As part of my Turkish cookery challenge for Ainsley Harriott's SoupSearch competition, I got a butternut squash, a tin of chick peas, some sweet potatoes, and a packet of apricots. Making a spicy stew seemed like the obvious next step, so I invented the following Turkish-inspired dish, along with menemen (Turkish scrambled eggs).
We only had half an hour of cooking time, so I chopped the vegetables into really small pieces, to make sure they cooked through and absorbed the flavour of the spices. But if you don't have a time limit, you could chop them into bigger chunks and cook for longer.

Squash & Chickpea Stew Recipe
2tbsp olive oil
1/2 butternut squash
1 large sweet potato
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tin chickpeas
100ml vegetable stock
2tbsp tomato puree
½ cup dried apricot pieces
2tsp sumac
1tsp ground cumin
2tbsp sesame seeds
1tbsp fresh thyme
2tbsp fresh mint

We only had half an hour of cooking time, so I chopped the vegetables into really small pieces, to make sure they cooked through and absorbed the flavour of the spices. But if you don't have a time limit, you could chop them into bigger chunks and cook for longer.

Squash & Chickpea Stew Recipe
2tbsp olive oil
1/2 butternut squash
1 large sweet potato
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tin chickpeas
100ml vegetable stock
2tbsp tomato puree
½ cup dried apricot pieces
2tsp sumac
1tsp ground cumin
2tbsp sesame seeds
1tbsp fresh thyme
2tbsp fresh mint
- Chop the squash and sweet potato into 1cm cubes. Finely chop the onion, and quarter the apricots.
- Heat the oil in a deep pan and fry the butternut squash for 5 minutes until soft.
- Add the onion, garlic, sesame seeds, and sweet potato, and fry for a further 2-3 minutes.
- Add all the remaining ingredients to the pan, and simmer for 10 minutes until the stock has mostly evaporated.
- Garnish with an extra sprinkle of sesame seeds and a sprig of mint.

8 comments:
Always on the look out for vegan recipes to deal with our vegan friends - this looks like a good one. I do hope you win!
Inspired - I will be making this. And I love butternut squash!
sounds delicious:) Sadly my butternut squash plants only managed one flower between them, the summer has been so erratic, so I'm still having to buy them:(
Yum! Going to look for some sumac now. All part of the adventure.
Must try this recipe~perfect season for butternut squash! XOXO and hope you win!!! You'd be perfect for this competition!
Yum! Sounds delicious - and seems simple enough to make. Glad I found this recipe through Sharefest - I will definitely be giving it a try!
YUM. This looks delish, I can't imagine you wouldn't win. Going to vote now.
I made a chickpea stew a few years ago. It took my digestive system quite a few days to recover. Guess the key is to not overdo the eating of the chickpea stew.
BTW, that is a great photo of you! I don't know how you manage to keep up w/all that you've got going on
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