Cooked our overgrown summer squash in two recipes. On suggestions from others, I sliced it thin, battered and fried it, seasoning with salt and pepper right after frying. That was tasty, but I find the battering-frying process tedious, and am not likely to do that again. Esp. since Anand liked the result, but Kavya still is anti-squash in that form.
Easier process — I peeled it, cut it into chunks, and added those to a Thai curry. That was simple and delicious — there was a restaurant in Utah that used to make a vegetarian massaman curry with squash and root vegetables.
For us, I went with pork shoulder and squash, combined with one can Maesri massaman curry paste, one can coconut milk, one can bamboo shoots. The pork should be mostly cooked before you add the squash, as it doesn’t take long to cook the squash, and it’ll just dissolve if you’re not careful. (Still tasty, though; mine started dissolving.) Serve with rice.
Next batch of squash — either smoothies or squash bread, I think. Still trying to find a form Kavya will eat, and it needs to be more disguised for her. She’s been eating the broccoli-strawberry smoothies Kevin’s been making her (we had some overcooked broccoli), and liking them, so I’m hopeful about smoothies. Maybe roast the squash first?
I have already harvested 3 “baseball bat” zucchinis from our backyard garden in the last 2-3 weeks.
Most often, I simply steam it and toss with turmeric, salt, coriander-cumin powder and cumin seeds.
Made a batch of zucchini-mint mini-muffins yesterday. Also planning to add it to multi-grain adai pancakes this week. A few weeks ago, my husband roasted zucchini, eggplant, onions and made a delicious roasted veggie sandwich. YUM.
I regularly add half a raw zucchini to my smoothies and can’t taste a thing.
Regarding breading and frying: I agree it’s a pain. That being said, you can make it much more delicious and (slightly) easier with the following changes: 1) combine roughly equal amounts of grated/powdered parmesan to flour in a ziplock and dump the zucchini in it. (for even better results, dump the zucchini in beaten egg first but just having it slightly damp works ok). Shake it around. In the meantime, have baking sheets with about 3 T of oil heating in a hot oven (400 degrees?). Get a baking sheet out of the oven, put the pieces of zucchini on the oil, and bake for about 15 minutes each side.
Regarding your post: What I’d really like for you to post is a list of all the premade sauces/curries by brand and type that you actually like.
I’ll try your method for breading / baking — that does sound notably easier.
Pre-made sauces: for Thai, I only use the Maesri pastes (which are available on Amazon) — the kids will eat the yellow curry and the massaman curry. I prefer Chaokoh brand coconut milk — tastes more coconut-y than the others. Add a protein and a can of bamboo shoots, simmer 15-20 minutes, serve with rice.
For Indian, I tend to default to Patak’s, though there are others that are fine. Patak’s spinach curry (can’t remember if they call it saag or palak) is good with meat or chicken — just brown the meat in a little oil first, with an added spoon of chili powder if you want it spicier, and then dump in the sauce jar and simmer 15-20 minutes. You could do the same with tofu or seitan if you wanted a vegetarian version with protein.