I haven’t posted in forever and I’m sorry about that. This past month has been a rollercoaster to say the least. I had some personal issues going on and grad school midterms/group projects that took up a lot of my time. But now, I am back! I promise! And I present to you this Curry Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Soup!
This soup is perfect for a brutally cold windy winter night. And yes, Boston is beginning to get those nights already even though it is not technically winter yet. Sigh. So, I made this soup for dinner last night and it was absolutely delectable! It is a heartier soup, and it will definitely fill you up. If you add quinoa to it or eat a sweet potato on the side (that’s what I did last night for dinner), it is a complete meal! You have the butternut squash for your vegetables, the lentils for protein, and can add quinoa, sweet potato, or another starch for your carbs. Voila, there you have an easy healthy dinner for a cold winter night!
Besides this soup being incredibly tasty, it is also extremely healthy for you. It is completely vegan and uses coconut milk to make it creamy instead of actual cream. Also, butternut squash is a powerhouse of carotenoids, which help protect against heart disease, and of beta-carotene, which helps prevent aging and breast cancer. And the lentils provide a healthy vegetarian protein. While the curry spices bring a whole bunch of health boosting benefits too. So basically, this soup is really good for you, super delicious, and easy to make! Yeah, it’s my kind of meal!
To peel the butternut squash, I found a wonderful method posted by the Huffington Post on how to peel a butternut squash way easier than what I had previously been doing. Sigh again. Before, it would be like a wrestle match between me the peeler and the butternut squash. This method made it infinitely better. I recommend doing it this way for this recipe. Check out how to do it here. Hope you try my recipe below!
Curry Butternut Squash Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Butternut Squash medium-sized
- 1 medium Yellow Onion chopped
- 2 cloves of Garlic chopped
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil or Ghee or Coconut Oil
- 1/2 of a 13.5 ounce can of Coconut Milk full fat
- 1 cup Red Lentils uncooked
- 1 Tablespoon Yellow Curry Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Ginger Powder or fresh ginger if you have it
- Red Pepper Flakes optional
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Cilantro for garnish optional
Instructions
- Prick butternut squash with a fork all over
- Slice a sliver of the top and bottom off of the butternut squash
- Place the butternut squash in the microwave for 3.5 minutes
- Take out and use peeler to peel off all of the skin
- Cut the butternut squash in half and scoop out the seeds
- Slice the butternut squash into 1 inch wide chunks, set aside
- Cook the 1 cup of red lentils according to the packaging
- While the lentils are cooking, in a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until onions are soft
- Add the butternut squash chunks to the saucepan and add just enough water to cover the squash
- Bring water to a boil and simmer until the squash is tender and can be cut easily with a knife
- Add the coconut milk, curry powder, ginger powder, red pepper flakes (optional), and salt and pepper to the saucepan. Let simmer for a few minutes.
- Place all the ingredients from the saucepan into a blender. Blend until smooth
- Pour the blended soup back into the saucepan
- Drain the cooked lentils and add to the saucepan
- Stir in the cooked lentils into the blended soup mixture
- Spoon the soup into dishes and add chopped cilantro as a garnish (optional)
- Serve and enjoy!
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