Pepper & Summer Squash Stir-Fry
Sweet peppers and summer squash are sautéed in ghee with bloomed cumin seeds, turmeric, fresh basil, salt, and black pepper. Serve over roasted acorn squash, rice, or noodles.
SERVES
4
PREP
15 minutes
COOK
20 minutes
Ingredients
2 tablespoons ghee
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Instructions
Warm the ghee in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add the cumin seeds and allow them to bloom for 30–60 seconds, until fragrant. Watch carefully so they do not burn.
This simple skillet began with two sweet peppers, one beautiful two-toned summer squash, and the desire to make something easy from the late-summer harvest. Blooming cumin seeds in ghee and adding turmeric and fresh basil transformed those few vegetables into something warm, aromatic, and deeply satisfying.
I served the stir-fry over roasted white acorn squash with baked beans alongside it—a meal where summer and fall met on the same plate. Owen declared it his new favorite meal, which is saying something for a dish this ridiculously simple. LOL.
Serve it with any variety of roasted acorn squash, spoon it over rice or noodles, or enjoy it as a vegetable side with your favorite protein.
From Ingredients to the Table
Ayurvedic Perspective
This is a meal for the space between seasons—when summer vegetables are still abundant, but the body may be beginning to ask for warmer, more grounding food.
Summer squash contributes cooling moisture that helps balance the warmer qualities of the peppers, onions, cumin, turmeric, basil, and black pepper. Cooking the vegetables in ghee softens their texture and adds richness, while blooming the cumin seeds creates an aromatic foundation that supports digestion.
Explore the Ingredients
Each ingredient in this recipe offers its own unique qualities and actions in the body. In Ayurveda, food is more than nourishment — it is medicine. Click below to learn how these ingredients support balance, digestion, and overall well-being.
Acorn Squash
Bell Peppers
Cumin
Black Pepper
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Basil
Onions
