One can’t have enough of soups in cold weather and Winter Squash soup is such a classic to include in holiday menus. This delicious recipe of Spicy Winter Squash and Mixed Lentil Soup packs a punch with South Asian flavours and smells heavenly of coconut milk, lemon juice and cumin.

The easiest way to make a soup thick and creamy without adding corn flour or eggs is to slow cook beans or lentils so that they release their starch and then purée them up. Coconut milk also add a delicious creaminess and makes it a perfect choice for vegetarian friends. There is no need to add any chicken and vegetable stock to the soup as the very ingredients of the soup, when slowly simmered, make their own flavourful stock. You can also use tinned squash purée which will cut the cooking time to less than half.

This nutritious, dairy free, gluten free, Spicy Winter Squash and Mixed Lentil soup is so yummy that my meat loving husband skipped dinner last night and just had repeated helpings of this soup 🙂

For Spicy Winter Squash And Mixed Lentil Soup:
2 cups Winter Squash, peeled and cut into cubes
1 cup yellow lentils ( mung)
1/2 cup red lentils ( masoor)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 inch piece ginger, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder ( optional)
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup lemon juice

This Is What You Do :

Add squash, lentils, ginger and garlic to a deep pan. Fill the pan enough with water to immerse all these ingredients, almost 6 cups.

Add cumin, black pepper, cayenne pepper and salt.

Cook covered on medium low heat for an hour or till the squash and lentils are really tender.

Turn off the heat, cool the broth to room temperature. Make a smooth purée in a food processor.

Return to the pan, add coconut milk and lemon juice. Cook another 5 minutes. You can add more water if the soup is still too thick after adding coconut milk for your liking, I kept mine of medium thick consistency. Check for seasoning.

Garnish with olive oil, your favourite herbs and chopped chilli peppers. I drizzled some coconut milk over it and garnished with pickled cherry peppers.

Serve steaming hot with garlic bread or croutons.

Makes 4-5 servings

2 Replies to “Spicy Winter Squash And Mixed Lentil Soup”

    1. I completely agree, David! We eat very hot (both spice and temperature wise) curry and soupy lentil dishes in Pakistan’s extreme hot summer for this very reason 😄

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *