Tina: To be honest, I’m not much of a soup person, but this soup recipe has been with me for ages. It’s such a tasty soup, and it’s a great recipe for busy weekdays, when dinner has to be quick and easy. Through the years I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit to make it even more scrumptious, and I would encourage you to do the same.
Regarding the chutney, this recipe makes what is known as a dry chutney, which has a slightly grainy texture. The chutney can be made up to 8 hours in advance and kept covered and chilled.
Recipe: Butternut Squash Soup with Chutney
Course: Soups4
servingsThrough the years I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit to make it even more scrumptious, and I would encourage you to do the same. Regarding the chutney, this recipe makes what is known as a dry chutney, which has a slightly grainy texture. The chutney can be made up to 8 hours in advance and kept covered and chilled.
Ingredients
- Butternut Squash Soup
2 cups 2 chopped onion
2 tablespoons 2 butter (optional, can be substituted with oil for a vegan option)
2 tablespoons 2 vegetable/sunflower oil
1 1 butternut squash (3-3.5 lbs). Peeled, halved, the seeds and strings discarded, and the flesh cut into 1/2-inch pieces
6 cups 6 chicken broth, or if you are a vegetarian use vegetable broth
Salt and pepper
crispy fried onion for garnish
- Chutney
¼ cup ¼ almonds without any skin (see instructions)
¼ cup ¼ sweetened flaked coconut
1 1 jalapeño chili chopped, no seeds, (wear rubber gloves)
1 cup 1 loosely packed cilantro
Directions
- Butternut Squash Soup
- In a kettle, cook the onions in a mixture of the butter and the oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until they are softened and starting to get translucent.
- Add the squash and ½ cup water, and cook the mixture, covered, over moderately low heat for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the squash is tender.
- Add the broth and simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Using a food processor, or a hand blender (as I prefer), purée the whole soup mixture.
- Serve the soup in a bowl and garnish with about a tablespoon of the chutney and sprinkle with some fried onion. (The fried onion was my husband’s idea)
- How to make the chutney
- Cover the almonds with boiling water for a few minutes. Drain the water and add cold water to the almonds. The skin will loosen up and you can easily remove the skin from the almonds. If this doesn’t work, repeat with the boiling water.
- In a food processor or with a hand blender, blend the almonds, the coconut, the jalapeño, a pinch of salt, and 1/3 cup of water until the mixture is ground fine. Add the cilantro and blend the mixture until it is ground fine.
