Leftovers are the best.
A “free”, delicious meal without the work? I’ll take it.
Unless of course you don’t know what to do with the leftovers and they die a slow death in the fridge. One day you walk into the kitchen gasping, “What IS that smell!?” only to open the fridge and find those leftovers, shoved to the back of the fridge to die.
My casserole now needs a hair cut and the black beans have morphed into stink bombs.
It happens to the best of us.
I vowed to use up my roasted squash leftover from my Butternut Mac ‘n Cheeze recipe! Last night, I found a recipe for a Red Lentil Squash Curry on Martha and used that as my inspiration for this stew. With my butternut already roasted this meal came together in about 25 minutes.
Leftovers turned into a new recipe? Even better.
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Red Lentil and Squash Curry Stew
Inspired by Martha.
Yield: ~4 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 tsp Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sweet onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp good quality curry powder (or more to taste)
- 1 carton broth (4 cups) I used low-sodium
- 1 cup red lentils
- 3 cups cooked butternut squash
- 1 cup greens of choice
- Fresh grated ginger, to taste (optional)
- Kosher salt & black pepper, to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp salt)
1. In a large pot, add EVOO and chopped onion and minced garlic. Sautee for about 5 minutes over low-medium heat.
2. Stir in curry powder and cook another couple minutes. Add broth and lentils and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in cooked butternut squash and greens of choice. Cook over medium heat for about 5-8 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and add some freshly grated ginger to taste.
Note: If you have uncooked butternut to use, check out Martha’s recipe for cooking instructions.
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You start by sautéing a sweet onion and a few cloves of minced garlic. After about 5 minutes or so, add in your curry powder.
Next comes 1 container of broth. If you are using a low-sodium broth like I did, you will need to add more salt and vice versa.
In goes 1 cup of red lentils.
Cook this mixture over medium heat for about 10 minutes until it thickens up.
Now stir in your cooked butternut and some greens if you’d like. I simply used what was leftover from my Butternut Mac ‘n Cheeze recipe. If you have uncooked butternut to use, check out Martha’s recipe for cooking instructions.
Cook another 5 minutes and serve!
A quick, stick-to-your-bones stew with a kick of heat.
And that 5-minute cheeze sauce recipe I promised you? It’s still in my test kitchen. There’s a chance it could die there.
I just made your roasted butternut encrusted Parmesan and had some squash leftover (it was a huge squash!) and I’m currently making this soup for lunch, perfect for this chilly afternoon. Thanks!
I just made this and it was fantastic!!! Thank you so much for the recipe, it is very hearty and just delicious. I did it with regular lentils, didn’t have red ones. Thanks again.
Love this blog! Having a great time trying out all the recipes, and this one’s next on the list!
A tip: If you DON’T have leftover squash and don’t want to wait around for it to roast, just stick it into your slow cooker earlier in the day, the squash will be roasted by the time you’re ready to make the recipe!
Made this Red Lentil and Squash Curry today – easy as advertised and great to eat. This time of year I always have another winter squash (table decorations) to cook and puree and it seems I am never without leftovers either. Thanks for the inspiration!
Do I blend the squash?
nope there is no need to blend it
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I enjoy finding new ways to cook squash. I made my stew with kale and mushroom broth-so good!
just made this soup and its amazing!! thanks for the recipe!
Just made this this morning. Amazing recipe! I made it just as written, and I used a big handful of spinach in the last few minutes. The house smells so good, and the stew is even better. Thank you!
Yummy! I tried your additions but with Martha’s cooking order. Seems hers is more watery and my lentils came out a little tougher than I expected but loved the flavors and addition of greens. Thanks!
Making this now! Can’t wait to try it. I made my butternut squash yesterday. It was the first time I had ever tried it and it was delish! Thanks for the great recipes!
I am making this tonight! So excited:)
Doing my first detox and this was fresh enough to eat during it!!! So delish!!!
This evening I made the Red Lentil and Squash Curry Stew. I roasted the butternut squash first (following your Mac and Cheese recipe instructions) and used Curly Kale as my green veg. The addition of the ginger at the end elevated the flavour to a whole new zingy level. No leftovers for me tomorrow as the rest of my family also loved it!!! Thank you again Angela for another great recipe :)))
I know this recipe is about 2 years old, but I hope you never take it down, it’s my go-to squash soup/stew recipe! I’ve made it many times and LOVE it!
i made this last night! it was so good. i’ve got a vegetarian kid, a kid who doesn’t handle dairy well (although he still eats it), and a gluten-free foodie boyfriend, so sometimes it’s hard to find recipes. this was awesome.
I made this tonight, and threw in some roasted brussel sprouts and summer squash as well – so delicious. I made a version of this with green lentils last week, but I love how the red lentils get such a creamy texture. A new fall fave!
How large of a squash do you need to buy to get three cups of cooked squash?
Mine was a large squash, about a foot. I used about 1/4 to a 1/3 of it.
Wow! This recipe is fantastic–the perfect way to begin the fall season. I had just the right amount of red lentils to make this dish. I’ve never cooked my own butternut squash before, so I was a little nervous, but all my fingers are still intact!
I did make some modifications though. Instead of broth (I’m very low sodium) I just used water. I also did not add the salt/pepper to season. Because I use each spice separately, I didn’t use the curry powder. For this dish, I used coriander, fenugreek, turmeric, cumin, and hints of cloves and nutmeg. My greens of choice were spinach.
This recipe already feels like an autumn favorite. I could eat this for weeks. So yummy!
It’s a great recipe. We made it yesterday. It’s basically a dal with squash. Delicious!! Today we are making the butternut squash chili recipe. We’ve got several gigantic butternut squashes so we may be able to try all 5 recipes.
Oh my God, this must be one of the best things I’ve ever made! :)
My old lentil curry recipe has already suicided into the recycling bin!
hahah omg this comment made me chuckle!