Serves 4

The addition of green bird’s-eye chillies, including their seeds, makes this quite a hot curry. Deseed the chillies if you prefer, or reduce to just one whole chilli for a curry on the milder side.

100g split green peas

2 tbsp desiccated coconut

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

5cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

2 green bird’s-eye chillies, roughly chopped

2 tbsp oil

1 onion, finely chopped

600g butternut squash

600g celeriac

2 tsp each of ground cumin and coriander

1 tsp each of turmeric, garam masala and freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of asafoetida

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Sea salt

50-100ml coconut cream, to taste

1 Soak the split peas in plenty of cold water overnight. Drain, rinse well, then boil rapidly for 10 minutes. Drain again.

Dry-roast the desiccated coconut in a frying pan over a low heat until golden brown, stirring to prevent it burning.

2 Tip the coconut into a food processor. Add the garlic, ginger, chillies and 100ml of cold water to the roasted coconut and blend to a rough paste. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and gently fry the onion for about 15 minutes until soft, sweet and golden. Meanwhile, peel the butternut squash and celeriac. Deseed the squash, then cut both vegetables into 2.5cm cubes.

3 Add the split peas to the onion and sauté together for 5 minutes. Stir in the cumin, coriander, turmeric, garam masala, black pepper and asafoetida and fry for 30 seconds. Now add the coconut, garlic, ginger, chilli paste and lemon zest and cook for 2 minutes while stirring well.

4 Pour in 500ml of boiling water with the lemon juice and add salt to taste. Finally, add the butternut squash and celeriac and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and simmer for 45-50 minutes until the split peas are tender. Stir in the coconut cream to taste, then serve with basmati rice and chutney.

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