Lightly Curried Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

Creamy, sweet and herb-y soup to warm your stomach in the rainy days. This soup is very fragrant, colorful and bright in flavors.

I served with spiced chickpeas, crispy garlic flakes and spiced chili-garlic oil for an extra kick!

Quick, hassle-free way to cook butternut squash

• Rinse the butternut squash well.

• Trim the head and bottom. Then cut it in half, length wise.

• Scoop out the seeds.

• Transfer the butternut squash to a steaming pot. Let it steam for about 30 minutes or until very soft.

• Let it cool then use a spoon to gently scoop out all the meat of the butternut squash - and voila, you have butternut squash puree.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked butternut squash or pumpkin puree (or 1 medium butternut squash)

• 1 medium white onion, diced

• 1/2 tablespoon garlic, minced

• 1 green bell pepper, diced

• 3 cups water

• 1 cup (1 can) coconut cream, minus a few tablespoons to garnish later

• 2 teaspoons curry powder

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 1/2 tablespoon chicken or veggie seasoning powder, optional

• Salt, pepper, to taste

For garnish:

• Spiced garlic-chili oil

• Spiced chickpeas

• Lime wedges

• Cilantro

Instructions:

• Over low-medium heat, add 1 tablespoon butter + diced white onion and sautee until it's translucent and a bit golden brown on the edges. This process took about 10 minutes on low heat for me.

• Add minced garlic, sautee for another 3 minutes or until fragrant.

• Add diced bell peppers along with curry powder and sautee for another 3 minutes, add a little water if needed to prevent the pan from burning.

• Add in butternut squash puree and 3 cups of water. Cook on medium heat until it boils.

• Season with salt, pepper and chicken seasoning powder.

• Keep it on simmer for about 15 minutes, turn off the heat and add coconut cream.

• Let cool for a bit and use hand-blender to blend until everything is smooth. Or transfer to a food processor if you don't have a hand-blender.

• Transfer everything back to the pot, turn on low-medium heat and cook until it's hot again or just starts to simmer. Keep stirring frequently for the whole process to prevent burning at the pot's bottom.

• Served hot with lime wedges, cilantro, spiced chickpea, spiced oil; or garlic bread, white rice...

Crispy garlic and spiced oil

• Peel some garlic cloves and cut it into thin slices.

• Put a small pan over low-medium heat, add in olive oil, garlic slices and dried red chili pieces (add everything in before the oil starts to heat up, when everything heats up slowly together the spices will infuse better, garlic will get crispy and sweet instead of bitter).

• Turn the heat on low, just hot enough so everything sizzles.

• Cook and stir frequently until garlic slices turn golden. Turn off the heat.

• Let it cool and transfer to a small container to use. Don't wash the pan just yet. We'll use the leftover oil in the pan to make spiced chickpeas.

Spiced chickpeas

• Add cooked chickpeas along with sprinkle of chili powder or cajun seasoning into the leftover-oiled pan.

• Sautee over medium heat until the chickpeas turn a bit golden.