Name: Recipe: Butternut Squash Soup with Chutney
Ingredients: 2 cups chopped onion; 2 tablespoons butter (optional, can be substituted with oil for a vegan option); 2 tablespoons vegetable/sunflower oil; 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 chicken broth, or if you are a vegetarian use vegetable broth; Salt and pepper; crispy fried onion for garnish; ¼ cup almonds without any skin (see instructions); ¼ cup sweetened flaked coconut; 1 jalapeño chili chopped, no seeds, (wear rubber gloves); 1 cup loosely packed cilantro

Recipe: Butternut Squash Soup with Chutney

2 Hungry Birds - Sanne on October 22, 2023

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

Recipe by 2 Hungry Birds – Tina Course: Soups

Servings

servings

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.

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.

Recipe: Pho Ga – Vietnamese Noodle Soup

2 Hungry Birds - Tina on September 3, 2023

Tina: Recently I have had the opportunity to take cooking lessons from Mama Le’s Kitchen (a.k.a. my mom). She taught herself how to cook the Vietnamese dishes by remembering all the wonderful flavors in food that she ate when she lived in Vietnam 34 years ago.

Vietnamese food takes a lot of preparation and everything is sliced to perfection. Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is a traditional clear noodle soup from Vietnam. The soup is traditionally boiled with either chicken or beef bones, and served with meat, rice noodles, bean spouts and herbs.

The distinguished flavor in the pho broth comes from the star anise, cassia bark and fish sauce, but the extra depth in flavor comes from charring the onions, ginger and garlic. This method adds a touch of smokiness to your pho.

My mum advised me that the stock tastes even better if you let it sit for another day in the fridge. The fat in the stock will rise to the top and harden. I like to skim the fat off the stock, but it’s a matter of preference.

Recipe: Pho Ga – Vietnamese Noodle Soup

Recipe by Tina’s mom Course: Soup, NoodlesCuisine: Vietnam

Servings

4-6

servings

Ingredients

Soup
1 1 whole chicken, preferably organically raised, antibiotic free, free-range chicken
1 1 large onion, sliced in half and charred over a gas stove or a burner.
5 5 whole garlic cloves, charred over a gas stove or a burner
1 1 (3-inch) ginger root, sliced in half lengthwise and crushed with a meat tenderizer or a big knife
2 2 large carrots, cut into thirds to fit in the pot
1 1 leek, cut in half, washed and cleaned
2 2 anise stars
1 1 piece of 2-inch x 1-inch cassia bark (Vietnamese cinnamon). If you don’t have it at home you can leave it out
1 teaspoon 1 cracked white pepper
3-5 tablespoons 3-5 fish sauce
1-2 tablespoons 1-2 salt
To be added when serving
1 package 1 dried pho rice noodles (they come in different width, so it’s a matter of preference)
Bean sprouts (mung beans)
Lime wedges (to squeeze the juice in the soup)
Mint leaves
Cilantro (roughly chopped)
Yellow onion (thinly sliced)
Fish sauce
Optional garnish and condiments (optional choices, but a must in my opinion)
Thinly sliced jalapeño
Sliced romaine lettuce leaves
Thai basil leaves
Fried onions
Sriracha chili sauce
Hoisin sauce
Dried, shredded woodear mushrooms (soaked in water)
Shrimp

Directions

Wash and clean the inside and outside of your chicken and put it in a large stock pot with the breast side up.
Char the onion, garlic and ginger over a gas stove burner or with a cooking torch (the type you use for making crème brûlée) until 50% black, and add them to the stockpot with the rest of the ingredients. Add water to cover the chicken.
Cover with a lid and bring the water to a boil over high heat.
When the water comes to a boil, turn the stove off (do not remove the lid) and let the chicken poach for 40 min. This method will cook the chicken to perfection.
Remove the chicken from the stock and let it cool off. When cool enough, carve all the meat of the chicken and return the bones to the stock. Shred the meat with your fingers and store it in the fridge.
Simmer the stock for another 1 ½ hours.
If you want the stock to collect more flavors, allow the soup to cool off and then let it sit in the fridge overnight. You can choose to skip this step if you don’t have the patience to wait.
Prepare the noodles by soaking them in warm water for about 30 minutes.
Prepare the condiments by thinly slicing the onions and jalapeño, peeling the mint leaves off the stem, and roughly chopping the cilantro. Vietnamese people do not like the roots on the bean sprouts, so they will use the time to remove the roots on every single little sprout. Patience is rewarding. Arrange all the condiments on a nice platter.
Strain the soup using a cheesecloth and a strainer and skim off any excess oil. This will make the soup clear. Add fish sauce and salt to taste.
Right before serving, pour boiling water over the noodles while straining. This will heat the noodles so your pho stays hot.
Put a small amount of noodles in each serving bowl, and add the hot soup into the bowl. The noodles will cook to al dente. Add the shredded chicken on top and serve.
Serve the condiments on the side so people can choose their preference.
If you want to follow the authentic Vietnamese method, have a little bowl on the side with either hoisin sauce or fish sauce to dip the meat from your soup in. Chúc ngon miệng! (enjoy)