Butternut Squash Methi Pulao

This is a delicious, flavorful, and nutrition packed comfort meal made with butternut squash and methi/fenugreek leaves. This vegan pulao is the best fall food that is cozy and comforting. This pulao can be a main dish with a side of bean curries. This is also great to serve as a side for Thanksgiving or any Holiday meal!

Methi or fenugreek leaves are widely used in Indian cuisine. This bitter flavored green is well known for its blood glucose lowering quality. Regular  intake will help maintain a stable blood sugar level. This can be compared to sage. This medicinal herb is featured as the star in sambhars, curries, rice, and as a flavor enhancer that is added to the curries at the end to give the perfect final touch flavors. It is a time consuming process to pick the leaves from the stem and often I resort to frozen ones. These leaves are available in fresh as well as frozen form in Indian groceries. I usually buy frozen chunks or cubes. It saves a lot of prep time. It is easy to defrost and use them in our favorite recipes like Aloo Methi or Methi Corn Pulao. The frozen cubes are compressed, if using fresh ones use about triple the quantity. This bitter green perfectly pairs with sweet pumpkins and squashes.

This pulao screams fall and is an ultimate comfort food that you can enjoy this season, as well as other days of the year too. Every bite of this pulao will have pieces of butternut squash. The sweet squash, bitter methi leaves, and creamy coconut milk along with spices, salt, and green chili makes a well balanced and flavorful pulao.

This recipe requires simple ingredients like rice, coconut milk, some spices, squash, and methi leaves. It is a great idea to soak rice and make the pulao. But if you have a time crunch, make the rice without soaking but use 1:2 - rice-liquid ratio. If soaking, use 1: 1.5.

This pulao is not very spicy. Adjust the green chilies to suit your spice level. I pair this pulao with a spicy and delicious kala channa curry or Rajma Curry. In this way, the flavors as well as protein balance is also achieved. For a quick meal, serve with some Kochumber, Dal Sprouts Salad, or raita, if preferred. 

This is the third recipe for this week's Blogging Marathon with the theme methi leaves. I had shared Methi and Split Moong Dal dosa and Aloo Methi earlier and this pulao with Butternut squash and methi leaves is the final share.

In our #improvcookingchallenge group, the two ingredients chosen are squash and rice. There are a wide array of recipes that you could make with these two. This simple and comforting meal of butternut squash and methi leaves is my share for the event. If you are a blogger and interested in this fun group, check here. 

I am also linking this to Wonderful Wednesday, Happiness is Homemade, Thursday Favorite Things, and Full Plate Thursday.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

Basmati rice - 1 cup

Water - 1 cup plus 2 cups

Salt - 1 tsp

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup

Bay leaf - 1

Star anise - 1

Cardamom - 2

Cloves - 3

Thai green chili - 2 to 4

Oil - 2 tbsp

Cumin - 1/2 tsp

Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp

Butternut squash - 2 cups, 1/2-in cubes

Methi leaves - 3/4 cup, frozen

Salt - 3/4 tsp

Peas - 2/3 cup, frozen

To grind

Ginger - 1.5-in piece

Garlic - 4 cloves

Thai green chili - 2 to 4

Water - 1 to2 tbsp

Method

Soak the rice in two cups water for 15-20 minutes.

Grind the ginger, garlic, and Thai chili to a paste with 1-2 tbsp water.

Drain the rice completely, add it to a sauce pot, add the coconut milk, water, salt, bay leaves, star anise, cloves, cardamom and green chile. Bring it to a boil, lower the flame and simmer for 4-5 minutes, the rice would have absorbed more than 70% of the liquid. 

Lower the flame completely, cover, and cook for 5-6 minutes. Fluff the rice, remove from the flame and set aside.

In the meantime, heat oil in a pan, add the cumin and fennel seeds. Let it bloom for 30 seconds. Add the onion and sauté for 4-5 minutes. When it turns translucent, add the ginger-garlic-chili paste and cook for a minute.

Add the butternut squash, defrosted methi leaves, peas, salt and mix.

Cover and cook on low-medium flame for 5-6 minutes, till the butternut squash is tender but not mushy.

Lower the flame, add the rice, mix gently. Let it sit for 2 minutes, remove from the flame.

Transfer to a serving dish, serve with a curry.

Here are the links we shared for Improv Cooking Challenge, October 2022 - Squash and Rice. Thanks, Juli!

• Bisi Bele Bath by Sneha's Recipes
• Butternut Squash and Wild Rice Pilaf by Palatable Pastime
• Butternut Squash Methi Pulao by Magical Ingredients
• Butternut Squash Rice Pudding by A Day in the Life on the Farm