I love butternut squash and it's peak soup season, so it was bound to happen that a butternut squash soup recipe would find its way to the blog. And it comes in the form of a cosy Curry Butternut Squash and Chickpea Soup complete with roast curried chickpeas, a dollop of yogurt and some fresh coriander. I hum and ha about referring to food as 'cosy' and 'warming' etc. but I'm sick at the moment with a serious case of the shivers so I want / need cosy food right now. So we're going with cosy for describing this soup!
I'm so in a soup place right now! I've got a sore throat, headache, aches and pains, nasea and all the other lovely stuff that hangs around at this time of year. On the plus side, I spent all day Saturday in bed watching the entire new series of House of Cards. It's only eight episodes long so I'm pretty ok with myself having binged on it. I also signed up to an Amazon Prime account just so I could watch Homecoming. That's a Katie Jane Hughes recommendation (if you don't follow her on Instagram, she is my favourite insta MUA, basically because she does the opposite of Insta-glam when it comes to make-up). I also started a new book which I am really loving and my hot water bottle is pretty much my new best friend.
So binging on boxsets is definitely a little silver lining to being sick in bed. A not so silver lining, is scrolling mindlesslesy throuh Twitter and Instagram. In a moment of delerium / clarity I ended up unfollowing and muting accounts that were just getting to me. Mostly the ones that are way too enhusiastic about Christmas and also some angry accounts too. You know the type. And you know what this isn't me throwing shade at the early Cbristmas celebrators or being anti-Christmas. If people want to get in to the Christmas spirit (whatever that many entail) in November, they should do so. Rather it's just me deciding that I don't want to see that much enthusiam this far out from Christmas so I'm going to mute those accounts for now. No shade - everyone is happy in their respective Insta-bubbles. I'm all for muting accounts from time to time and I think people should one hundred per cent do the same to me if they are tired of or dislike my content or if it's just plain boring to them. The takeaway here is that it's possible to like someone but not like some of the stuff they put online and mute them from time to time.
Back to the soup. The great thing is that I made this soup recipe twice last week before I got sick and so had the photographs taken and the recipe written up since then. The not so great thing is that I didn't freeze a batch and to be honest I could really do with some right now. Someone make it for me quick please. On the cooking front, I'm guessing that most of you have been in winter mode in the kitchen for some time, but especially since the cold spell kicked in last week. I'm all for soup at this time of year. Basic ingredients required, most of which are pretty standard in most kitchens I'm guessing and if you are smart (unlike me), make an extra batch for the freezer. There's bound to be a day when it's chilly and you have the sniffles and homemade soup is required.
For the curry flavour, I use a mix of ground cumin, chilli, coriander and turmeric. If you don't have all these spices to hand, use a standard curry powder blend instead. Replace the four spices in the recipe with about 2 tablespoons of curry powder. And by the way if you want to save yourself some time, use frozen butternut squash instead of fresh. And my favourite part of this recipe is the roast curried chickpeas on top. I'd also recommend making an extra batch of these to snack on.
Scroll on for my new favourite Winter soup recipe.... Curry Butternut Squash and Chickpea Soup.
Curry Butternut Squash & Chickpea Soup
(serves 2-4)
Ingredients
1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
1 white onion, diced
1 butternut squash, cut into small cubes
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 inch fresh ginger root, grated
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1.5 tsp ground turmeric
1.5 tsp ground coriander
1.5 tsp chilli powder
1 400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 litre vegetable stock
Sea salt and black pepper
2 tbsp greek yogurt
Small bunch of fresh coriander leaves
Method
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large soup pot over a medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add the butternut squash, garlic and ginger and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Take the four spices and mix together in a little bowl. Add about two thirds of the spice mix to the pot and stir with the vegetables for another 2 minutes before adding half the chickpeas and stirring again. Set aside the remaining spice mix.
Next add the vegetable stock and bring to boil. Turn down to a simmer and cover, simmering for a further 15 minutes or until the squash has softened.
Meanwhile, add the remaining chickpeas to a bowl with a half tablespoon of olive oil and the remaining spices. Stir to coat the chickpeas with the oil and spices and tip onto a lined baking sheet. Place in the oven for 20 minutes to roast, giving the tray a shake half way through.
Once the butternut squash is fully cooked, remove the soup from the heat and let it cool for five minutes before using an immersion blender to blend it. Taste and season with sea salt and black pepper.
Serve the soup warm adding a spoon of yogurt, a scattering of chopped coriander leaves and some of the roast chickpeas to each bowl.
