Butternut Squash in Black Bean Sauce

A rich and flavorful meatless meal of butternut squash and greens in a black bean sauce served over rice.

I have had this recipe for a while, but it got pushed to the back of the queue and I forgot about it until now.  I may have forgotten to post this recipe, but I did not forget how awesome it tasted.  I found this recipe idea on Gourmet Traveller 88 and I had to try it.  I happened to have some black bean paste in my refrigerator and some butternut squash in my freezer.  The frozen butternut squash was more soft than if I had used fresh, but it still tasted great and I plan to make this recipe again.  It should also work with pumpkin and I'm curious to try sweet potato as well.  I expanded on the original recipe by adding choi sum (an asian green that could be replaced with spinach or maybe kale).

Ingredients:

2 cups butternut squash, chopped
4-5 cups choi sum, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp chopped thai bird chillies, optional
2 Tbsps black bean sauce
Cracked Szechuan peppercorns
Chicken broth, vegetable stock, or water
1 cup sliced green onions

 Heat a large skillet over Medium heat and add about 1-2 Tbsp oil.  Add the aromatics (this is the garlic, ginger and chillies) cook, while stirring until fragrant.

Then add the onions and squash and stirring for a couple of minutes until the onions soften.

Add the choi sum and about 1 cup of broth (I used chicken broth, but you can use vegetable or water to make this vegetarian).  Cover and allow the greens to cook down until you can easily stir (the greens will mound over the top of the skillet, but once they begin to wilt and cook down it will be much more manageable), then uncover and let boil, while stirring until the liquid is reduced by at least half (about 10-15 minutes).

Add black bean paste stirring to combine and let continue to simmer until the sauce is as thick as you prefer.

Serve over rice garnished with green onions, makes 2 servings.  Enjoy.