Butternut squash coconut curry soup!

My husband and I were driving home from my in-laws' house tonight. I was driving. I asked my husband what we should have for dinner, and he suggested butternut squash and chicken broth. Hmm, good use of that noggin and thinking of the leftovers in the fridge! So proud of my husband! I told him, "That's a great idea!". I thought of butternut squash coconut curry soup. Why, I have no idea. Maybe because I had Googled "Everything coconut" earlier today :-) And luckily we have a can of coconut milk, too! Said and done, butternut squash coconut curry soup, it is!

In a large pot that I normally use to cook pasta in, I put in 20 oz of cubed butternut squash (20 oz = 1 medium sized butternut squash), 1 tbsp of butter, minced onion, minced garlic (I never have fresh onion and fresh garlic in the house because I never buy them, go figure, and I don't buy them because I don't like them.). I sauteed this until the butternut squash cubes got a nice sear on them. I then added enough chicken stock to cover the cubes. Because the box of chicken broth was almost gone by the time I got the squash covered, I decided to use the rest of the chicken broth. I added ground cumin, curry, pepper, sea salt and garam masala to the mixture. I then let the mixture boil and simmer until the squash was tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

When the squash was done, I attempted to pour the mixture into a blender. Turns out I probably should not have, as the mixture started running down the carafe and onto the countertop and between the stove and countertop and onto the floor! Deja vu! Remember my Lussekatter ? Why don't I ever learn?!? :-) I proceeded to puree the mixture. I then poured the mixture back into the pot. But oops, I had left some squash behind in the pot, so I then fished for the butternut squash cubes that I left behind and put them in the blender and pureed them and put them back into the pot. I let the mixture warm again and finally served the soup in bowls.

It was good! And very filling, too.

20 oz cubed butternut squash
4 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp butter (or coconut oil, or olive oil)
minced onion to taste (about 1/4 tsp)
minced garlic to taste (about 1 tsp)
1 can of coconut milk
cumin to taste (about 1 tsp)
curry to taste (about 1/4 tsp)
black pepper to taste
sea salt to taste
garam masala to taste (about 1/4 tsp)

Things I could do better next time:

Scoop, don't pour!, butternut squash out of the pot, or maybe puree the butternut squash before adding the coconut milk... Some grated carrot would be good for flavor, maybe. Try this with lime juice next time. I was all out of lime juice. And maybe less chicken broth. It was almost too thin. But it was wonderful and lovely.

All in all, this was a great recipe! I love that I thought of it. Sure, I had some inspirations, but I put my own spin on this. I did not heed measurements. So in a way, this is my own recipe, but I was inspired by all the other recipes out there. I had in my head a vision of what I wanted from this soup, and it was executed to near perfection :-) I'll definitely make it again. I was surprised at how quick it was to make this. It took only like 30 minutes or so. Perfect for any night of the week. No oven roasting required, either. Just roast the squash in the pan :-)