Winter is stew time. This beautiful quickly-stewed squash dish is a hearty side, a warming lunch, or a vegetarian main. Squash soaks up in an incredibly savory sauce that fills your kitchen with joyful smells. Stews aren’t always pretty, but this one is! It’s topped with a garlic yogurt and finished with crunchy/tart jewels of pistachio and pomegranate, and mint leaf. This squash stew heavily draws from a very traditional Afghan pumpkin dish Kadu Bouranee, but this version is my own improvisation. I add ingredients and spices more typical of Persian (Iranian) stewed vegetable and meat dishes, so I don’t want to call it authentically Afghan.
Spiced squash stew stores beautifully and will actually taste better reheated the next day. So, cook it the day before your special dinner, when you have less to do. Just don’t add the yogurt sauce and other toppings until just before serving.
Super Spices
I’ve adjusted the spices in this dish to merge the Afghan and Persian influences, and played with it a little until I was happy—and boy am I happy! I think you will be too when you taste this stew. It might seem strange to include cinnamon in a savory dish, but this is quite common all over the near east, and especially wonderful and unexpected in combination with tomato. Ketchup includes sweet spices like cinnamon and allspice, so this type of flavor combination is not completely foreign to Americansm, even if we aren’t quite aware of what we’re eating. If you don’t have one of the spices shown in the recipe, feel free to drop it or make a substitution.
The black pepper is important. 1/4 teaspoon of good fresh peppercorns, freshly ground is a significant amount (more than you think!) and gives this dish a distinctly Afghan flavor. You can and should double or triple this amount if those eating don’t object to a strong black pepper flavor.
You might wonder how I reduced the fresh ginger to a nice even pulp as you shown on the plate in the photo. The answer is an interesting simple little tool I picked up a few years ago. It’s called the Borner 6-in-1 prep tool, but I only use it for one thing. That little plastic serrated grid works to puree ginger and garlic better than any other tool on earth. The tool has a little built in dish that catches the garlic or ginger as you grate it.
What Squash to Use?
When choosing a squash to stew, a practical consideration comes first: how easy is it to peel? Next, consider how well it will hold its shape and result in a pleasing texture. You want firm but soft chunks that have absorbed all the flavors without falling apart into mush. Squashes in the Cucurbita maxima group like kabocha and candy roaster are both relatively easy to peel and more dry and meaty than other squashes, so they hold up nicely. The tetsu squash (Abóbora Japonesa in Brazil, where it’s widely popular), is another excellent choice if you can find one. Butternut squash and honeynut squash peel more easily than any other, just watch closely during cooking as it’s a little more likely to lose form. Pie pumpkin is similar, but a lot of them are not so tasty. Look for the winter luxury or long pie variety at your local farmers market.
Make squash stable before you do anything else. 
A good peeler easily removes squash peel.
Variations and Adjustments
Recipes are not commandments. Maybe baking requires a little closer attention, but when it comes to stews, the beauty is not in following the formula but rather in making it your own. This spiced squash stew recipe is very flexible and easy to cater to your own tastes and dietary preferences. Don’t fret if you don’t have one of the ingredients in your pantry, everything can adjust. You can make this a protein-rich main course, served over rice with a side salad, and call it a happy winter night. You can replace some of the water and tomato with any broth or liquid that matches your vision for this dish. Here are a slew of more ideas to make this stew your own.
1. How about Brunch?
You may have heard of a dish called shakshuka, in which eggs are broken into the perimeter of a hearty spiced stew and cooked until just set. That treatment would be absolutely delicious in this dish. Trade out your favorite breakfast-y toppings for the pomegranate and nuts: bacon and avocado? Diced tomato and parsley? Give it a whirl!
2. Make it a Main
It’s not hard to add quick-cooking proteins to this dish. Unless they are pre-cooked, avoid slow-cooking proteins like beef stew meat or bone-in pieces, which need to cook for a lot longer than the squash does. Meat lovers can cut a pound of boneless chicken breast or thigh into cubes or slices and add them to the pot for the last 10 minutes of stew time. Substitute chicken broth for the water as well. Shrimp, or a mild fish that holds it shape like catfish or halibut would stew to completion in more like five minutes, so add these closer to the end. Similarly, tempeh, smoked tofu added at the end until hot, or eggs as in the brunch just above are vegetarian proteins.
3. Make it Vegan
The sauce can be made vegan by replacing the yogurt with a non-dairy alternative. Everything else is vegan as written.
4. Vary the Veggies
If you don’t like squash as much as I do, or just want a more varied stew, it’s fine to trade out some of the squash for other vegetables in this dish. Small red or fingerling potatoes, celery root, turnip or rutabaga, carrot, parsnip, and sweet potato would all be good here. Peel and cut them with the squash and cook together from the get-go. Stirring in some greens like spinach or kale might muddy the beauty a bit, but enhance the overall range of nutrition in this dish. A handful of frozen peas thrown in for the final homestretch would add beauty and pop.
5. Play with the Toppings, or Don’t Bother
I chose pomegranate, pistachio, and mint leaf because they are native, cherished foods in the near-east regions that inspired this dish. These pair well with the tart yogurt and add so much texture, pop, and color to the stew. Finally, pomegranates are in US grocery stores around the same time as squashes, November and December in each year. But if these ingredients are hard for you to find, put whatever sounds good on top of this stew. Roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) are an obvious and delicious choice. Dried apricots, chopped prune, and lemon wedges make sense to me in terms of both region and flavor.
6. Richer, Creamier, Cheaper, Simpler
A variation I love and highly recommend is to make this dish as a hearty, simple side with no toppings. Instead of using the garlic yogurt as a sauce, just mix it in at the end. This gives the stew a creaminess, reminiscent of an Indian or Thai curry, that is quite delightful. The bit of garlic adds a fresh kick to the deep, roasted spice notes already in the stewed sauce.
Spiced Squash Stew with Pomegranate and Pistachio
Ingredients
For the stew:
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1.5 pounds squash in 1-inch cubes kabocha, candy roaster, butternut, honeynut, pie pumpkin
- 2 cloves garlic crushed and chopped
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp sugar substitute pomegranate molasses if you have some
- 1 tsp ginger crushed and chopped
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- ½ tsp thyme leaf
- 1 14oz can crushed tomato
- 1 cup water or broth
For the sauce
- ¾ cup plain yogurt Trader Joe's European Style is perfect for this use
- 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
- ¼ tsp salt
For the toppings
- 25 pistachios, roasted and salted
- ¼ cup pomegranate arils
- a few small fresh mint leaves
Instructions
Stew the squash, onion, tomato, and spices.
- Peel the squash, cut in half, scrape out seeds, cut into 1-inch cubes.
- Heat the olive oil on medium heat in a large saute pan with a lid. Add the onion and saute until translucent.
- Add the garlic, salt, sugar, ginger, turmeric, pepper, cinnamon, sesame, and thyme. Stir for a minute.
- Add the tomato, water, and squash. Bring to a boil.
- Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, adding more liquid when needed. The squash should look wet and soft all the way through, but still hold its shape.
Prepare the sauce and garnishes.
- Whisk the salt and garlic into the yogurt, set aside.
- Shell and roughly chop the pistachios.
- Remove the pomegranate arils and measure.
- Watch and pick the mint off the stems. Use scissors to cut in ribbons if the leaves are big.
Plate the Dish
- Taste the stew and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
- On individual plates or in the serving dish, top with yogurt sauce. Sprinkle pomegranate, pistachio, and mint on top.