So today I have a delicious curry squash soup for you. I really just want to talk about what’s going on with me right now, which is this: the last few days I have been learning some really valuable lessons about blogging, self-hosting, WordPress, plugins, etc. It turns out that even though I wrote on a free WordPress.com thing for a little while I know basically nothing about self-hosting with WordPress.org’s software. I am super impressed with how powerful it is and how much I will be able to do with plugins and stuff. Right now I’m kind of overwhelmed though and starting to wonder if my site will suck. So pretty please stick around until my web skills stop sucking, because I absolutely know that I have great food and information to share with you. Also, I am learning that just like grocery shopping when you’re hungry, writing about food when you’re hungry is not easy. I think I’ll go grab a snack.
This soup is one that I created to use part of a huge and gorgeous sweet meat squash that I was given from a dear friend’s garden, but you can easily use butternut, kabocha, or other sweet hard squash. There are so many recipes for squash soups that have cinnamon and nutmeg to accent the natural sweetness of the squash, but I like to do ones that are savory and spicy so that it’s not just sweet on sweet. This one had just the right amount of heat, and you can adjust for your family by using different types of curry paste or powder. I used Mae Ploy yellow curry paste, but honestly I’d love to find one that is a little milder so that I can use more of it in a given recipe and have lots of flavor without it melting my son’s tongue. I’d love to experiment with red curry paste in this recipe too.
There are a few easy adaptations with this recipe. If you use the coconut cream, it is totally paleo, and if you use vegetable stock it is vegan too. It is certainly delicious with the heavy cream if dairy does not bother you.
This is a great time to use an immersion blender, but you can definitely transfer it to a blender in batches. I garnish it with toasted coconut, cashews and cilantro and it is so good that way, but you can of course vary the garnishes to your liking. Even my husband who isn’t particularly a coconut guy agreed it was delicious on here. The first time I made this it was a yuuuuuge pot of soup because I had a ton of squash, but I have scaled this down to make about 8 servings, probably one weeknight dinner plus a little left over for most families.
Curried Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 2 T. coconut oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 T. minced garlic
- 1 1-inch piece ginger, grated on a Microplane
- 2 T. yellow curry paste (amount may vary widely depending on how spicy yours is)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 lbs. cubed butternut squash may use sweet meat, kabocha, or other sweet squash
- 2 quarts chicken stock or broth use vegetable stock for vegetarian/vegan
- 1 1/2 cups coconut cream or heavy cream
- chopped cilantro, for garnish
- toasted unsweetened coconut, for garnish
- roasted salted cashews, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a large dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat and add the coconut oil.
- Add the onions and saute about 3 minutes or until starting to soften. Then add the garlic and ginger and saute an additional 2 minutes.
- Add the curry paste and stir to coat, sauteeing briefly until fragrant. Add the salt.
- Put in the squash and pour the chicken or vegetable stock over allBring to a boil and cook about 15-20 minutes or until the squash pieces are tender, depending on how big you cut your squash.
- Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth, or transfer in batches and puree in a blender.
- Stir in the coconut cream, heat through, and adjust the seasonings if needed. Serve with cilantro, coconut and cashews as desired. Enjoy!
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