Kabocha Soup
So easy, so simple, so delicious!
Kabocha squash is my all time favorite hard squash. I love it in soup, curries, roasted, mashed, any way I can get it! One holiday season I used it to make a bunch of recipes for a morning TV show – I made a Mac n cheese with it, a sweet maple bread, and an appetizer using it as the base of a dip. It has a dark orange flesh that is sweet, starchy, and rich flavored. When cooked, the skin has a mild flavor and soft texture, so you do not need to peel it!
This soup is about the easiest application I can think of and it’s perfect for the holidays. It is as simple as it gets. But you can also use this recipe as a base and add greens, beans, veggies, lentils, curry, or whatever strikes your fancy!
Kabocha Soup
recipe from Lisa Rice's Kitchen Plantastic
Ingredients
1 small to medium kabocha squash, seeded, de-stemmed and cut into uniform-sized chunks
1-2 Japanese sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in to uniform-sized chunks
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 cup unsweetened plant milk (I love coconut for this)
salt
freshly grated ginger
Pumpkin seeds for garnish.
Instructions
Add the squash, sweet potato and onion to a pot and add enough water to just about cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until the squash and potatoes are fork tender. Add your plant milk, and using an immersion blender, blend about half the soup (or take half out and blend it in a blender then add back to the pot). Stir in the salt and continue to simmer on low, a few more minutes as the soup thickens. Remove from heat and stir in the freshly grated ginger to taste (about 1 tsp or more if desired). Garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds.
While the soup is cooking, toast your pumpkin seeds. Heat a non-stick skillet to medium high. Add enough seeds to cover the bottom of the pan evenly. Stir or shake pan occasionally. When the seeds begin to pop, stir frequently as they continue to pop and get fragrant. Do not let them burn. They will puff up and get a little golden. Remove from heat and spread in a plate to cool. Store in an air tight container.
