Foundation Diet and Health
The best perspective for your health
The best perspective for your health
The best perspective for your health
The best perspective for your health

Fiery Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger and Coconut Milk

Fiery butternut squash soup with ginger and coconut milk tastes fruity and creamy. The ginger and chili pepper make for the perfect flavor combination.

vegan

20min35min
easy
83.7%
43/12/45
Ω-6 (LA, 3.4g) : Ω-3 (ALA, 0.8g) = 4:1


Ingredients (for servings, )

For the soup
1 Onion (3.9 oz)
1 cloveGarlic, raw, organic (0.11 oz)
1 tbspCanola oil (0.49 oz)
1 tspFresh ginger (0.07 oz)
½ Red chili pepper (0.09 oz)
14 ozButternut squash
100 mlCoconut milk (3.4 oz)
100 mlVegetable broth (3.5 oz)
Seasoning
1 dashSalt (0.01 oz)
1 dashBlack pepper (0.00 oz)
1 dashGround paprika (0.00 oz)
½ Orange, peeled (2.3 oz)
Garnish
1 ¾ ozDry roasted cashews, unsalted

Equipment

  • hand-held blender / immersion blender or blender
  • vegetable peeler
  • stove
  • citrus juicer (lemon squeezer)
  • saucepan

Type of preparation

  • cook
  • chop or grind
  • squeeze
  • sweat
  • season to taste
  • sauté
  • purée
  • deglaze
  • remove the skin
  • peel

Preparation

  1. For the soup
    Finely chop the onion and garlic cloves, place in a saucepan, and sweat in the oil until soft.

  2. Peel the ginger and chop very finely (alternatively: grate). Peel the butternut squash with a vegetable peeler and then cut into small cubes. Remove the seeds from the chili pepper and finely chop.

  3. Add the chopped ginger and butternut squash to the onions and sauté briefly.

  4. Add the chili pepper and then shortly thereafter deglaze with the broth and coconut milk. Cover the saucepan and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

  5. Remove the saucepan from the heat and purée the soup until smooth. Squeeze the half of orange and then add the juice. 

  6. Seasoning
    Season the fiery butternut squash soup with salt, pepper, and ground paprika.

    You can decide here whether you prefer to use a hot or sweet variety of ground paprika. Before serving, you can also sprinkle a little ground paprika on top as the red makes for a nice color contrast.

  7. For the garnish
    Ladle the fiery butternut squash soup into soup bowls and garnish with the chopped cashews.

Author
Inke Weissenborn, picture from the year 2017
Inke Weissenborn, Singapore
Gesunde und bewusste Ernährung mit dem Wohl der Tiere im Blick ist mir ein persönliches Anliegen. Als promovierte Tierärztin mit einem Hintergrund in Krebsforschung habe ich ein solides Verständnis der Ernährungsphysiologie. Meine langjährige Asienerfahrung hat mir einen tiefen Einblick in die verschiedenen kulturellen Hintergründe der Esskultur ermöglicht.  Gemeinsam mit meinem Mann und meinen zwei Kindern, lebe ich nun seit einem Jahr wieder in Singapur. Neben der Tätigkeit als Tierärztin arbeitete ich beim Wildlife Rescue Center Acres (Animal Concerns Research & Education Society) in Singapur. Seit 2015 arbeite ich für die "Stiftung Gesundheit und Ernährung Schweiz".  Ich hoffe durch meine Arbeit, einen Beitrag für gesundes Leben und einen verantwortungsvollen Umgang zwischen Menschen und Tieren zu leisten. 

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Notes about recipe

Fiery butternut squash soup with ginger and coconut milk tastes fruity and creamy. The ginger and chili pepper make for the perfect flavor combination.

Butternut squash: Butternut squash has bright orange flesh and a buttery, nutty flavor that melts in your mouth. It contains high amounts of beta carotene.

Level of spice: Chili peppers, which are in the same family as bell peppers, have a wide range of spiciness. It is important to note that small chili peppers are not always the spiciest.

Coconut milk is not coconut water: Coconut milk is made by puréeing the flesh of a coconut with water and then straining through a cheesecloth. The result is a milky liquid that has a fat content of about 15 to 25 %. If you run boiling water over the remaining fibrous pulp and then squeeze the cheesecloth out again, you will obtain more coconut milk, but it will be somewhat thinner.
Coconut water, not to be confused with coconut milk, is the clear liquid found inside young coconuts. Coconut milk is available commercially and is used as a milk substitute for tea, coffee, and baked goods.

Ginger: Ginger is not only used as a spice, but it is also effective against colds, inflammation, and nausea. Gingerol and the essential oil contained in ginger are responsible for ginger’s medicinal effects. Gingerol can kick-start your digestion by stimulating the production of gastric juice.

Tips

Storing butternut squash: One way to store butternut squash is to freeze it. To do this, cut into cubes, blanch for 1–2 minutes in well-salted boiling water, drain, and then let cool.

Seeds: Butternut squash seeds can be eaten and they have a pleasant, nutty taste. You can snack on them raw or brown them briefly in a skillet and then lightly salt.

Working with chili peppers: It is best to use gloves when working with chili peppers because contact with your skin can cause you to experience a tingling or even burning sensation. And if you then touch your eyes, especially if you wear contacts, the result can be very painful. This can be the case even if it’s been 1 or 2 hours since you touched the chili peppers themselves.

Season carefully: At first, only add a small amount of chili pepper, and then if necessary you can add more. When cooked, the alkaloid capsaicin responsible for the spice dissolves in the dish and distributes the spiciness. Contrary to some assumptions, however, cooking does not lead to an increase in spiciness, it only distributes the spiciness.

Alternate preparation

Pumpkin: Instead of butternut squash, you can also use Hokkaido pumpkin (red curry squash).

Nuts: You can easily replace the cashews with peanuts. If you choose to use cashews, we recommend that you choose a variety that has been treated only by steam or raw cashews (peeled by hand).

Cilantro: Adding cilantro to this dish gives it a Thai flair.