Squash and Chickpea Stew With Lemongrass Recipe (2024)

Double up on Shallots, ginger, garlic, lemongrass; 1/2 as much water

The only zing you get is from the citrus and frankly that's not enough. It needs some spice. Red pepper flakes or powder or cayenne would do some good. The color isnt vibrant. And that's because there's no curry powder or turmeric (but I realize the flavor profile will change so I didn't add any).

Followed the recipe, no substitutions or additions. Sadly pretty flavorless.

Apologies for rating a recipe where I had to make adjustments - I chose this because I had both lemongrass and kabocha squash on hand, but I had to do some swaps (only had one shallot, used red onion; had no baby spinach, used some sliced choy sum). I was puzzled at first because of the salt and pepper (cvs say fish sauce and chiles), but it does make it fully vegetarian, and it does allow the lemongrass to shine - it has a fruity flavor that is really striking. It needed a lot of salt

Thank you, Thomas. I doubled up on the lemongrass, shallots (sliced- no need to mince), ginger and garlic (5 cloves) close to what Thomas advised. I used 2c of water and the whole can of coconut milk. I used 2 heaping T of peanut butter. Came out great- but took a lot of changes.

Agree with Thomas.More flavor, less water. No lemongrass up on the hill in Vermont, lemon zest had to do. Changes it up I know, but tasty.

I used this recipe as more of an outline, I took the other reviewers advice and added curry paste for a little spice and fish sauce for a little umami. I did not add as much water, I added chicken stock instead about 2 cups. I agree that it would’ve been a little bland without the curry paste.

I made it tonight with several revisions as I liked the concept of it. I roasted a zucchini and a handful of brussels which I added at the very end with the spinach. Added turmeric and red chili powder and reduced water to 2 cups. I also added juice from a a whole lime. A very tasty meal!

Great dish. Added lime zest, red pepper flakes, and some tamarind paste to add some tanginess

I doubled shallots, ginger, garlic and lemongrass. Also used fish sauce for part of salt and a pinch of crushed red pepper. 3 tbs peanut butter. Still came out bland. Added more salt. It was okay but flavor isn’t worth the time and prep effort. I even employed my spouse to peel the squash and it took a hour plus

Was anyone able to make this recipe in 35 min? Am I missing something? Is the time just for active cooking? It took me 45 min to prep the ingredients (gathering them, opening cans; peeling, seeding, and dicing a squash; peeling and chopping ginger; chopping shallots and garlic, dealing with the lemongrass, and pureeing half the stew), adding the spinach and Garni. The recipe notes 30 minutes for various cooking aspects (I added them up). So, 5 minutes for all that prep?

Loved this. Used lime zest instead of lemongrass, as my husband hates it, and added extra ginger. Could really taste all the flavors working together with the basil garnish at the end.

Extra peanut butter. So, so good!

Pretty good, actually. Next time I'd add some turmeric so that it doesn't look so much like vomit.

This was delicious and really hearty! I added a tblsp more peanut butter than the recipe called for.

Also doubled ginger

Only substituted lemongrass paste for the stalks, and it was easy and delicious (my husband is a quick chopper ;-) but we were able to put this together while entertaining a toddler and baby with minimal stress. It wasn’t spicy, but it wasn’t supposed to be, and it did have good flavors. With a couple drops of cholula, it met all spiciness needs. The toddler wouldn’t try it (toddler moods!) but when we have it for leftovers, I’m pretty sure he’ll love it.

Made this for a weeknight meal. Good recipe and most ingredients are pantry staples. Only thing that is difficult to find is the lemon grass, especially if you don’t live in tropical areas or near an Asian supermarket. I swapped the lemongrass stalks for lemongrass puree from the grocery store fresh herbs section. I had to use about one table spoon to get desired flavor. Also swapped sweet potato for butternut squash, stirred in some spinach, and 1.5x the amount of ginger and shallots

Added tumeric, 1 green birdseye chili, doubled up on shallots, ginger, and 1 tablespoon lemongrass puree, with lime juice

No lemongrass so I used red curry paste, a delicata squash that I did not peel since that’s what I had, 2 cups of water. Very good with these changes!

Agree to double up on ginger, garlic, lemongrass. I didnt double shallots. Used bone broth instead of water to add protein and I thought it had a ton of flavor! 5/5 with these subs

I made this tonight for dinner. I substituted black beans for the chickpeas. I should have read everyone's notes ahead of time since the final product was extremely bland. My husband, however, loved it. But I like more spice. We have extra in the refrigerator and I'm going to try adding some Thai curry paste when I next eat it to give it some more kick. I served this over wild rice, and it was a nice hearty meal for the subzero temperatures we are experiencing.

Grateful for the notes & warnings of others! Following the recipe as is would be bland indeed. I doubled the ginger, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, peanut butter. And I made more of a traditional red Thai curry paste by grinding two types of red chillis, coriander seeds, turmeric, the garlic, ginger, lemongrass and lime zest in a molcajete. I didn’t have fish sauce or shrimp paste but added oyster sauce instead. The flavors were rich and well balanced. I also added cilantro at the end.

SOO GOOD — *if*, you do a full can of coconut milk, 2 cups of water instead of 3, and a whole heck of a lot of ginger. I guess just those few changes can make a big ol difference because compared to other notes I can’t get enough of this stew hahaha

When I read the recipe I thought it would be very bland so I added 1/2 tsp each of cumin, coriander, ground, toasted fennel seeds and turmeric. Even with the addition of those spices it was still bland. I only added the coconut milk and found that was enough liquid.

Increase lime juice, peanut butter, include zest, halve the water—can increase amounts by twice. Some notes also say increase the ginger.

If you microwave the whole squash for 5 minutes, it makes it easier to cut and peel. I do this with butternut also, to make it easier (and safer) to cut in half before roasting.