Curried butternut & lentil soup is good to have in your armoury when you see all those squashes at your local market. Or perhaps you’re a bit handy with a spade & hoe & find you’ve got loads ripening at once in your veg plot! Or maybe someone just gives you a couple as happened to me! Either way, make sure they’re nice & ripe, as they have a richer stronger flavour when mature.
I would always advise giving your knife a good sharpen before embarking on these sturdy bastions of goodness. They can be hard to chop & cutting yourself is easy as a blunt knife often slips…..! Best off is to cut the stalk off first, then across the waist at the mid-point between stem and flower end. Then in half lengthways, after that into half-rings, & finally smallish chunks.
Some people say no oil, & that’s fine, but roasting does develop the flavour. I find tipping them into the saucepan in which you’ll make the soup, adding the oil then mixing is best. Don’t use too much oil – you only need enough to coat lightly. Then portion into Pyrex trays for the oven. I find 150°C is good for an hour overall – maybe turn down to 125° for the last leg. Make sure to turn them every 15 to 20 minutes to avoid burning. You can add the skinned garlic too for even more flavour.
Whilst they’re roasting gently you can be sweating the onions, & blitzed ginger in the main pan. Best plan is to add a little water & cover on a very low heat – stirring every few minutes. Adding a little water after around 10 minutes helps avoid sticking & burning & keeps them nice & moist. As they near the end, you can add in the spices and continue to sauté on a slightly higher heat.
Last step is to add the roasted butternut squash, coconut milk, crumbled stock cubes, lentils & water. After that it’s a question of bringing to a very gentle boil & then turning down the heat to a very low setting. Cook for around 45 minutes when the lentils should be soft & largely disintegrated. Enjoy this lightly curried butternut & lentil soup with soft wholemeal bread or sourdough toast.
Curried Butternut & Lentil Soup
Ingredients
Method
- start with the butternut squash, cut the ends off, cut in half accross the waist, then in half lengthways, then into half-rings, finally into smallish chunks. Turn the oven onto 150°C Fan at the same time.
- They then need coating with oil. I would suggest putting them all in the large pan your going to make the soup in along with the oil. If you use coconut oil, warm it first. Stir round with a wooden spoon and then pour into pyrex trays.
- Put the trays into the oven and set the oven for 30 minutes when they will need turning over.
- Next cut the onions in half and remove peel. Chop fairly fine, and put them in the same large pan that you used to coat the butternut squash chunks in. Add enough oil to stop them sticking. Have the gas or heat set very low and cover the pan.
- Next peel the garlic, crush or blitz and add to the pan.
- After that cut off any manky bits from the ginger and chop finely or blitz, and add to the pan.
- When the onions are nicely cooked - no need to get them too brown - turn the heat off. Add in the curry powder and turmeric, and stir well and cook for a 5 or so minutes to bring out the flavours. Probably by now the 30 minute timer will have gone off, and the butternut chunks will need a stir to cook them evenly.
- The chunks will take about an hour to fully roast, but that's a question of your personal preference. They will benefit from a second turning over half way through the final 30 minutes
- Tip the cooked chunks into the main pan. and then add in the water, lentils, coconut milk, finely chopped stock cubes, sea-salt,
- Bring the entire pan to the boil and set the heat so it is just bubbling very gently. Cover and allow it to cook for around 45 minutes making sure to stir fairly frequently.
- Check the soup towards to the end and make sure the lentils are well cooked.
- Finally blend with a stick blender - or if you don't have one, you can put it in a blender. If you did the chunks nice and small, you may want to blitz just half the soup - so you still have some texture. Other people like a fully blended soup - the choice is yours. At this point you can add some lemon and enough salt to bring the flavour out fully.
- Last step portion it up. I reccommend 325g containers. This made 18 portions for me. Label them up and put in the freezer. Generally from frozen to hot enough (75°C) is around 6 to 7 minutes at full power but with frequent stirrings.
