A cozy meal brimming with inner beauty.
My favorite things about October are Halloween, saying buh-bye to the summer squash, and kicking off my cozy stew-making era.
So far I’ve managed to combine two out of the three.
Here’s how: I use my end-of-season squash to provide some of the much needed chunkage for this stew, and it also melds into the coconut-curry gravy the makes up the stews body. Other necessary chunkage includes chicken thighs, shiitake mushrooms, and red potatoes—all my stew essentials.
Ladled generously over rice, it makes me want to delve even deeper into my granny phase by curling up with a bowl of this, in my armchair, in my Snuggie, next to the fireplace (which doesn’t work, but I’ll pretend for the fantasy).
Is it the best looking dish? Yes, but only because I’m biased. In reality, what it lacks in beauty, it makes up for with flavor.
And I might just call it “ghost guts” and serve it for Halloween. October, sorted.
Got stew? Here’s more like this summer squash stew:
If you are ready for your cozy stew era too, allow me to be your guide, or stew-ru, if you will. My kabocha curry stew is similar to this one except it uses starchy, pumpkin-esque kabocha squash in the place of tender summer squash. If you aren’t quite ready to move on to winter squash yet, try my summer vegetable chili. For a vegetarian option with meaty shiitake mushrooms, check out my shiitake mushroom stew. And for all the rest, including several comforting Irish stews, get the full collection here.
Curried Summer Squash Stew
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp sesame or canola oil
- 2 chicken thighs bone-in skin on
- Kosher salt and pepper
- 1 yellow onion roughly chopped
- 8 cloves garlic peeled and smashed
- 8 oz shiitake mushrooms stems removed and chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 8 oz (about 1 medium) zucchini or yellow squash cut into 1-inch pieces
- 12 oz (about 2 medium) red potato cut into 1-inch pieces
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
- 1 14 oz can coconut milk
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 cup long grain white rice
- 2 cups chicken stock or water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Heat sesame or canola oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Pat chicken thighs dry with a paper towel and season on both sides with a pinch of salt and pepper. Place skin down in the pot and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until skin is golden brown. Remove to a plate.
- Without wiping out the pan, add onion and garlic and cook briefly until fragrant.
- Add shiitake mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until shrunken and starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
- Add squash, potatoes, and flour and cook, stirring occasionally, for 1-2 minutes.
- Add rice wine vinegar, coconut milk, curry powder, cumin, and 1 tsp salt. Mix together and let it come to a simmer. Place chicken thighs skin-side up on top of the stew. Cover, remove from heat, and transfer to the oven. Cook for 40 minutes or until vegetables are tender and chicken very tender.
- When stew is about halfway done, begin cooking rice: in a medium saucepan combine rice with chicken stock or water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes or until no liquid remains. Keep covered until ready to serve.
- When stew is done cooking, remove chicken thighs to a cutting board. Allow to cool slightly then remove skin and bones and cut chicken into cubes. Mix back into stew.
- Fluff rice with a fork and divide into serving bowls. Ladle stew over rice.
