Butternut Squash, Coconut and Chilli Soup

I would never have thought that I’d be posting a recipe for soup in June, but here we are. As there is still a real chill in the air I’m not quite ready to commit to salads at all times just yet. 

Butternut squash soup is something I make fairly often but never bothered to write up an actual recipe for. It is something I usually just throw together with whatever is available. I was flicking through a new cookbook The Detox Kitchen Bible by Lily Simpson and Rob Hobson and they had a recipe for this soup. I have to talk about this book for a sec – I love it! I have a few healthy eating cookbooks already that I pick through but this is the first one I’ve read where I want to make everything! Rob Hobson is a nutritionist so this book is about eating healthy to make yourself better, not just for weight loss. They describe which recipes to use for for your own particular health needs. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Back to the soup. Butternut squash is one of those ingredients like avocados that I really like but that can be very bland. They need a strong flavour with them to make them sing. Enter chilli! I was a bit intrigued when the recipe described roasting the veg without any oil and for a minute thought it was an error. But of course this is all to keep the soup healthy and as low fat as possible. I was sure it wouldn’t work properly but of course it did. I’ve added garlic and you could add different spices if you’re not fond of chilli. I do think chilli is the best match for it though.

Makes 2-3 servings

 

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash
• Salt and pepper
• 1 red onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• ¾ tsp dried red chilli flakes
• 600ml hot vegetable stock
• 200ml coconut milk

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 180c/160c fan/gas mark 4. Line a baking tray with non stick parchment paper.
• Peel, de-seed and chop the squash into 2cm chunks. Use a good sharp knife to cut the squash and let the knife do all the work for you. You’ll do yourself an injury if you try to force it!
• Spread out the diced squash on the parchment paper and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
• While the squash is roasting, peel and finely slice the onion and peel the clove of garlic.
• Take the squash out of the oven and sprinkle over the onion slices, chilli and add the garlic. Put it back in the oven and roast for another 10-15 minutes. It is ready when you can easily pierce the squash with a knife.
• Once it has all roasted, pick up the parchment paper and tip all of the ingredients into a blender. Add the stock and blend until smooth. Add the coconut milk and blend again.
• If you don’t have a blender, put all of the ingredients into a large saucepan and blend with a stick blender.
• Taste it for seasoning, adjust as needed and serve hot.
• You could add a swirl of double cream or creme fraiche. I’ve stayed healthy here and just sprinkled over some dukkah for a bit of crunch and extra flavour.

*This is another meat free dish but as always, make sure all of your ingredients are suitable for vegetarians if needed.