Thai Curried Roasted Butternut Squash Soup is a silky smooth soup, with a hint of curry and ginger, made creamy with coconut milk.
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| Thai Curried Roasted Butternut Squash Soup |
Soup has been on my mind a lot lately. I have the opportunity to teach a soup series to a group of seniors at our local community center starting next week, and have been trying different soups out this week, hoping to come up with some tasty treats for my “students” (I know they can teach me a lot more than I’ll ever teach them!).
The concept for this soup series came about last summer when I came across an article, The Kids Are All Right, But What About The Elderly, which addresses the need to bring seniors back into the culinary community. As people age, even if they used to cook healthfully, they often stop cooking, turning to “convenience” foods (canned foods), and more processed and artificial foods (frozen dinners, “butter” spreads). The article surmises that perhaps this happens because they’re living alone, they’re not motivated to cook any longer, or just aren’t well enough to cook any longer. With all the attention on raising healthier children, why isn’t more attention being directed towards our seniors?
I know my parents, who are both now in their 80’s, sometimes struggle to put a meal on the table every night, and both my mom and dad are stellar cooks. They used to whip up Chinese banquet style meals for guests, course after course (ok, they probably spent several days preparing all the food!). What used to be fun has become a chore, something done out of necessity to ensure a healthy meal on the dinner table.
That’s not the way it should be, and I believe that there are some ways the community can encourage seniors to do a little more cooking, and perhaps, make it into a social event, perhaps hosting a soup swap. A bowl of soup, combined with a fresh green salad and a slice of whole grain bread, makes a comforting, nutritious meal. And since soup can be made in large quantities, it’s perfect for freezing into smaller portions.
Little did I know that when I forwarded this article to the director at our community center, along with a suggestion that they consider offering soup cooking classes to seniors, that this idea would blossom into a series of classes, let alone, that I would be the one teaching them. I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to give back to the seniors in our community.
I would love to hear if you have any healthy soup recipes to share, and if you have any ideas on how to get seniors back into the kitchen.
Here’s the Thai Curried Roasted Butternut Squash Soup I came up with, a twist on the traditional roasted butternut soup. I love roasted vegetables for their caramelly sweet flavor, and I also love Thai flavors, so why not combine them into a cozy Thai flavored roasted butternut squash soup. I had some adzuki beans on hand, so I also stirred some into the soup, which added some nice texture to each spoonful (and some protein).
Thai Curried Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Roasting the vegetables adds sweetness and depth to this soup. I use a little coconut milk to round out the flavors and add even more lusciousness. I also added adzuki beans for a heartier soup and some interest. If you like a simple smooth soup, just leave the beans out. By the way, this soup isn’t just for seniors, my 8-year old loved it!
Thai Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 8 cups butternut squash ~ 2.5 pounds, peeled, seeded, cut into 1" pieces
- 1 large sweet potato peeled, cut into 1" pieces
- 2 medium onion cut into 1/2" slices
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
- 1 inch ginger peeled, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup light coconut milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 1/2 cups cooked adzuki beans
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place squash, sweet potato and onion in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil and toss vegetables well. Transfer vegetables to a parchment paper lined baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 40 minutes, or under tender.
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Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large stockpot. Add red curry paste, ginger and garlic and stir well. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add vegetable stock, coconut milk, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook, covered, for 10 minutes.
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Place roasted vegetables and stock in a blender and blend until smooth. You will need to do this in several batches, depending on the size of your blender. Return blended soup to stockpot.
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Stir in adzuki beans, if desired.
More Roasted Butternut Squash Soup Recipes:
Spicy Lentil & Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, Monsoon Spice
Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup, Two Peas And Their Pod
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Greek Yogurt, Yasmeen Health Nut
Roast Butternut Squash, Coconut & Chilli Soup, Eat Like A Girl
(((Jeanette))) I am so motivated by what you are doing that I am going to look into maybe doing something like this in my community. I just got back from vacation and we stayed with my guy's grandparents. His grandmother use to cook a lot and now that she is older she just doesn't want to. 1) She gets flustered when there is more than 3-5 ingredients or confusing directions. 2) She wants to prepare items that can be froze for convenience. 3) She often has a house full and likes meals that can feed a crowd but with the ease. Maybe you can use those 3 points to help create your soups as well. Another thing she told me was that her tastes have changed so much as she aged that she can no longer tolerate spicy foods. I am going to try to come up with some 3-5 ingredient recipes to create a little book for her to use. I just made that Cream of Cilantro soup on my blog if you want to check it out.
Thanks for your suggestions, I agree, keeping it simple is the best way to encourage seniors (and others) to get back into the kitchen and cook. Can't wait to hear what you're going to do in your community. I'm sure it will be awesome!
I love the Thai kick. Gorgeous soup!
Hi Jeanette! I think this soup looks delicious, I have it saved on Stumble. Just wanted to answer your question on erythritol. Technically, it can be subbed cup for cup with sugar, but it's expensive, so I usually do a combination of erythritol and stevia extract to get the sweetness I like.
Thanks for the stumble, Carolyn, and info. on erythritol. I'm always curious about what's out there, although I'm not sure how I feel about all the various naturally derived sugar substitutes. For now, I just try to minimize the amount of sugar I use, no matter which one.
Just made this recipe for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Took a cook’s sample today >_>
OMG! This soup is delicious. I didn’t have fresh ginger, but some candied ginger leftover (used a 1/4 cup minced). I appreciate the pictures and detailed instructions.
Definitely going on my “Make Again” pile.
Thanks for sharing.