Curried butternut squash soup

This curried butternut squash soup makes a lovely light lunch. Add some rice and it becomes more substantial. 

We still find ourselves hankering after a curry now and then, and this lunch time alternative is delicious. 

Why not try adding some roasted sweet potato cubes - as a garnish? Or some crispy fried onions. We ate ours with some toasted ciabatta - which gave it the crunch we were looking for. The textures all mingled together to create a very tasty lunch at around 400 calories. 

Soup doesn't have to be boring. So why not give this one a try. Cut corners, as I did, and pick up a bag of ready prepared squash, or a mix of squash and sweet potato. A 500g bag will suffice. 

Curried butternut squash soup

Ingredients

Medium butternut squash

3 medium carrots - roughly chopped

1 large potato - cubed

1 large onion - chopped

1 clove garlic

small piece ginger - grated

1 red chilli (whole - optional)

1 red chilli - finely chopped

one teaspoon hot curry powder (use mild if you prefer)

one teaspoon of dried thyme (or use fresh if you have any)

two large tablespoons desiccated coconut and enough water or milk to cover

25g pre-cooked red lentils

750ml vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

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30g rice

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Peel the squash, cut the flesh into cubes and add to the saucepan.

Put the desiccated coconut (which you'll find in the baking aisle) into a large cup and cover with boiling water or milk. Let this soak for 10 minutes so the flavour of the coconut is taken up by the liquid. 

Sieve the coconut liquid into the saucepan.

Fry the chopped onion until soft, add the garlic, chopped chilli and hot curry powder. Stir for another minute then add to the saucepan. 

Place the carrots, potato, whole chilli (if using), ginger and cooked lentils into the saucepan.  

Put the desiccated coconut (which you'll find in the baking aisle) into a dish and cover with water. Let this soak for 10 minutes. Sieve the liquid into the saucepan with the rest of the ingredients.

Pour the vegetable stock into the pan (or use water if you don't have any).

Bring everything to the boil and simmer for up to 30 minutes, until soft. 

Blend then taste and season if necessary.

Take 30g of dried rice per person, and cook according to packet instructions. Serve the soup into bowls and place a good couple of spoonfuls of rice on top. 

Serve with toasted bread - for the crunch!

Tip - you could cube some sweet potatoes, drizzle with oil, then fry/roast and add instead of rice.

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Do you know how many calories you are entitled to?

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which we began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight without following a conventional diet.

You'll find our WEIGHT LOSS PLAN here. 

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