Great Eats: Butternut Squash & Coconut Milk Curry

Combing butternut squash, curry powder and coconut milk is some sort of magical trifecta - a potent and accessible combination of hearty, warm spices that is near fool-proof. The curry and coconut milk elevate the humble squash into a soft sponge of flavor and the spices combine for a warming, pleasant dish that is ideal for the long, frigid winter evenings. Plus, making this dish is sure to fill your kitchen with a pleasant, drool-inducing scent that will have any guests dying for a taste. And as if all that isn't enough - this is one of those vegetarian dishes that would make a quick convert from the any meat-eater.
Read on and believe:

Great Eats: An Everyday Masoor Dal (Simple, Quick, Curried Red Lentil)

Even as I found much success in cooking Thai, and as fluent as I am becoming in all things curried and spicy, Indian food, as a whole, is still a daunting concept to me. Sure, I've dappled with it, but my experience and repertoire is limited to a handful of tasty, mushy curries that a authentic, but simplified for an American palette. 

All this didn't stop me from picking up a 5 pound bag of Masoor Dal at my local awesome Indian grocer. Sure, I hardly eat lentils and am still struggling to add them to my diet, but I just had to have them. So I hauled them home along with a 10 pound bag of Basmati rice, some naan, roti, canned sweetened mango deliciousness, yogurt and other goods (not having a car is great when I go wild in an import store), put them away and proceeded to do nothing with them for months. I've actually almost eaten through the bag of rice before I decided to finally do something about them and realized: I've no clue what to do!

Off to the Googles. 30 or so minutes later I had a plan. A delicious plan.

Great Eats: Rice Noodle Massaman Curry

What absolutely kills me when it comes to any kind of Ethnic market is seeing things on their shelves which are obviously a staple in the diets of millions of people, of entire ethnicities, countries and continents but that are nonetheless completely alien to me.

Like fresh rice noodles. A simple thing, for sure, but not anything I've ever bought or cooked; I don't think I've ever eaten them and in fact, it wasn't even apparent to me they could be had, "fresh."

How silly of me. After a few trips to the Thai market, I picked up a package, intending to make them that very day, but then - well, life happened, and a month later they were the last thing at the bottom of my refrigerator. In that month, however, curries have taken over as a thing I do all the time and when I found myself again craving that familiar warmth and aroma, and pressed for time and indridients, I threw caution to the wind and decided to experiment.

The results were delicious.

Great Eats: Massaman/Green Curry with Thai Basil & Bell Peppers

Of all the curries I've made, I am torn between the green and massaman curries, for being my absolute favorite. The green curries are great for their adaptability and the slightly sweet, light flavor that still carries enough heat to clear your sinuses. The massaman curries are hearty, flavorful and with the addition of lotus root, a thrilling addition to any palate.

So one day, I found myself with all the ingredients for a green curry, but no green curry paste and with a freshly opened jar of massaman curry paste. Not wanting to see my thai eggplant and thai basil wilt, I decided to toss caution to the wind and combine the two. Before, I tried doing the same with a red curry and it did not go over too well, so I was hesitant. But, with a few alterations to my "base" recipe, it came out beyond splendid!

Recipe follows break!