Curried Butternut Squash Soup. Vegan Glutenfree Recipe

I was bummed at not getting a nom at Saveur, but then I don't fit their criteria I think. Blogs with long posts, huge photos, lots of photographs, and long ramblings. Sure, I might have things to say some days. Like I need to work on the blog more, and move to Wordpress or find someone to design me a more use friendly, SEO design and update everything. The only problem is that then I will have to do more maintenance work later on. i will have to read more about bandwidths, seo, spam, and everything else. While blogger automatically takes care of all that and my seo template takes care of seo to some extent. I forgot to mention, skip this paragraph to skip the chatter :). It is the same reason I don't use Photoshop to edit pictures. The font is too tiny, and it uses too much resources of the machine, and eventually the pictures on the blog look the same because they get uploaded to google plus, which isn't doing anything nice for the colors or brightness really, whatever color space you use. I'd rather be in the kitchen than be stuck to the machine. Not all days are normal eye days :), when I can possibly spend half the day on a machine.

Any which way, lets eat some awesome food! This super easy butternut soup. Use any winter squash or pumpkin. Cook it up, blend and serve with toasty coconut and pepitas. Toss the coconut in cinnamon or garam masala before garnishing :) I'd probably add in some cayenne too. This is a thick soup. Add more or less water to change the consistency.



More Soups from the blog.. Cream of Mushroom, Kale Spinach, Mushroom chard elbows soup, and lentil dal soups.

Happy Gudi Padwa, Ugadi, Hindi New Year to all who are celebrating! Make some Indian desserts from the blog. All dairy-free and delicious. And a bunch more new recipes will soon get added to my Ebook too. 




Curried Butternut Soup with toasted Pepitas and Coconut
Allergen Information: Free of Dairy, egg, corn, soy, nut, yeast, gluten, grain. 

Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 tsp oil
1/2 cup onion
1 bay leaf
2 cloves
1/2 inch ginger minced
1 clove of garlic
1/4 loaded cup chopped carrot
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp garam masala or curry powder
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
a pinch of nutmeg
1.5 cups mashed butternut squash or canned (or 2 cups cubed)
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water (less or more to preferred consistency)
a generous dash of black pepper or cayenne or both
1 tsp sugar or maple syrup

Garnish:
2 Tbsp unsweetened coconut
2 Tbsp raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or sunflower seeds
cashew cream or coconut milk for garnish

Method:
In a pan, add oil and heat on medium. 
Add onion, bay leaf and cloves and cook for 5 minutes or until translucent. (Cook in broth to make oil-free)
Add in the garlic, ginger and carrots and cook for 2 minutes.
Add in the garam masala, cinnamon, turmeric, nutmeg and mix for a few seconds.
Add in the mashed butternut squash and salt and cook for 2 minutes.
Add in the coconut milk, water and black pepper and cover and cook for 5-6 minutes.
Taste and add sugar and spice. Take off heat. blend with an immersion blender, or cool slightly and blend in a regular blender until smooth.

If using cubed butternut, cook the onions, bay leaf and cloves for 3 minutes. Add in the cubed butternut squash and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until golden and somewhat fork tender. Add garlic, ginger and carrots. Cook for 2 minutes. Add spices, mix in. Add the coconut milk, water, pepper and salt. Cover and cook until the squash is tender. Blend and serve.

Garnish:
Toast the coconut and pumpkin seeds in a pan on medium heat until the coconut is golden. Mix in a pinch of cinnamon powder and use as garnish.

Notes: You can also roast the entire butternut without slicing. Poke holes, and bake at 335 degrees F till a knife goes in the squash easily. Cool, slice, remove the seeds, mash and use.


This soup is being shared at Allergy free wednesdays.