THAI SQUASH SOUP

Autumn is definitely here, I love autumn with all the beautiful colours and the chill in the air. There is something very comforting about snuggling up indoors with the heating on and enjoying a lovely warming, nourishing bowl of home made soup!

This one fits the bill perfectly!

The shops are full of pumpkins and squashes of all shapes and sizes, some of them delicious, some not so much! The large orange variety are really for carving and are rather watery and fibrous and not so good to eat.

Butternut squash and sweet potatoes are  available all year round and always taste deliciously sweet and can easily be used interchangeably  so this soup can be made with either butternut squash, sweet potato or any other type of squash.

The orange flesh of all these vegetables is really high in beta carotene which converts to vitamin A in the body and supports skin health, digestive health and vision. Sweet potato also contains prebiotic fibre which feeds our gut bacteria so its well worth including some of these orange fleshed veggies in your diet, if you haven't already!

I have been spiralising sweet potatoes all summer and ended up with a lot of wee end bits which I collected in a freezer bag, just perfect for making soup, so that's what I used for this!
I hate waste so I'm always looking for ways to use up odd bits of veggies.

I noticed pre-peeled cubes of butternut squash in the freezer section at Waitrose the other day which is a great idea if you don't have time to peel a whole one! It's obviously more expensive to buy pre prepared veggies but a great standby to have your freezer stocked with some essentials. I buy frozen peas and sweetcorn, which I use a lot!

So back to this lovely warming, nourishing soup with lots of flavour from garlic, ginger, red onion, coconut, turmeric and chilli flakes.

There are some real inflammation fighters and immune boosters among this lot so you will be doing yourself a big favour if you make this!

 I also added peanut butter for an extra protein boost and splash of tamari for extra flavour.
I have to say it is delicious and very moreish. I think I'll be having a huge bowl of this tonight for dinner with a few slices of my rather delicious home made sourdough!

This is a great soup for autumn and winter due to all the immune boosting, cold and flu busting ingredients and it tastes delicious.

Like every other soup, it can be frozen to enjoy at a later date or kept for when your immune system needs a wee boost and you don't feel like cooking!

So here is the recipe.....

Thai Squash Soup

Ingredients
3 cups of butternut squash or 3 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled and diced
1 medium red onion, finely sliced
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1 tablespoon coconut or rapeseed oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 level teaspoon turmeric
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 teaspoon tamari
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
750 mls vegetable stock
100g coconut cream or 1 can of coconut milk

Method
1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the red onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, turmeric, ginger, diced sweet potato or squash and a good seasoning of salt and black pepper. Cook on a medium heat for 10  minutes.
2. Add the coconut cream and stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook until the sweet potato or squash is soft, around 15 minutes. If you are using coconut milk then reduce the stock to 500mls.
3. Add the peanut butter and tamari, stir to dissolve then blend with a hand blender.
4. Enjoy!

                                                 ....your health in your hands....