Bengali Style Summer Squash

As much as I love food, sometimes I think I love color even more.

Vivid colors and strong flavors sing to me of summer.

Every time I go to the farmer’s market in the summer, I can feel the excitement bubble up in my heart as I look at the jumble of gorgeous colors on display. Piles of summer squashes in hues of brilliant emerald, jade, celedon and butter yellow sit next to crimson fist-sized spheres of early tomatoes and bundles of purple scallions and verdant herbs in every shade of green.

Before I even get a whiff of the fresh baby garlic heads and spring onion bulbs, the colors of summer have me salivating, and I find my fingers itching to put as many hues in my string bag as possible. If I could sew a patchwork skirt of all of these shades, I would, and wear it proudly; instead, I content myself with buying the raw materials to cook a dish filled with the sweet flavors of summer at home.

Everything in this squash dish came from the farmer’s market except the mustard oil, spices, ginger and chilies. The oil, spices and fresh ginger were purchased at the local Asian market and the chilies came from my porch garden last summer. I just washed them, let them dry thoroughly and then froze them whole. Now, when I need chilies, I grab them from the freezer bag, mince or slice them and they are good to go until the fresh crop starts coming in next month.

The garlic and fresh spring onions I used in this curry are so full of flavor you can smell the goodness as the sun hits them and releases their essential oils while they sit in their baskets on the farmer’s tables. It is amazing to walk past and catch a waft of garlic and onion goodness. It attracts me every time. When you add in the wonderful scents of minced fresh ginger, panch phoron and mustard oil, the entire house is perfumed with a savory goodness which I find intensely comforting and homey.

This is a summer dish; I cannot imagine making it without the sweetness of just picked squash and truly ripe tomatoes. Its vivid colors and flavors are perfect for a hot summer night, especially when paired with steamed basmati rice with turmeric, masoor dal and some raita. The spicy heat brings on sweat which helps cool the body, and the cucumber raita ratchets the cooling sensation up several notches.

Simple suppers like this are air conditioning for both the stomach and the soul, while the brilliant contrasting colors are a balm for eyes weary of gazing upon drought-parched grass.

Bengali Style Summer Squash

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons mustard oil, canola oil, ghee or butter
3/4 cup thinly sliced spring onions or regular yellow onions
1/2 teaspoon salt
1″ cube fresh ginger, minced
2-5 fresh or frozen Thai chilies, minced (to taste)
1 head fresh garlic, minced (about two tablespoons)
1 1/4 tablespoon panch phoron
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 small, young summer squash, sliced in half lengthwise, then on the diagonal into 1/4″ thick slices (about 2 1/2 cups slices)
2 medium fresh tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped (about one cup chopped tomato)
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup scallion or spring onion tops, thinly sliced
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro

Method:

Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet (cast iron or enameled cast iron is ideal), on medium heat and add onions and sprinkle with salt. Cook, stirring, until onions release their juices and and turn rich golden brown. At this point, add the ginger, chilies, garlic, panch phoron, and turmeric, and continue cooking, stirring the whole time, until the onions are brown, the mustard seeds pop and the garlic and ginger are golden.

Add the squash slices and the water, and cook, stirring now and again, until the squash is half tender–that is, it has softened a bit, but still resists the tines of a fork when you try to pierce it.

Add the tomato, and turn the heat down to low and simmer until the squash is fully tender, and the tomatoes have cooked down with the onions to create a kind of sauce.

Stir in the scallion tops and chopped cilantro and serve immediately.

This is just as good served either lukewarm or cold, and is even better the next day.

9 Comments

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1. That sounds/looks so fantastic! I love squash as a main dish 🙂 This is one I’m going to make very soon.

   Comment by Rachel — June 19, 2007 #

2. Looks great, I know what you are saying…I just can’t stop buying stuff from Farmer’s market but I waste a lot of stuff too.

   Comment by Lata — June 19, 2007 #

3. That looks absolutely wonderful – I may have to try it myself this weekend as I think I may have all the ingredients on hand except for the panch phoron. I’ll have to check into that.

   Comment by Jessica — June 20, 2007 #

4. Wonderful recipes…

   Even though India is a paradise for vegetarians, it can be very tricky to find vegan food in India.

   But, it is very easy to veganize the delicious vegetarian recipes.

   I substitute Tofu for Paneer, Earth Balance’s buttery spread for ghee and tempeh for meat.

   It is so easy to be a vegan in western countries. Becoming vegan is a great way to reduce global warming.

   Comment by Kumudha — June 21, 2007 #

5. Everyone–if you try it, let me know what you think.

   Kumudha–I have used tofu for paneer a few times. So long as one is using a lower-fat paneer in general it works. But once my family and I got used to whole milk paneer–we noticed the tofu right away.

   But it still tasted good.

   I don’t think I could ever be a true vegan. A vegetarian–yeah, I could probably do it. If I couldn’t get so much locally raised, ethically produced meatstuffs, I probably would be a vegetarian right now. But I am able to get meat locally that is produced in an ecologically sensible fashion. (A lot of Appalachian land is hard to farm because of the steep hillsides, but if you graze animals on it, they can convert grass into protein for humans to consume in the form of dairy and meat. So there is a strong tradition here in our hills and mountains of grazing herds of cattle, sheep and goats, in addition to growing crops in the flat floodplains and on more gentle hillsides.)

   That said, I fully support any vegan who chooses to eat that way in order to maintain a smaller impact on the Earth.

   Comment by Barbara — June 23, 2007 #

6. […] Bengali-style Summer Squash (Tigers & Strawberries) […]

   Pingback by What’s in Season? Summer Squash & Zucchini « Simply Cooking — June 27, 2007 #

7. […] As much as I love food, sometimes I think I love color even more. Vivid colors and strong flavors sing to me of summer … of brilliant emerald, jade, celedon and butter yellow sit next to crimson fist-sized spheres of early … came from my porch garden last summer. I just washed them, let them dry thoroughly and then froze source: Bengali Style Summer Squash, Tigers & Strawberries […]

   Pingback by Tomorrow is Friday the 13th. Feeling scared? — Talk about flowers — July 13, 2007 #

8. I have been pondering over the summer squash that have started arriving in the CSA boxes.
   Tried this out – and this was amazing! I thought I was biased because of my bengali roots, but even my husband had big servings.
   Thanks for the recipe, will definitely make it again!

   Comment by Debyani — July 14, 2010 #

9. […] also good with a beautiful green salad, or maybe a dish of Bengali Summer Squash, since around here, zucchini, crookneck and pattypan squashes are all starting to come in, and this […]

   Pingback by Tigers & Strawberries » Lamb With Cilantro and Curry Leaf Sauce — June 29, 2011 #

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