Thai-Spiced Butternut Squash Soup (includes Thermomix instructions)

A nice light soup full of Thai flavours, perfect as a light starter to a meal or a tasty lunchtime snack.

This makes a smooth, light soup - if you want a thicker soup, then just halve the amount of stock, and add extra at the end to reach your desired consistency.

The quantities as below will yield you approximately 1.8 litres. For me, two small ladle-fulls constitutes a portion of soup, so this gives me ten portions at 62 calories each, but divide yours up as you feel fit (especially if you've made a thicker soup, and want, say, six large bowls of it at 103 calories each). The total calorie count for the whole batch is 617 calories.


If you want to freeze this soup for serving to other people, then I would recommend freezing it before adding the fresh coriander at the end; and when making the soup to serve, only blitzing or stirring in the fresh coriander just before serving, to retain the bright green colour.

I was distracted between adding the coriander, and photographing the soup (which I did half an hour afterwards) and as you can see, it darkens in colour from a vibrant green to more of a murky colour. This is purely aesthetic, so if you're just making it for yourself and the fambly, I really wouldn't worry about it!

If you prefer, you can cut your squash into wedges, unpeeled (but de-seeded) and roast it in the oven until tender and scoop out the flesh and puree into the stock and coconut milk after softening the onions, garlic and ginger etc. instead of peeling and cubing.

For the Thermomix method, scroll below the conventional method, to the instructions in Italics. [Calories in square brackets.]

Ingredients

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled (if desired*), halved, de-seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes (mine weighed 900g whole, and the flesh weighed 675g after peeling and de-seeding. You can always bulk out the weight of the flesh with chopped carrots if yours falls short - *some people say you can cook it and blitz it without peeling it first (particularly if using a Thermomix), but I haven't tried this, so I can't confirm it - yet! [284]
• 1 medium onion (100g) [42]
• 1 garlic clove [6]
• 2" ginger root [7]
• 1 tsp (5g) coconut oil (or sunflour etc.) [45]
• 2 x 15ml tbsp (30g) Thai Red Curry Paste, or more/less to taste (my recipe is here, or use a good brand e.g. Thai Taste) [24 home-made / 42 Thai Taste]
• 200ml light coconut milk (or use full fat, if you're not counting calories) [146]
• 400-700ml (use less for a thick soup) light chicken or vegetable stock [28]
• Juice of 1/2 to 1 lime (to taste: 2-4tsp) [2 to 4]
• 1/2 to 1.5 x 15ml tbsp fish sauce to taste (or light soy sauce for vegetarians - for GF use tamari if not using fish sauce) [4 to 11]
• Large handful fresh coriander (10g) [2]

Optional garnish suggestions

• Fresh coriander leaves
• Shredded, sliced or finely chopped red chillies and spring onions (scallions) - if you finely slice them into shreds and put them into iced water, they will curl up prettily
• Drizzle of coconut milk in a swirl
• Toasted coconut shavings
• Toasted pumpkin seeds

Method
(See below in italics for Thermomix method.) Peel and chop the onion, garlic and ginger (the onion and garlic can be roughly chopped, as it is going to be blended, but it's best to dice the ginger a little finer, as it's tougher). Gently fry the onion in a large, heavy-based pan (preferably non-stick, e.g. ceramic coated) over a low heat in the coconut oil for 5 minutes or so until softened. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for a further couple of minutes (being careful the garlic doesn't burn), then add the curry paste and fry off for a minute.

Add the coconut milk, butternut squash cubes and stock, bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer, partially covered for 20 minutes, or until the squash is tender (it won't look pretty at this point, as it will look as though the coconut milk has curdled, but don't worry, it will look lovely once it's been blended! See below for a photo in the Thermomix method if you're not sure), then blitz the soup until smooth using a hand-held blender, or a food processor/blender (being careful not to splash yourself in the process).

Add the juice of 1/2 a lime (about 2 tsp or so), and 1/2 tbsp fish sauce (or light soy/tamari) and give a further quick blitz to combine. Have a taste, and decide whether you want a bit more zing, and if so, add the rest of the lime juice (I use the juice of a whole lime). Taste again, then add further fish/soy sauce to your taste, not more than 1/2 tbsp at a time until you're happy with the flavour (my preference is for 1 1/2 tbsp in total). You can also blitz in further red curry paste at this point if you feel it needs more depth of flavour and more heat, as certain brands may be quite 'weak' in flavour, especially if they're water based.

You can freeze, or chill at this point (if you're making in advance), to re-heat when you're ready to serve. When you're ready to serve, either add the coriander leaves and blitz for a few seconds in the soup to chop them, or chop them finely by hand before adding, and serve sprinkled with the garnishes of your choice. Enjoy!

Thermomix method

Peel garlic, ginger and onion. Quarter onion, and slice ginger into discs 2-3mm thick. Turn TM onto Speed 8 and drop garlic and ginger onto running blades. Turn down to speed 4 and drop onion quarters onto running blades. Scrape down sides, add 5g coconut oil (or oil of choice), and blitz Speed 5 / 5 seconds / MC ON.

Scrape down, then saute the onion, garlic and ginger 100C / 5 minutes / Reverse / Speed 1. Add 30g Thai Red Curry Paste and cook out 100C / 1 minute / Reverse Blade Direction / Speed 1.

Add 200g light (or full fat, if you're not counting calories!) coconut milk and give a quick stir with a flexible spatula to loosen any solids under the blades, then add 675g cubed butternut squash, 700ml/g hot chicken or vegetable stock (use less for a thicker soup, e.g. 400, then add more at the end if you want to thin it out) and cook 100C / 20 minutes / Reverse Blade Direction / Speed Spoon / MC ON.
 

Don't worry, it's not meant to look pretty before you blitz it!!

Check the squash is tender, by inserting a sharp knife or skewer into a large piece (it won't look pretty at this point, as it will look as though the coconut milk has curdled, but don't worry, it will look lovely once it's been blended!), the replace the lid with the MC on and blitz the soup 100C / 1 minute / Speed 9 / MC ON.

Time to season the soup to your taste - initially, add the juice of 1/2 lime (10g) and 1/2 tbsp fish / soy / tamari sauce (according to your diet), blitz for a couple of seconds, speed 4 then taste.

Have a taste, and decide whether you want a bit more zing, and if so, add the rest of the lime juice (I use the juice of a whole lime). Blitz and taste again, then add further fish/soy sauce to your taste, not more than 1/2 tbsp at a time until you're happy with the flavour (my preference is for 1 1/2 tbsp in total). You can also blitz in further red curry paste at this point if you feel it needs more depth of flavour and more heat, as certain brands may be quite 'weak' in flavour, especially if they're water based.

You can freeze, or chill at this point (if you're making in advance), to re-heat when you're ready to serve. When you're ready to serve, either add the coriander leaves and blitz for a few seconds in the soup at Speed 9 (MC ON) to chop them, or chop them finely by hand before adding, and serve sprinkled with the garnishes of your choice. Enjoy!