Recipe Wednesday - Spaghetti Squash Indian Style

Do you have a lot of spaghetti squash growing in your garden and you need some new ideas on how to cook it?  My mom shared 4 squash with us last time we went up for a visit.  2 were for our family, 2 were for my sisters family.  However, when I told my sister that Mom had sent spaghetti squash home for her, she said "no thank you."  So that left me with a lot of squash to use and no idea what to do with them.  (My family isn't big on spaghetti, really.)

I know Indian food is very forgiving.  Once you have all the different spices in your cabinet, you can cook just about anything you want Indian Style.   I did a practice run, of course, to be sure I liked it before I cooked it all like that.

To Start, prep your squash:
Set your oven to 350deg. F
Slice your squash down the middle and scoop out the "guts" - I've read the seeds can be saved and baked up like pumpkin seeds.
Place your de-seeded squash "meat" side down on a baking sheet
Bake for about 45 min. or so - the time will depend on how many squash you have in the oven.  I had 4 so it took awhile.  Once you're able to pierce the flesh easily with a fork, it is done.
(Remove from oven, shut the oven off)
After the squash has cooled a bit, scoop out the flesh.  This should come out very easily!

If I remember correctly, this was all 4 squash scraped into the bowl.

At this point you can cook it right away with whatever spice/sauce you want, or you can put it in the fridge/freezer for later use.  Since I did a practice run, I took a little bit of squash but put the rest into the fridge.  (As you can guess, we enjoyed the practice bit and used up the rest of the squash in the same manner.)

(As I mentioned earlier, Indian food is very forgiving.  Just season it however you want it, with as much/little of each spice that you want.) 

Spaghetti Squash - Indian Style
1-2 Tbs. Oil
1-2 tsp. mustard seed
1/2 - 1 onion - chopped
1-2 tsp. Turmeric
1-2 tsp. Coriander powder
1-2 tsp. Ground Cumin
1-3 tsp. Garam Masala (Store bought Garam Masala can be quite spicy, so start small and build once you know the level of spice your mix is.  My mother-in-law makes ours for us and is careful to make the mix flavorful but not spicy, for me and the kids.)
Salt (a couple of shakes)
Prepared Spaghetti Squash
Rice
Yogurt 

In a dutch oven, heat the oil over medium/med-high heat.  Add seeds, once they pop add in onion.  Cook for a few minutes, then add in your spices.  You want to be sure to cook your spices for a minute or two so they release all of their flavor (and so they don't taste raw).  Add in your squash and stir until coated in the spices.  This could take up to a full minute of stirring to be sure everything is distributed.

During my practice run, I tried this by itself and decided it did taste better with rice.  Then I stirred in a dollop of yogurt and it was YUM.  The yogurt really made all the difference.  I think it helped bring out the flavors.