Spiced Butternut Squash Soup With Crispy Spiced Onions

There are so many soups that are easy to make at home and homemade is a million times better than a shop bought tin any day.

This spiced butternut squash soup is so easy to make and little different to your everyday recipe with the addition of a sprinkling of cumin and roasting the vegetables before blending into the stock.

Roasting the squash first gives a fantastic earthy flavour and mixed with the warm spice of the cumin, it is really delicious. Enjoy with the super easy crispy onions and crusty bread.

Ingredients:

For the soup

• 2 medium butternut squash, prepared and diced into 1cm pieces
• 1 Red onion, quartered
• 4 sticks of celery, washed and cut into 3 or pieces each
• 1 whole chilli, including seeds
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed but whole
• 1 Tbsp of olive oil
• 1 Tbsp of cumin powder
• Season to taste

For the crispy onions

• 1 white onion
• 1/2 Tbsp of cumin powder
• 4 Tbsp of cornflour

Prepare your butternut squash, check out my other instructable to learn how to easily prepare a butternut squash.

1. Dice the squash into 1 cm cubes and put in a large bowl
2. Cut a red onion in quarters and add ti the bowl
3. Wash and cut the celery into 3 or 4 large pieces

No hassle here take a red chilli or two if you like it extra spicy, chop of the top and throw in the bowl.

Take around 4 garlic cloves, again if you like more then feel free to add more. With the flat of the knife, crush the garlic but leave it whole, throw this in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

Season your ingredients with a few good grinds of salt and pepper and then add 1 Tbsp of cumin powder (you can add less if you want just a hint of spice).

Then take 1 Tbsp of olive oil, you could also use vegetable oil or if you want. Or go for butter if you want extra richness.

With your hand, toss all the veg and seasoning in the oil, you could use a spoon but more fun to get your hands stuck in there.

Put your veg on a baking tray and roast in the oven at 200 degrees celsius for 30 - 40 minutes until they are golden brown.

Once roasted, transfer to a sauce pan on a medium heat and add 1 litre of stock or until covered, bring this up to the boil.

While the stock is coming to the boil prepare and start to cook the crispy onions.

1. Fill a shallow frying pan with vegetable oil and bring up to heat on a medium heat, you will know when it is ready when you drop a small piece of onion in the oil, it will lightly sizzle.
2. slice the onion perpendicular to the root in 5mm - 10mm slices.
3. Separate the rings of the onion and place them in cold water to soak for 5 minutes
4. Mix the cornflour and the cumin together in a bowl
5. Take the onion from the water and turn in the flour/ cumin mix and arrange on a plate
6. Shallow fry in the hot oil

For this step you can use a hand blender or transfer the soup to a blender.

Blend the soup until it is smooth, if you like it a little more rustic then blend less. Once the soup is smooth, leave on a low heat to keep warm, if the soup is too thick then add a little more stock or water.

Check on the onions while the soup is keeping warm, you may need to make the onions in batches, once they are nice and crispy, take out of the oil and drain on some kitchen paper to soak up the excess oil.

Most people throw away the leaves from celery but they are really tasty and make a great garnish so why not use them. Pick some of the leaves from the celery bunch and put to one side.

Slice some crusty bread, you could make your own, there is a video on the Cooking with Benji youtube channel showing how to make easy homemade bread.

Ladle the soup into bowls, spoon in a generous helping of creme fraiche, this will give a cooling effect to the spice. If the soup is too hot (spicy) then add more creme fraiche. Top with the celery leaves and crispy onions, eat straight away with some crusty bread.

Enjoy :)

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