Baked butternut squash rubbed with balti spices, filled with salty feta, sweet sundried tomatoes, and fresh mint. This is a great veggie dish that is filling and packs a lot of flavour. There is no such recipe for balti as it actually means the cooking pot the dish is cooked in rather than a particular spice mix. However, across the world you can find balti spice blends and they typically contain the spices I have used in this recipe, and so I have called it Balti Baked Squash more for the spices rather than a balti dish.
Serves 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
• 2 butternut squash, cut in half lengthways and seeds removed
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp coriander seeds
• ½ tsp black peppercorns
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil or light olive oil
• 50 g spinach, roughly chopped
• 50 g feta cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
• 6 sundried tomatoes, roughly chopped
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Preparation
Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°/gas 6. Lay the squash, cut side up on a baking sheet.
Using a pestle and mortar, roughly crush the cumin, coriander, black pepper, and chilli flakes before mixing in the garam masala and oil. Rub all over the squash, especially on the fleshside and bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until you can put a knife through it easily.
In the meantime, make the filling by mixing together the spinach, feta, garlic, mint, sundried tomatoes, and the lemon juice.
When the squash is soft, take it out of the oven and scoop out nearly all the flesh, leaving a 1 cm border around the outside.
Mix the scooped out squash with the filling and pop it all back into the groove you just carved out. Sprinkle over the lemon zest and roast in the oven for another 10 minutes.
Serve with a delicious crisp salad.