Instructions

1. Marinate the chicken by mixing diced chicken with garlic ginger paste and salt. Set aside in fridge until ready to use (30 mins minimum, but up to 8 hours or even overnight if you have the time)
2. Mix the curry paste ingredients in a postal and mortar or blitz in a blender, until smooth
3. Rinse your lentils until water runs clear
4. Add washed lentils, butternut squash, tomato and water to a pan - bring to the boil and cook until butternut squash is soft enough to mash with a fork
5. remove from the heat, drain, and crush any large peices of butternut squash with a fork until smooth. This part is up to your preference; if you’d rather have a chunky dhansak then leave larger chunks.
6. Heat a large, non stick pan and add oil.
7. Add onions and green chilli to the hot oil, stir until coated with oil and reduce the heat. Cook until onions are clear
8. Add dry spice mix to the onion mixture, stir and cook until raw smell has disappeared. Add more oil (or water) here if the mixture is dry.
9. Add pre-marinated chicken to the pan and stir to completely coat with the spice mix, cook until chicken gets some color
10. Add the drained, crushed lentil and squash mixture to the pan, mix thoroughly
11. Add 1 cup of water (or more/less depending on how much liquid you’d like in your end curry)
12. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 15 minutes
13. Remove from the heat, top with chopped coriander, enjoy and serve!