, How to Video, Step by step

Indian-style gunpowder spiced squash and potato with yogurt

A versatile, autumnal meat-free dish packed with warming spices.

Mark Stower, Director of Food and Service.

Preparation Time: 15 mins

Cooking Time: 40 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Step 1

In a bowl, combine the oil, spices, garlic and red chilli, then add salt and pepper to taste.
Step 2

Place the butternut squash and potatoes onto a baking tray and pour over the oil mix, coating the vegetables thoroughly.
Step 3

Place the tray into a preheated oven and cook at 180˚C for 25 minutes.
Step 4

Remove the tray of squash and potatoes from the oven and sprinkle over the red onions, ½ of the fresh coriander and ½ of the pomegranate seeds.
Step 5

Place the tray back into the oven and cook for approximately 10 - 15 minutes until the squash and potatoes are tender.
Step 6

To serve, sprinkle over the remaining pomegranate seeds and top with a couple of spoonsful of greek yoghurt and the remaining fresh coriander.

The ‘5 A Day’ message is still current, and this recipe would provide about one of your five portions, but nutritionists these days stress the importance of more plant-based or plant-forward eating in general.
This doesn’t mean avoiding animal products and becoming vegan but eating fewer animal foods and more plants – better for you and especially if you choose seasonal ingredients, better for the planet too!
Aiming for at least 30 different plant foods over the course of a week, an idea originally developed by scientists at Kings College London, is increasingly recommended and the more varied your intake of plant foods the better because they all provide different types of fibre, nutrients, and phytochemicals.
Plant foods feed and encourage diversity of the gut microbiome, which is now recognized to underpin the healthy function of so many systems in our bodies.
Mark’s November ‘gunpowder’ recipe combines a wide array of plant-based ingredients – the butternut squash and onions, herbs, spices, and seeds – and the potatoes, which don’t count as a vegetable but as a starchy carbohydrate in nutritional terms – together with the yoghurt to create a lovely, healthy dish.
Try counting the plants in this recipe and you’ll find that it might not be as difficult as it sounds to reach that target of 30 each week!

DR JULIET GREY, COMPANY NUTRITIONIST