Cinnamon glazed butternut

When I was a child, my Afrikaans granny had a tendency to cook with a lot of sugar. So did a lot of Afrikaans ladies of that vintage. It was just 'the way it's done'. And I'm not talking about cakes and sweets. I'm talking about vegetables. A spoon of sugar in the green peas. A teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of butter in each half of a gem squash (a tennis ball sized squash that looks like this) as it was placed on the plate. Sugar in this, sugar sprinkled over that. Astonishingly she and my grandfather both lived into their 80s.

I loved my Gran's cakes, but I was never a fan of her vegetables. I have never been much of a one for adding sugar to the deliciously natural sweetness of vegetables.

With one occasional exception.

Every now and again, when I am cooking a bobotie or a biryani, I make cinnamon glazed butternut to go with it. It is utterly, utterly sinful. But I am not advocating that this recipe should take the place of the way you normally cook your butternut.

Oh... and it works just as well with pumpkin. I just prefer the taste of butternut.

Ingredients
125ml cold water
500g butternut, peeled and cut into thick pieces
30ml butter
5ml ground cinnamon
10ml soft brown sugar

Method

• Pour the water into a heavy-based saucepan first.
• Spread the butternut over the base of the saucepan in no more than two layers.
• Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon evenly over the butternut.
• Dot the butter on top.
• Cover and cook over a low heat until the butternut is soft (about 20 minutes or so). Keep an eye on the water level. If the water all boils away, the butternut will burn.