Curried butternut squash, sweet potato and coconut soup.

A while back, I promised to update my thai butternut squash soup post  but as I finally came round to doing so, I ended up tweaking the recipe so much it became a completely different soup altogether!

I was really pleased with the outcome of this soup as my spices came from a mix of Spice Mountain’s mild madras and vindaloo blends. Of course not everyone is as lucky as me to have access to borough market every weekend to get these, so experiment with different curry pastes and powders yourselves!

·         One large sweet potato (approx. 500g)

·         One medium butternut squash (approx .800g)

·         1 medium onion

·         500ml of coconut milk (I used the naughty powdered stuffed mixed with water!)

·         1 and ½ good stock cubes (chicken or veg)

·         1 garlic clove

·         A thumb sized piece of ginger

·         1 tablespoon of chilli flakes or 1 hot chilli

·         2 tablespoons madras powder (I used 1 tablespoon mild madras, 1 tablespoon vindaloo blend)

·         2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil

Bring 1.3 litres of water to a boil and cut the sweet potato and squash (no need to peel but wash thoroughly!) into medium sized chunks, scraping out the seeds from the squash. Add to the pan of water and simmer for 20 minutes or until cooked through and the skin peels off easily. Drain using a sieve over a large bowl or other container, then add the stock cubes and mix well.

 Peel the sweet potatoes and squash once cool enough to handle then return to the pan. Roughly chop the onion, ginger and garlic before frying in a separate pan with some oil on medium heat. Once the onions are starting to turn golden, add the curry powders and chilli to form a paste, adding more oil if required. Add to the pan of squash and potatoes, before pouring over all the coconut milk and simmering for 10 minutes.

 Leave to cool for several minutes before pouring half the stock and half the coconut and veg mixture into a blender or food processor, repeat the process with the rest of the batch. Season if needed. Serve hot with some naans or warm bread of your choice!

Hint: If your pan is not big enough, try roasting the veg instead for a lovely smoky flavour before blending with coconut milk and 1.2 litres of hot stock.