Blog

By Lori Meszaros, Recent Arizona State University Nutrition Student 

Living in Australia for a number of years is where I discovered my love for pumpkin soup. Growing up in the US, pumpkins were just something you carved up for Halloween or made pie out of. Making soup was the farthest thing from my mind when I thought of pumpkins.

Once I had my first cup of this wonderful soup, I was hooked and have worked on finding the perfect recipe ever since. Researching different recipes, I discovered a little secret about pumpkin soup… It is actually made from butternut squash or butternut pumpkin as it’s referred to in Australia.

The one I’m sharing with you today is made from butternut squash, and can easily be substituted with winter/summer squash if butternut is out of season!

My family absolutely loves this recipe. It’s so good that my kids have started to request it! We’ve had it for dinner three times in the last two weeks!

My oldest daughter, who’s responsible for making dinner once a week, wants to make this for her dinner every week. Since most of my recipes are in my head, I had to write this one down for her, and here’s the end result. I sure hope you like it as much as we do!

Ingredients

1 brown onion, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2” piece (1tbsp) ginger, peeled and diced

1-2 small chilies (optional)

2-3 cups butternut squash, cubed

2 carrots, chopped

1 sweet potato, chopped

3 tbsp homemade veggie stock concentrate*

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cardamom

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 can coconut milk

Method

• In a large saucepan add onion, garlic, ginger and chili’s if using, and sauté over medium high heat for about 3 minutes, or until they become aromatic
• Add the butternut squash, carrots and sweet potato to saucepan, then add veggie stock concentrate, spices, and enough water to just cover the chopped veggies.
• Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes
• After 30 minutes, turn off heat to blend soup using a soup blender or food processor*
• Add coconut milk to blended soup and simmer for another 15-20 minutes
• Serve with your favorite bread- I like Turkish or crusty bread with this one

Enjoy!

Notes

• Vegetable stock can be substituted for veggie stock concentrate and water- just use enough vegetable stock to cover the chopped veggies

• Vegetable bouillon cubes equivalents, 2 cubes = 3 tbsp veggie stock concentrate

• If using a food processor, the soup may need to cool slightly before adding to the processor. If soup is too hot, it may overheat the processors motor.