This isn’t a quick dish like my normal Monday-Friday dishes. It takes a little time as I like to roast the butternut squash. Roasting intensifies the flavour and leaves a beautiful sweet syrup on the roasting tray which I put in my soup. I also add chilli and herbs when roasting it which on it’s own makes a lovely side dish. Any pumpkin/squash will do, I just happened to have a butternut squash. The smaller the better, the smaller ones have a better flavour, large pumpkins tend to have more water. We cooked a giant pumpkin some years ago and while it was great fun and a challenge to use all of it, it just didn’t have that lovely sweet flavour of the smaller ones. I would love another one though. A friends neighbour grows them on his allotment. It was so big it had to be delivered in an old cement bag, it wouldn’t fit in a normal refuse sack. And we only got a quarter of the pumpkin that time.
This is a very comforting and warming soup. I made it up using what I had to hand so think I’ll tweak it in future iterations. I think some lemongrass would work well for example…
Ingredients:
800 ml chicken stock or vegetable stock
100g red split lentils
500 g squash/pumpkin
3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
Chunk ginger, about 2 inches long, grated or finely chopped
2 green finger chillies, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
200ml coconut milk
4 shallots or one onion, finely chopped
Method:
Chop the butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy bits and chop into chunks. You can leave the skin on, it will come off really easily after it is roasted.
Spread on a roasting tray with olive oil, dried chilli flakes and 1 tbsp coriander. Roast at a high heat (200 degrees celcius or so) until tender.
While this is roasting, sauté the shallots/onion for5 minutes or so until soft but not brown. Add the garlic, chilli and ginger and cook for a further two minutes.
Add the stock and lentils and cook for ten minutes.
Add the roasted pumpkin with its juices and the coconut milk. Cook for another 10 minutes.
Add the remaining coriander (keeping a little for a garnish), season with salt & pepper and puree until smooth. I added some chilli flakes at this point too as it wasn’t hot enough for me but that very much depends on the chillies you use and how hot you like it.
Serve. Coriander makes a nice garnish. You could also swirl some coconut milk in there.
What can I say? This was delicious and very easy on a very sore throat. And doesn’t my spoon look gorgeous in the photo!
It’s a beautiful spoon! So shiny :-)
The flavor combination here is perfect, This is definitely a recipe I will make and enjoy eating.
Thank you
Thanks tfjules! Enjoy. Please come back and let me know how it goes.
Pingback: Wahey!! Photo of the week on the Guardian Food Blog - Word of Mouth « eat like a girl
i was craving this exact thing and am grateful you have tasty recipe, can’t wait to make it!
Thanks Kerrie! Hope you enjoyed it. :)
I saw this ages ago but didn’t get around to making it. I did today and it is delicious. Thanks.
That’s great Debbie! Thanks for popping back to let me know :)
I made this and it was ace! Bravo lady!
x
Great! Thanks for popping back to let me know :)
How many does this serve?
Does it freeze well?
Looks good!
Love this soup – beautiful consistency to it!
Hin Brittany – sorry, missed this at the time. I would estimate 6 starter portions. It freezes very well.
Nol – hanks :-) Glad you liked it!
Made a non-blended version, and used fish sauce in place of salt/pepper for final seasoning. Absolutely delicious.
Thanks so much for this fantastic recipe! It was the *perfect* way to use the leftover half can of coconut milk, and half a butternut squash from last night’s Cambodian chicken stew. Used two spicy chilis and it’s so smooth with a sharp kick at the end.
I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for ages and finally got around to making it last night. It was heavenly! I froze the leftovers for another chilly day. Thanks :)
This looks absolutely gorgeous! I will be doing this as a great lunch for when I return to uni. The colour of the butternut squash pops.
I’ve been looking for a tasty roasted squash soup with coconut milk and this hits the spot! I used lemongrass instead of ginger (not a fan of ginger).
My daughter is very fussy and she loved it so great to get some goodness in ter.
Thank you, really enjoyed it.
I frequently use lemongrass too – it’s superb with pumpkin. In fact, I have a recipe for pumpkin soup with lemongrass, chilli & ginger coming up on iVillage this week :)
Pingback: Thai Curried Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
I enjoyed this recipe but it was a little too spicy and too thick I thought, is it supposed to be like that? I’ll still be making it again but with more stock and coconut milk and one less chilli.
That’s how I like my soup! Hearty and spicy. :)
The photograph quite obviously shows fresh thyme, which is not in the recipe. Somewhat confusing.
Sorry you feel so. If you follow the recipe it is clear and it is not in the text so a search wouldn’t bring you here for a thyme recipe.
Pingback: Reddress diary - Page 3 - MiniMins.com - Weight Loss Support Forum
Pingback: Useful GI/GL Recipes - Page 7 - MiniMins.com - Weight Loss Support Forum