quinoa work. I mean, I’m a food blogger whose semi-job is trying interesting foods and my hamburger and fries loving husband is asking me for quinoa, for crying out loud.
You all gave me lots of courage with your beautiful and delicious ideas on Facebook (thank you a million times over!), and I tried a bunch of different quinoa ingredient combos, and surprise of the world: I liked the curry quinoa the best. The curry with the squash.
Per your advice, I spent a good amount of time rinsing the quinoa and also cooked it in vegetable broth which helps it, like, actually taste better. It was nutty, a little crunchy, and just begging for a squash sauce to swim in. The squash sauce has just the right amount of sweetness, and the tiny bit of yellow curry paste is just a subtle kick that you almost don’t even notice until you’re 100 bites in.
And I know this is weird, but I love this the most with cheese. Just a little bit of really good quality cheese. In my mind, curry shouldn’t have cheese. So yes, I’m breaking food rules here. But this isn’t really CURRY curry, it’s more like creamy quinoa that happens to have a little bit of curry flavor. So please find some really good quality cheese and toss it in there. You don’t need a lot – mine was Gouda and Maasdam (a random preshredded “pasta blend” I found at the grocery store), and the flavor and creamy texture in this was SO good.
And by the way, you’re gonna get melted cheese strings and you’re gonna be happy about it.
One more time, a little closer. Because that’s what I do.
ONE LAST THING. For all my blended stuff, I always have the best results with my Blendtec Designer Series Blender. I didn’t own it when I made this recipe, but I now use it for everything! f you’re in the market for a new grown up blender, this has your name all over it.
Print
Creamy Squash Curry Quinoa
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
This creamy squash curry quinoa is the best way I’ve ever prepared quinoa – so creamy and filling, and a healthy comfort food!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups dry quinoa, rinsed
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 1 medium butternut or Kabocha squash (7–8 cups chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion
- 2 teaspoons yellow curry paste (can also use red curry paste)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup good quality cheese to taste (I used Gouda and Maasdam)
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa according to package directions, using broth instead of water.
- Bring the remaining broth to a boil in a large pot. Peel and roughly chop the squash, garlic, and onion. Add to the pot of boiling broth, adding more water as needed to cover the squash. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until squash is fork-tender. Set aside a few cups of squash if you want to have pieces of squash in with the quinoa.
- Transfer squash, garlic, and onion pieces to a blender, reserving the broth in the pot. Puree the squash until smooth and add broth to the blender as necessary. It should be the consistency of a thick soup. Add the curry paste, coconut milk, and salt. Puree again until incorporated.
- Pour the sauce over the quinoa and stir in the squash pieces and the cheese. Season with additional salt, pepper, or herbs.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Asian-Inspired
Keywords: squash curry quinoa, curry quinoa, squash quinoa
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links.
I LOVE this recipe and make it every fall. It is so heart-warning and delicious. And, itās very easy to make (though, I have never been able to find yellow curry paste all these years in CA, PA, and now DC and usually use red curry pasteāsometimes green in a pinch)
This recipe absolutely changes the quinoa. The flavors are so unique. There is no other recipe like it!
I have been looking over your recipes and canāt wait to make some!! However, Iām relatively new to curries. I have curry powder that I use with a butter chicken recipe. Do I have to use the curry pastes? If so, I know some can be a bit spicy. My body canāt take a lot of spicy food, but all these recipes sound DIVINE! What could I substitute? Thanks!
I always love the taste of how my mother made delicious squash back in Brooklyn days. When I eat today, I kind of view it as “adult baby food.” I see it as [adult baby food], because it’s delicious, soft, mushy, and friendly on the metabolism. Mind you, you can consume large quantities of squash and not gain a pound of body fat from “eating delicious squash.” thank you for another amazing food blog Lindsay. Wishing you a successful and productive week! š
Fantastic. I did use a less spicy red pepper paste as my kids donāt do spicy and I couldnāt find yellow. It was a BIG hit. Both my kids had seconds and there were no leftovers. We eat veggie most days (oldest daughter is full vegetarian) and this was a really nice break from beans.
I used to eat this dish from a cook friend, it was delicious, but I do not know how to do, thankfully this article has you share I was able to make this dish already, thank you for sharing.
this is truly an amazing article
Beautiful recipes!That dish looks very attractive. I will proceed to do it now!
Beautiful recipes!That dish looks very attractive. I will proceed to do it now!
Any chance you remember exactly how much broth you had left over after cooking the quinoa. So how much exactly did you cook the squash in?
Hi Lindsay! This recipe looks delicious. One thing I wanted to mention to you though is that it is tagged being vegan, whereas it has cheese in it. Just thought you should know! I do eat cheese however so plan to make this soon!
Hannah
I made this and it was absolutelyyyyyyy delicious. i just started a blog where i post the different recipes that i try. If you donāt mind, i would love to post this on my blog. i will use the pictures that i took myself and credit you for the recipe. i will even send you a link when iām done
Wow… just plain wow. I’m so trying this. My 15 year old recently decided to become vegan so we will try a portion without cheese as well.
I am so happy to find your website. Thanks to you both for making such a great, informative, and just darn pretty site! Looking forward to following along!
Thanks Leigh! Glad you and your family liked it. š
Hey there, I am Crina from Romania. This is a great recipe and very healthy. I made it and post it on my blog and I added your link to it. You can find it here: http://www.lovelaughbake.com/2013/10/03/quinoa-cu-lapte-de-cocos-si-dovleac-copt/
Have a good day and keep up the good food work :D.
Hey, can’t wait to try this this week. it looks amazing! love all your recipes, they are fun and delicious and easy! so, you think i could use some curry powder in lieu of paste? i’ll have to check my local grocer but not sure if they have it here in my very rural town. Thanks!
Hi Anna Marie! You could try but the flavor wouldn’t be quite as intense. Check if they have an Indian spice blend called garam masala – that would help boost the flavor a bit in addition to just the curry powder.
oops, also….the coconut milk, is that from a can or from a carton? (those are different right? i’m second guessing myself here)
Can š
I just tried this recipe and it was super delicious. I will use the “sauce” portion as a butternut soup recipe too (I almost ignored the quinoa once I tasted the sauce!)
Haha! Good idea!
Can I substitute green curry paste? The store did not have yellow and I have green on hand. I understand that green is spicier, so maybe I would just use less?
I think you could use whatever you like. š Yellow might be more similar to red, if you have that instead!
increible! y yo que soy leader de ww en EspaƱa la hago fijo les va a encantar!
Oh this looks amazing! I just found your website today and was looking through all your mouthwatering recipes. I’m not sure if it’s an error or something but this recipe was posted under “vegan”. Unfortunately it can’t be vegan since it has cheese. It would be a nice vegetarian recipe though. š
I usually classify things that can be easily modified into the vegan category. For example, leaving out the cheese, as it’s not a huge part of the dish. š
Awesome! My hubby and I are moving to the Phils in 2 months (for 2 years) and I was stoked to find your site! Maybe Ill actually be able to cook yummy food while we are there! (although we are living in a small mountain town…)
Thanks for the inspiration!
Wow! So cool. Which town will you be in?
This recipe was really great and not too complicated.
I don’t have a blender so I strained the pumpkin and it worked out almost the same (it was just a lot more time consuming).
I also made it 8 serves instead of 6, and added 1/2 cup of cooked chicken to each serve. By substituting for light ingredients (Low fat mozarella and low fat coconut milk) I was able to add the chicken and still only have each serve be around 362 calories.
Great! Thanks for sharing Faye!
I’m SO glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t like quinoa! The ‘F’ I get is for ‘force,’ because that’s what I have to do. Or perhaps ‘fail’
The texture is really what does it for me, although I’m not that keen on the taste either. There are so many more grains that taste more delicious but I suppose it is quinoa that has the nutrition, isn’t it….
Nevertheless, I shall have to give your recipe a try. Perhaps that delectable looking sauce would help mask the somewhat woody flavours of the curly grain?
I will definitely attempt to trick the manfriend into health with this recipe!
Why wouldn’t you pair squash with curry and cheese?? They’re all similar colors (well, mostly) and the flavors would totally compliment each other. I think you’re onto something with your new creamy quinoa dish!
Some of my favorite foods/flavors all in one big dish–AWESOME!!! Thank you–cant wait to try it! š
aloha
I am no a fan of QUINOA. Granted I have only tried it once, and this looks amazing… I will try it again with this recipe
Please do! I was a total hater and now I’m just a sometimes hater. š This isn’t even really real quinoa to me – just creamy and filling and cozy comfort food!