Curried Courgette Wraps with Radish

Yes yes, “courgette” is just a fancy way of saying zucchini. But the alliteration of “curried courgette” works a little better than “curried zucchini,” so I’m not apologizing.

I often think of zucchini as the overabundant autumnal crop that people foist upon on each other like a harvest-time fruitcake. “Oh, here’s a pretty basket of zucchini for you. And here’s some more for your mom.” “Why thank you! To show my gratitude, won’t you please take these dozen loaves of zucchini bread?”

The courgette, on the other hand, sounds much more refined: creamy but strong, little but not to be taken lightly. It takes centerstage in this springtime dish paired with Indian spices. The soft and absorbent texture of the squash works great with Indian flavoring, though strangely enough zucchini and other squash are naturally native only to the Americas. Go figure.

My cousin, who was in town visiting from Nashville, was very impressed with this dish. He said it was both warm and cool, soft and crunchy, flavorful and fresh, filling but light. What can I say? He’s right.

Serves: 4
Time: 45 minutes

Curried Courgette Wraps with Radish

3⁄4 cup red lentils
1 1⁄2 cups water
1⁄2 tsp turmeric
1⁄2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp peanut oil or 1 Tbsp oil, 1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1⁄2 tsp cumin seeds
4 small zucchini, cubed or cut into 1″ rectangles
3⁄4 tsp garam masala
1⁄2 tsp ground coriander
pinch of asafetida (optional)
3⁄4 - 1 lemon, juiced
3 large radishes, grated
1 head of romaine or curly-leaf lettuce, washed and separated into whole leaves
To serve: hot sauce, cooked basmati rice

The plan of attack here is to start your rice, clean and chop your veggies, and measure out your spices before you start cooking. Once you start it goes pretty quick.

To make yummy Indian rice, per 1 cup of uncooked basmati rice add: 1 1⁄2 cups water, 1⁄2 Tbsp butter, 1⁄2 tsp salt, 3 whole peppercorns, 3 whole cloves and 2 cardamom pods and a pinch of saffron (optional) and cook in a rice cooker or on the stove.

To make the curry:

Cook the lentils, water, turmeric and 1⁄2 tsp salt in a saucepan over medium heat. The lentils should be soft in about 10 minutes.

In a large skillet heat the butter and oil (or just oil) and stir-fry the ginger and garlic for a few minutes before adding the cumin seeds. Heat until fragrant. Add the zucchini and sauté for 5 minutes or until almost cooked. Stir in the lentils, garam masala, coriander, asafetida, and lemon juice. Cook together for a few minutes until the zucchini is tender and the lentils are coating the zucchini. You may have to add a touch more water if your lentils have dried out.

Taste and adjust for salt.

To assemble the wraps put a little rice and zucchini curry on a leaf of lettuce. Top with the grated radish and hot sauce, if desired.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 at 7:12 pm and is filed under Salads, Stovetop & Skillet, Spring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.