Winter has arrived in Cape Town! You may remember from my previous posts that I have been preparing for our winter here with some lovely stews and pies. The weather has finally cooled all the way down to proper winter now, and to celebrate, I am sharing my most loved and cherished Asian Inspired Butternut Soup

Every winter I make this recipe, and I have always thought it was not quite there yet. I learnt an amazing trick from Jamie Oliver this year, and that is to roast your butternut whole. I utilised this in my recipe to give the soup a hearty, really robust flavour. That's the beauty of cooking - recipes can evolve with time. I am finally 100% happy with this recipe, and ready to share it with the world.

I first made this recipe back in 2013, when my husband and I had a small restaurant. Back then, it was a traditional butternut soup, with quite run of the mill flavours like oreganum, basil and cream. It was then that I invented my signature Asian Coleslaw, which has loads of interesting flavours like cumin, Chinese five spice and curry powder. Whilst experimenting with these flavours, I fell in love with the different Asian cuisines, namely Thai and Indian. You may think it sounds strange to mix these two styles of food, but certain elements work really well together.

One day, I was making this soup, and realised I had run out of cream. The only similar ingredient I had was coconut milk. At the time I was going through a heavy curry addiction, and decided to experiment a little. And so, my Asian Butternut Soup was born. Voila!

• A natural antioxidant
• One whole butternut contains more 335% of your daily vitamin A intake, which means butternuts are great for your eyes!
• Butternut is one of the longest keeping vegetables. Can last up to three months when stored correctly
• Butternuts originate in South America, and were first eaten around 5000 BC
• Butternuts are great for keeping your blood pressure down
  ^source

INGREDIENTS

• 4 large butternut
• 2 large onions
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1 bunch of coriander, chopped finely
• 1 t cumin
• 1 T chili
• 1 T mild curry powder (garam masala if possible)
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 packet of white onion soup powder
• 1 l water
• 1 400ml coconut milk

METHOD

Heat your oven to 180'C/350'F. On a baking tray, lay some baking paper, and place the four whole butternut on the tray. Yes, whole! This is probably my favourite way to prepare butternut - so simple and the flavour is outrageous.

Leave them baking for about an hour. You will see the butternut start to exude some caramelly liquid, and become soft. Once this happens, ensure they are cooked by checking with a skewer, and set aside to cool

In the mean time, add the chopped onion, garlic and spices to a pan, and cook until the onion is translucent and soft.

Once the butternut is cooled, remove the skin (it should peel off relatively easily) and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Take care to discard any seeds and fibres from the centre of the butternut.

Add the butternut along with the onion mixture into a blender, and blitz until smooth and pureed. It will have a texture almost like baby food.

To get it extra smooth, you can push the puree through a sieve. I recommend doing this as you don't want to have any seeds in the soup.

Add the puree to a large pot, and bring to a medium heat. Once the puree has been cooking for a while, approximately twenty minutes, mix the packet of onion soup powder with the water. Add this to the butternut mixture and stir in until properly combined. Add the can of coconut milk, and cook for another half an hour or so.

Garnish with coriander and a few drops of coconut cream, and serve with a nice big chunk of fresh bread.

I absolutely love this recipe, and the smell always reminds me of winter. Let me know in the comments if you make it, and how it turns out for you.

Lots of love,
@princessmewmew

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