Balti-baked squash with feta, tomato & mint

Ingredients

Baked butternut squash rubbed with balti spices and filled with salty feta, sweet sun-dried tomatoes and fresh mint. No wonder this is a great veggie dish that is filling and packs a lot of flavour. There is no recipe as such for ‘balti’, as it actually refers to the pot that the dish is cooked in rather than a particular spice mix. However, across the world you can find balti spice blends and they typically contain the spices I have used in this recipe, so I have called this dish a balti in terms of the particular spicing of the dish.

Serves 4 -  Prep time 10 minutes, Cook time 1 hour

2 butternut squash, cut in half lengthways and seeds removed

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

1/2 tsp dried chilli fl akes

1 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp vegetable oil or light olive oil

50g (13/4oz) spinach leaves,

roughly chopped

50g (13/4oz) feta cheese, crumbled

2 garlic cloves, fi nely chopped

2 tbsp fi nely chopped mint leaves

6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and roughly chopped

grated rind and juice of 1 lemon