Thai Butternut Squash Soup

It is January here in Minnesota, it is cold and windy outside. Sunday is for napping, relaxing, and eating home cooked meals. Tonight, to warm up I made some butternut squash soup featuring my favorite flavor, red curry. The inspiration for this recipe came from myrecipes.com but as with everything from my kitchen, I had to put my own spin on it.

Leading role: butternut squash

The biggest difference is that I started by roasting a whole butternut squash vs. using frozen cubes. I cut the squash down the middle, roast it inside down for 45 minutes at 400 and when you take it out the inside will be soft and scoop right out of the skin. You can take the seeds out before or after you cook it.

Supporting characters:

After pulling the squash out of the oven to cool, I started by sautéing the onion in some canola oil. As the onion became softer I added garlic, powdered ginger, and red curry and sautéed for a minute or so.

The original recipe called for chicken broth but I substituted that with water and a chicken bouillon cube. I then added the coconut milk, lime juice, brown sugar, a dash of soy sauce, and the whole butternut squash.

From here you can choose to eat your soup a little bit chunky or blend it in a blender, food processor, or with an immersion blender. I tried it both ways and think it is based on your personal preference. To garnish, use crushed peanuts and chopped cilantro which add texture and flavor.

This soup is fresh, flavorful, and healthy.

Thai Butternut Squash Soup:

• 1 butternut squash soup
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 medium diced onion
• 2-3 gloves of minced garlic
• 2-3 tablespoons of red curry paste
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger OR 1 teaspoon of fresh minced ginger
• 1 cup of water with 1 chicken bouillon cube OR 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon of lime juice- more to taste
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 dash of soy sauce- more to taste
• chopped peanuts and cilantro for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, cut the butternut squash length-wise down the center roasting skin up on a cookie sheet with sides. Roast squash for 45 minutes.

Once squash is done and cooling, sauté the diced onion in the canola oil for 3-5 minutes until soft. Then add the ginger, red curry, and garlic to the pan and sauté for another minute or two.

Add the broth, coconut milk,  sugar, salt, soy sauce, lime juice, and squash, simmer for 10 minutes. At this point you can either serve the soup chunky or blend the soup for a smoother finish. Either way, garnish with chopped peanuts and cilantro.