Thai Up A Good Soup
Butternut squash is pretty bland on its own. I mean, there's nothing wrong with this pumpkin-y winter squash. It's just a little bland if it's just roasted, like I've mostly had it.
I do love Thai food. Why not Thai up the bland squash.
Sometimes a Thai touch can be a little hot, but if you want to cool things off, cut back on the chili paste and bump up the coconut cream.
You can make this soup and freeze it so you can enjoy it any time. But why? This soup is a great excuse to have a little feast with your friends.
How about pairing the soup with some roti and a mango salad for dessert? (Recipes for those will be presented here at Vegetarian On A Budget in the future. Stay tuned!)
Thai Butternut Squash Soup
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 2 pounds of butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into small pieces
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of chili paste
- 2 teaspoons of ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon of sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon of red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon of lime juice
- 4 cups of vegetable broth
- ½ cup of coconut cream (or full-fat coconut milk) for drizzling on top
- ½ cup of fine shredded coconut (or coconut flakes, if you prefer)
- Cilantro leaves, chopped
- Heat the oil in a big heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat.When it's hot and shimmery, add the squash, onion, garlic, chili paste, coriander, cumin, salt and red pepper flakes and stir it all up.
- Keep stirring occasionally and cook it until onion is translucent, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the broth and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it all simmer until the squash is soft, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- While it's cooking, toast the coconut over medium-low heat, stirring frequently --until it smells sweet and is starting to just get golden around the edges. Put them aside to cool off.
- Remove the squash mixture from the heat and let it cool slightly. Add more chili paste if you want hotter flavor.
- Put the mixture into a blender in batches and start making soup. Pour the puréed soup to a serving bowl and repeat the process with remaining batches.
- Stir in the lime juice. Taste it and season the soup with more salt, if you want. Ladle servings of the soup into individual bowls and use a spoon to drizzle coconut milk over each bowl and swirl it around and top it all off with the coconut and cilantro.
