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Derek and I moved to Southwest England about 15 years ago so that I could try a new career, experience a new culture and for Derek to finish a second degree in Engineering in an incredible school in Exeter. While we knew that there would be a lot of great adventures, new friends and a lot of sightseeing to be had, we did not know that we would discover a passionate love for Indian spices and cuisines. In England, the locals call going out for this ethnicity of food ‘going for a curry’ and we quickly adopted this tasty tradition any time we could. One of our favorite restaurants was about 4 blocks away from our flat in Plymouth, England and was called Cafe Indiya. Anytime we are back anywhere near Southwest England we always make a point of stopping by, enjoying their delicious foods and chatting with the owners. If you’re in the neighborhood, you definitely should stop by http://cafeindiya.co.uk. In Plymouth, we were one of the few ex-pats in the community and we quickly became known as “the Americans”. We didn’t mind that at all, but were always conscious of making a good impression – we didn’t want to give our entire country a bad name! Becoming friendly with owners of a great curry place was one way that we happily tried to fit in with the locals. Finding a great local pub and appreciating all the other historical parts of the country were our other 2 go-to’s that seemed to help out quite a bit.
A few years later, when we arrived back in the U.S. we were lucky enough to move back home to the Chicago area where we were spoiled with choices when it came to having our new favorite ethnic food. On the north side of Chicago there is an entire block of restaurants that are authentic, delicious and extremely welcoming to all. This is in the Rogers Park neighborhood, specifically on Devon Street. As a piece of history, this street has hosted immigrants from a variety of different countries and so it tends to be a tremendous showcase of the melting pot that this country is. My family and I landed in this neighborhood ourselves a few decades ago, at a time where it was dominated by Jews that fled the U.S.S.R. So, in addition to these great Indian restaurants, you can also find some fantastic Russian and Jewish shops. It’s a great place to visit next time you’re in Chicago
Fast forward to our move to the Central Valley in California and we couldn’t find Indian foods near us (we now know much better – thank you Dhaba Cuisine in Tracy http://www.dhabaindiancuisine.net!), so I began to experiment with the flavors and have created this Butternut Squash Curry which is not as good as the authentic version, but is a comfort food for us when we really crave this cuisine. Plus, this version has very little oil, absolutely no added sugar and is loaded with the most incredible, beneficial spices for staying healthy, so I always feel satisfied without any guilt whatsoever when I go for my second bowl. The key to this recipe is to cook the spices a bit prior to adding the vegetable broth to bring out the full flavors that those little spices bring to your bowl. I hope you enjoy, please share your feedback and ideas with me
