Smoky coconut and butternut squash soup
Happy new year! I hope you all had a great one. Thanks for your patience with my very sporadic posting lately – I had a day of travelling, a day of partying, a day of recovering, and suddenly without me even realising, it’s the third of January (2014, not 2013 as I keep writing on things and almost certainly will for the next few weeks, at least).
The big news over in the Amuse Your Bouche camp is that a few friends and I are going vegan for the whole month of January (which you will probably know already if you follow me over on Facebook, hint hint)! None of us have any intentions of being vegan permanently, but we like a personal challenge, and I’m looking forward to needing to use my head a bit to think of interesting vegan dinner ideas! So for the next month, I will only be posting vegan recipes here on the blog. I know a few of you might turn your noses up a little at veganism but I promise they’ll all be great!
I’m already vegetarian, so you might think that making the final step to veganism shouldn’t be too difficult for me, but considering the amount of cheese I usually eat, I think I might find it tricky after a while. So far, so good, though! I’m hoping that this challenge might also help a little with January’s usual ‘healthy eating’ resolutions, since I can’t smother everything I cook in cheese (sob!).
This butternut squash soup has definitely been my favourite vegan creation so far. It’s thick and creamy, with coconut milk and smoked paprika to lend a gorgeous sweet smokiness. I also added some red lentils – they give a different texture and some added protein, plus they help to keep you full for longer. They worked really well in this soup.
I cooked my red lentils separately from the soup, and only added them once I’d blended the soup to be nice and smooth, but that was only because I thought it would look pretty to serve the chunky lentils in the smooth soup. If you’d prefer to cook it all together and blend the whole thing, I’m sure that would be great too – plus it’ll save you washing up an extra pan! To be honest, laziness usually prevails in my kitchen, so that’s probably what I’ll do next time.
I can’t get over how pretty this soup is! Sorry for the slight abundance of photos – I sort of couldn’t stop snapping. I think I automatically enjoy something more if it looks good (and it doesn’t hurt that it tastes amazing too), so I quite happily slurped up a nice big bowlful of this soup for my lunch. Another successful vegan meal down, 85 more to go! Feel free to share any great vegan recipes with me that you think I should have a go at this month!
Smoky coconut and butternut squash soup
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Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 onion, sliced or diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 400 g butternut squash flesh, diced (around half a medium squash)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 500 ml vegetable stock
- Black pepper
- 100 g red lentils
- 150 ml coconut milk
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped, to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan, and cook the onion, garlic and squash over a medium heat until the onion is soft, around 5 minutes. Add the paprika, and cook for one more minute, then add the vegetable stock. Season well with black pepper (you might need a little salt too if you used low sodium stock), and bring to a simmer. Cook until the squash is soft, around 15 minutes.
- While the soup is simmering, boil the lentils in a separate pan until they are soft – again, around 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- When the butternut squash is soft, blend the soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Add the coconut milk, and once the soup is piping hot, serve the lentils with the soup poured over the top. Top with chopped coriander if desired.
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
If you like butternut squash, you might also like this cheesy roasted squash lasagne with spinach and walnut pesto:
I love me some butternut squash soup! This recipe sounds delicious! I am featuring it today on Tasty Tuesdays at http://www.redcottagechronicles.com. Thanks so much for sharing!
I love butternut squash and this one sounds absolutely delicious. I just bought two squashes yesterday so I can probably make this very soon. I just need to check if we have coconut milk in the cupboard before I go buy some lentils :). Good luck on your challenge! It will probably be hard but I’m sure you’ll kick its butt ^_^.
Holy Moly was this yummy! I didn’t have smoked paprika, but I was in Penzey’s today and bought some Berbere and used that as my spice. I also threw in some collards that I needed to cook. (Not sure they added much.) Definitely a keeper!
This soup would be great on cold snaps that we are having now. Coconut gives this recipe an exotic island feel and mentally transports you to St. Croix or the Bahamas!
Great recipe. I made this two nights ago and have been eating the leftovers for lunch.
I’m also not a fan of too many pots so I simmered the lentils with the squash and pureed them together in my food processor. It made for a really nice texture.
This soup looks divine. It’s too bad we don’t have butternut squash in Mexico…but I just may have to try a sweet potato version. :)
Did you use canned coconut milk(thick) or regular coconut milk?thanks
I used tinned – I’ve actually never seen coconut milk that wasn’t in a tin!
In the US one can buy canned coconut milk that is usually used as sour cream would be and then one can buy coconut milk in a carton that gas the consistency of cow’s milk and it would be used just like that
Good luck with the Vegan thing! Having lived in Greece for many years where there is an abundance of traditional vegetarian and vegan dishes, I think many people underestimate how tasty they can be! Lentils are especially underrated!
This looks and sounds good. For another easy peasy dinner idea (vegan of course) try curbing a butternut squash and an onion. Mix them with a little olive oil and sprinkle generously with Cajun or creole seasoning blend. Bake at 400 degrees till soft and serve over rice. Simple but yummy.
Daiya cheese is amazing vegan cheese. It’s the only vegan cheese that is convincing and not soy based (for those with an allergy). The shreds are great for pizzas, lasagna, etc, and the blocks they make (the jalapeño havarti is my favorite) and unbelievable on crackers or heated. The shreds really need to be heated to be delicious but the block is good either way! Try them. .I think you will find a great substitute for your cheese obsession and you can but it at Whole Foods and most major grocery chains.
I really want to try Daiya!! Unfortunately we don’t have Whole Foods in the UK and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen Daiya anywhere :( will have to try a health food shop to see if I can find it. Thanks for the recommendation!