I had the uncommon pleasure of a lunchtime visit this week from an out-of-town childhood friend whom I don’t get to see very often.
Since I knew that we were heading out for dinner later in the evening, and since we’ve never been ones to deprive ourselves on such occasions, I decided to keep lunch on the lighter side opting for a warming, full-flavoured seasonal soup. (We also enjoyed a simple salad which, at my guest’s request, I will be featuring on the blog sometime in the not-so-distant future).
I made this soup the day before our visit, and while the squash was roasting in the oven, I busied myself with other kitchen chores. I like to set it up that way so that I don’t feel like I’m waiting on the oven. I especially like to roast vegetables in the morning while I’m in the kitchen preparing breakfasts and lunches for the boys before they head off to school.
You can easily double the quantity of this soup and freeze some for later use. You can also, as always, modify the ingredients as you see fit.
Roasted Butternut Squash & Coconut Curry Soup with Cinnamon Toasted Seeds
- 1 large butternut squash, cut into large segments
- 1 large yellow onions, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp curry powder or to taste
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
- 1/2 ripe banana, mashed
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 2 cups vegetable (or chicken) stock
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Notes:
If after puréeing, you find the soup too thick, you can simply add additional stock or coconut milk to achieve desired consistency.
You can substitute 1 tsp of brown sugar for the banana if preferred, although the banana flavour is quite mild amidst the other flavours and lends a wonderful natural sweetness to the soup.
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Directions:
Heat oven to 375 F.
Remove seed section from the interior of the squash pieces and separate seeds from stringy pulp attached to them (rinsing pulp off seeds if necessary).
Discard stringy pulp and spread seeds out on a paper towel to dry somewhat.
Place squash pieces on a foil lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle squash pieces with a touch of cinnamon and place in the oven for approximately 1 hour or until squash pieces are tender and have begun to acquire a nice roasted colour (brown around the edges).
Remove squash from the oven and allow it to cool before scraping flesh away from the skin and setting aside (you can use a spoon, knife and/or your hands to assist with this).
Meanwhile, sauté onion and garlic with some olive oil in a large pot on the stove set to low-medium heat for approximately 5 minutes or until onion is translucent.
Add curry powder and cumin to the pot, mixing to combine with the onion and garlic.
Add fresh ginger and mashed banana stirring to combine. Add roasted squash flesh followed by vegetable (or chicken) stock and coconut milk and mix to combine.
Working in batches, place all ingredients in a blender and purée.
Return puréed soup to the pot and make any seasoning adjustments desired — touch of salt, pepper, honey, more curry, etc. Warm to desired temperature when ready to serve.
Meanwhile, place squash seeds in a small dry skillet set to low heat on the stove (the seeds should still have some moisture/wetness to them to allow the cinnamon to adhere to them – if they don’t, you can simply splash a little water on them). Sprinkle the seeds with cinnamon and allow them to toast in the skillet for a couple of minutes until they develop a nice rich colour.
When ready, serve soup in bowls topped with cinnamon toasted seeds and a swirl of Greek yogurt, as desired.
This looks totally delicious and I bet I could use pumpkin as well. Sooooo gooood!!!
The cinnamon toasted seeds sound absolutely wonderful! I just love that idea. And I can never get enough of butternut squash soup either. It’s easily one of my favorites. I hope you guys had a fabulous dinner out as well!
This week was warm, but I know the cold weather is coming very soon and I’m collecting all kinds of delicious soup recipes right now. Thank you for this yummy butternut squash soup – coconut milk and curry sounds like a perfect match!
Ha, that is a little funny that you can’t find butternut squash but any of the sqash family/pumpkin would be delightful here!
OOOOh, new blender; how awesome! Now, wait a minute, are you suppose to be opening your wedding gifts at this early stage young lady?!! :) – perhaps it was a shower giving ;0).
I use bananas a lot for natural sweetness – I prefer to get my sugar along with other nutrients and as long as the source doesn’t completely through off the taste, why not! In this case, I find the banana works quite well but you can experiment to discover what works best for you.
Cheers Lynn! Thank you for the visit.
Thank you MJ – I can well imagine how anxious you must be to get your kitchen back… it’s always discombobulating going through kitchen renos!
Hi Judy, thanks for stopping by. It was light yet satisfying and definitely full flavoured – no need for pot pourri with this cooking on the stove ;0).
The banana seems to work quite well but as I mention in the post you can always substitute a smidge of brown sugar or skip it altogether – see what works best for your buds ;0).
So many delightful edibles to try this time of year… I’m with you and experimenting is half the fun!
Mee too… thanks Kim – xo.
Chacun à son goût! have a good day Charles.
You’re too sweet KoKo… this is my kind of food as well and I get rather excited about it too ;0).
Thanks Yummy! Hope you’re having a great Sunday.
Kelli-fied – heehee! :0) Thanks Lisa!
It had a little bit of everything – quite right, and perfect for a friendly tête-à-tête. Thanks Leaf.
How sensible on the weight management front through the winter… and you’re right, there are so many health-building, satisfying elements you can work into a soup so you don’t have to feel deprived while you’re being conscious of what you put in your tummy… Happy Sunday Sissi – I hope you are adjusting comfortably to your return home :).
Wonderful! Thanks so much for taking the time to drop in and let me know… I really appreciate the feedback and am always delighted to hear about trials.
Autumn motivated culinary minds thing alike ;0)
Roasted butternut squash is my favorite food come the fall. I love all the warming comforting flavors here. Beautiful. I just made cinnamon pumpkin seeds last week. We must have been thinking the same thing :)
Made this today, it was lovely, thanks for the recipe.
What a coincidence! I made yesterday my first soup this autumn (it gets really cold and we still haven’t got the heating turned on in our building so I have to warm myself up…). The soup looks lovely, as everything made with the pumpkin. I love the addition of spices (for me a pumpkin soup which is not spicy is simply inedible, I once tasted such a soup…) and the banana’s presence is more than surprising! Soups are what keeps me from gaining weight during winter because I get extremely hungry and they can be filling without being high-calorie. Knowing your healthy recipes, I am sure I will see more of warming soups on your blog soon!
Sweet, savoury and spiced… looks like just the soup for a light lunch, and totally suitable for enjoying with a good friend. :D
Wonderful flavors Kelly! I love butternut squash but this one is definitely Kelli-ified! :)
The coconut curry sounds delicious.
Kelly, when this came to my e-mail and I read the title, in my head I said “Oh my God, I’m going to die, this sounds so good”. I may happen to be starving right now, and just finished a workout, but really, I am just dying to taste this!! BOOKMARKED.
Soup! You know, I never made butternut squash into a soup before. I have to admit, I’m not the biggest fan, but I’ve only served it “as is” before – roasted, but nothing too special done to it. I think the spices you’ve added must do a good job at removing the sweetness from it – the thing which I always find most problematic.
G O R G E O U S.
Kelly, this looks like MY kind of comfort food. Oh, My! Xxxxxxxxx
This looks so warming and awesome. I’m a huge butternut squash fine but I’d also love to try it out with some pumpkin.
I am having the same taste preferences the last days. Surprising though that u add banana in your soup, but then it makes sense with coconut and ginger. Wonderful flavors!
This soup sounds fantastic, I like the curry flavors you have used. This would be a nice light entree and the accents are perfect. :)
Can’t wait to be able to roasted up some butternut squash!!! I love making soups and just tossing it with a little seasoning. It’s so good! Your soup looks delicious and I love the seasoning and touch of banana! YUM!
Well – I can say first hand that this soup is mighty delicious! It did the trick and made for a tasty, hearty and healthy lunch for us to enjoy. Do look out for the cabbage salad, in my opinion a true delight :) You will want 2nds for sure!
Your childhood friend xo
Great soup! I once made a soup that was around the net called “one of each” – I must retrieve the recipe and make it again, it was very good, and one of the ingredients was “one banana” –
Amazing how good that soup was, and the banana definitely added something.
This sounds so yummy and perfect for fall…and I could use my brand new hand blender that I got as a wedding gift!!! So smart to do your roasting in the morning.
I am going to make some pumpkin soup too! No idea why butternut squash ain’t on the market yet…your soup looks delicious.
Like your soup bowl set too.
What an incredible autumn flavoured soup my friend I love the flavours and the wonderful decoration :)
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru