Author Notes
I’ve made regular butternut squash soup before, but I wanted something a little more special this time around. Some common additions are ginger or curry powder, but I decided to take it a little further by going completely Thai, but in a really subtle way. By adding just a tiny amount of Thai curry paste, the soup has a faint hint of its flavor and the heat kicks in at the end of each spoonful, but the soup doesn’t taste strongly of a Thai curry. The palm sugar highlights the natural sweetness of the squash, the ginger adds another dimension of flavor but it’s not at all overpowering, and the coconut milk adds a bit of richness and rounds out the flavors. And the last minute addition of lime juice brightens up the whole thing. I originally posted this on my blog a few years ago - http://raspberryeggplant.blogspot.com/2008/11/thai-curried-butternut-squash-soup.html —raspberryeggplant
Ingredients
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2.5 pounds
butternut squash
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2
shallots
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2 tablespoons
canola oil
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1 tablespoon
freshly grated ginger
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1 teaspoon
palm sugar or light brown sugar
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1/2 teaspoon
Thai yellow or red curry paste
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5 cups
water or vegetable stock
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1 cup
unsweetened coconut milk
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1/2 teaspoon
salt, plus more to taste
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1 tablespoon
freshly squeezed lime juice
Directions
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Peel and seed the squash. Chop it into large pieces and pulse in a food processor until finely chopped. You can also chop it by hand into small cubes but the food processor really makes life easier (and also makes the soup cook much more quickly).
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Peel and chop the shallots (you should have about ½ cup).
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Add the canola oil to a large pot set over medium heat. Add the chopped shallots and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, sugar, and curry paste and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
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Add the squash and water. Cover the pot and bring the soup to a boil. Remove the lid and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer until the squash is very tender, about 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk and salt and simmer for another 10 minutes.
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Puree the soup – either use a hand blender to blend the soup in the pot, or puree the soup in batches in a blender. Add more salt if necessary.
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Right before serving, stir in the lime juice. Serve warm.
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