Chickpea and Roasted Butternut Squash Chili

Every now and again, I come up with a dish that is truly wonderful. I can only take credit for the execution, but not the idea. In point of fact, Ann asked me to make her chili with chickpeas and butternut squash, so I grabbed a decent-sized squash on my last trip to the farmers market. This recipe is a definite keeper. We really enjoyed it.

Chickpea and Roasted Butternut Squash Chili

This dish comes together in minutes once you have roasted the butternut squash, which you can do well in advance, even a day or two.

Roast Squash Until Caramelized

The trick to working with butternut squash is to concentrate its flavor by removing a lot of the water that it contains, otherwise it is pretty boring and will just dilute your dish. And fresh squash like I was working with are wetter than squash that have overwintered. Don't be shy about roasting your squash until it takes on good color as you can see above. This took an hour in a hot (400F) oven. I did a post earlier on how to cube butternut squash, if you need a refresher.

When roasting squash, patience is your friend, but be certain to toss the squash every 15 minutes or so such that all sides get a chance to cook. I cooked these on a dry sheet tray because I didn't want to add additional fat, but tossing the squash in a little oil before roasting will help them caramelize.

Chili Veg: Poblano, Onion, Cilantro Stems, Garlic

Sautéed Veg with Chili Spices

Start your chili by sautéeing the onion, poblano, garlic, and cilantro stems. If you read my recipes, you will see that I always call for sautéeing cilantro stems in the mix. The stems are more flavorful than the leaves and they are well suited to a mirepoix or soffrito. Please don't throw them away.

Once the onions have turned translucent, add the cumin and chile powder and cook for a minute or two before adding the water, roasted squash, and chickpeas.

Cook for about 10 minutes, season to taste, and serve. You can make yours as dry or as wet as you like. I decided to make this version fairly dry as I was not serving it over anything to sop up the broth.

Chickpea and Butternut Squash Chili

The procedure is outlined above, but I will recap it below. For four portions, use the quantities below. It takes a lot of squash. Because squash is mainly water, it is going to shrink a lot during cooking.

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 large poblano, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced

stems of one bunch of cilantro, minced 

1 tablespoon freshly ground cumin
1 ounce ground mild chile (I use Numex)
1 quart water or vegetable stock
3 pounds of butternut squash cubes, roasted
3 pounds of cooked chickpeas
salt to taste

Film a large pan with oil and sauté the onion, poblano, garlic, and cilantro until the onion is translucent, about five minutes.

Add the cumin and chile powder and cook for another minute or so to get rid of the raw flavors of the spices.

Add the water, roasted squash, and chickpeas and cook for about 10 minutes at a simmer to let all the flavors come together.

Season and serve.