Curried Coconut Butternut Squash Soup

I bet most of you thought that this blog was dead. However, luckily for you, it was only mostly dead, and now that my life has been reclaimed from campaigns and grad school apps, it's back!

 
Given that my first recipe post was a different butternut squash soup, it's perhaps fitting that I restart with another. I do love me some butternut squash. And one of my favorite things in the winter is soup (especially given my 56 degree apartment situation). So, about every other weekend I make a huge pot, put half into containers to bring to work during the week, and freeze the other half so I have quick and delicious homemade dinner when I come home from work and am too tired to cook. This recipe is one of my favorites, loosely inspired by a Mark Bittman creation.

Enjoy!

The finished soup in a recycled ice cream container, ready to take on the road.

Curried Coconut Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

2 large or 3 small yellow onions

1 tbsp + 2 tsp coconut oil or vegetable oil

3 tsp cumin

4 tsp curry

1.5 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

.5 tsp salt, or to taste

7 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash

2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

2 cups veggie broth

one 13.5 oz can coconut milk

Equipment

Vegetable peeler

Large knife

Cutting board

Measuring spoons

Measuring cups

Deep, heavy bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven

Pot holders

Silicone spatula

Can opener

Stove
Immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor 

Instructions
1. If not already prepared, wash, peel, and cut into cubes squash and carrots. Peel and dice the onion.
2. Place coconut oil in a deep saucepan (ideally a Dutch oven) and add the diced onion and all the spices, stirring to coat. Sautée over medium heat until the onion is soft and starting to brown, approximately 3-4 minutes, and the spices are fragrant.
3. Add the squash and carrots to the pan, and toss with the onion and spice mixture.
4. Next, stir in the vegetable broth and coconut milk, and turn the heat up to high until the liquid reaches a simmer. Then turn temperature down to low and cover the pot.
5. Cook, stirring occasionally until squash is soft and easily pierced with a fork, approximately 15 minutes.
6. Puree the soup in a blender, food processor, or in the pot with an immersion blender. [If you don't have any of these, I'm sure the soup will still be delicious in a chunkier form.] Add 0.5 tsp salt, plus more to taste. If the soup thickens too much as it cools, feel free to add a bit of water or vegetable broth to thin to the desired consistency.

Thai Coconut Curry

I am a big fan of Thai food, and have been experimenting with making it myself at home. This recipe is really easy (Kenzie, I'm looking at you), tastes great, is incredibly versatile. I made it with frozen shrimp because that's the protein I had in my apartment, but you can make it just as easily with tofu, chicken, pork or beef, or even some combo of them. Likewise, I used the veggies I had around, so don't feel constrained by my choices; you can mix it up - add broccoli, snow peas, cauliflower, tomatoes, or shredded carrots. I would say you probably want sturdier veggies because something like spinach will just fall apart, but it's really up to you.

Thai Coconut Curry with Shrimp

Makes 5 large servings

Ingredients

1 can coconut milk (1 2/3 cups)

~3 Tbsp curry paste (I used yellow, you can use red or green if you have it)

~12 cups chopped veggies [I used 2 large red bell peppers, 2 large green bell peppers, 1.5 yellow onions, a can of bean sprouts, a can of water chestnuts, and half a container (about 3/4 cup) mushrooms]

1 lime

2 Tbsp chopped ginger

5 portions of protein (I used 50 medium-large shrimp, you could also use about 1 1/2 blocks of tofu, 4 chicken breasts, etc.) + 1/2-1 Tbsp oil to cook it in

Equipment

Cutting board and knife

Large pot (Dutch oven is ideal)

Can opener

Measuring spoon

Small saucepan (if protein isn't cooked)

Instructions

1. Cut your protein of choice into cubes (you can keep shrimp whole) and saute in a pan with oil if not cooked yet.

2. Wash, then chop/slice veggies into bite size pieces. Rinse any canned veggies (this helps wash away some of the sodium, which is almost always more than you want).

3. Pour coconut milk into large pot set over medium heat. Refill empty can with water and pour into the pot too. Add the ginger and curry paste and stir to combine.

4. Add chopped veggies and simmer in coconut milk mixture until cooked through (time will vary depending on what veggies you use). When veggies are mostly cooked, add cooked protein and stir to distribute.

You can eat the curry plain, or over rice. It reheats very well, and also freezes well.