I bought a spaghetti squash last week simply because it was there on the shelf in the produce department. I had no spaghetti squash plans. I had no spaghetti squash dreams.

I did know that I wanted to do something different with this planless, dreamless spaghetti squash. I’ve made spaghetti squash pie and spaghetti squash with red pepper sauce, this time I was in the mood for something new.

When I realized I was going to make a curried spaghetti squash? I declared myself a genius.

But then upon further inspection of my own blog archives, I came to discover that I made curried spaghetti squash last year. I did not remember that. My genius status is now in question.

Still, I forged on with my curried spaghetti squash idea and got started early in the day. Nothing says “Fall is Here” like baking a squash first thing in the morning as an excuse to warm up your kitchen.

I even cooked my own dried garbanzo beans for this recipe since I was doing this in the morning and had plenty of time to cook them. This is noteworthy because I rarely cook my own beans, I almost always used canned. Dried beans never turn out right when I cook them myself, I always get some that aren’t cooked all the way through and until now I’ve had no idea why.

The plan today was to cook these garbanzo beans until the cows came home while occasionally screaming “COOK!” at them, but fortunately the Internet helped me figure out what I’d been doing wrong before any cows had to make their way here and/or I felt the need to yell at my beans.

The problem? I’ve been adding SALT to the water during the cooking process! This is apparently a bean cooking no-no. Save your salt for after your beans are cooked, when you’re seasoning them during meal preparation.

Why was I adding salt? I have no idea. I’m sure I thought I was doing the beans a favor. Or perhaps my thought process was “beans in water? that’s too simple! must. add. something. else!” Oooo, there’s the salt! Let’s pour salt on everything! Throw it in the air! Over your shoulder! Into my hair! Why not throw some on the floor while we’re at it? I need more things to sweep up!

Fortunately, my bean googling sent me to this bean cooking basics page that helped me see the error of my dried bean cooking ways, with a lot of other good tips if you’re looking to improve your bean cooking skills too.

Back at Squash Central, once it’s halved and de-seeded, bake your spaghetti squash for about an hour face down on a lightly oiled cookie sheet at 375.

Like most other squash, you know it’s done when you can stick easily stick a fork through the skin. After it’s cooked you’ll semi-gently rake the inside of your squash with a fork to get your “noodles”.

With two of my main ingredients ready and my kitchen sufficiently cozy, beans and squash were moved to the fridge until dinner time.

The curry sauce was started later, with half a white onion and a whole red pepper, both thinly sliced into long strips and sauteed in 2 Tbsp or so of coconut oil, with a couple cloves of minced garlic as well.

When your vegetables are soft, use the following to create your curry sauce:

Coconut Curry Sauce

1 can of coconut milk
2 oz tomato paste
4 oz of water
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp paprika
pinch of salt (more or less to taste)

Bring sauce to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 15 – 20 minutes to allow your spices to cook down. Stir in about 2 cups of cooked (or canned) beans and spaghetti squash noodles. As soon as the squash and beans are hot, it’s time to eat!

I loved that the squash replaced what would have been rice here, very filling with an extra serving of vegetables to boot.

Makes approximately 5 (1.5 cup) servings, 300 calories per serving.

And don’t forget to wash the salt out of your hair.

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