Thai Butternut Squash Skewers with Coconut Sauce and Rice

It’s been ages since I’ve eaten or cooked thai food so instead of a typical green or red curry I decided to make these squash kebabs. I added a little bit of peanut butter on the squash as it roasted and a squeeze of lime to add some flavour and tie it in to the sauce, I think it makes this even more delicious. The meal is street-food esque, so you could enjoy it on the go or make it easily in bigger quantities for a crowd. If you can’t get hold of squash, aubergine would work just as well with slightly less cooking time!

Shopping List

1/ 2 a small squash or 1/4 a large one

250ml coconut milk

1 lime

1/2 a mug of rice

fresh coriander

thumb sized piece of fresh ginger

2 teaspoons of chilli flakes

1 clove garlic

2 spring onions

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1 dessert spoon of smooth peanut butter

crunchy lettuce

wooden or metal skewers

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Cut your squash in half and peel, then scoop out the seeds. Chop into two centimeter chunks and put on a baking tray in the oven with a little vegetable oil, salt, pepper and one teaspoon of the chilli flakes. Bake for 20 minutes. I’m only part baking it as, when raw the squash is too hard to put onto a skewer, but I don’t want it so soft that it falls off.

While the squash is cooking, chop the onion, ginger, garlic and coriander stalks. Heat a little vegetable oil in a small pan, once hot add the chopped ingredients and stir for 5 minutes. Add the chilli flakes and cook for another 2 minutes.

Then open the can of coconut milk and add 250ml to the pan. Add the turmeric for a little colour. Turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes. Take the squash out of the oven.

Once the squash has cooled a little, put around five chunks onto each of the skewers. I made two skewers of five with a few chunks left over! I mixed the peanut butter with a little lime in a bowl and drizzle over the squash before returning to the oven for a further 15 minutes.

Cook the rice in a saucepan with 1 mug of water. When you cook rice it should be one part rice to two parts water! Once the rice has cooked, take the skewers out of the oven and serve. Spoon the rice onto a plate and drizzle the skewers with the sauce. Serve with the crunchy lettuce and squeeze over the rest of the lime!