Butternut Squash and Green Curry Soup

- Total Time
- About 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 4tablespoons coconut oil or neutral-tasting oil
- 3medium shallots, diced
- 1(2-inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1lemongrass stalk, cut into 3-inch pieces
- Kosher salt
- 2medium butternut squashes (about 4 pounds), peeled, seeded and cut into about ¾-inch cubes
- 2(13½-ounce) cans coconut milk
- 6 to 8tablespoons Thai green curry paste, or to taste
- 3tablespoons fish sauce
- 3 to 4cups water or chicken stock, preferably homemade
- ¾cup raw peanuts
- ¾cup unsweetened raw coconut flakes
- 2tablespoons fish sauce
- 8small dried red chiles, such as Japones or chiles de árbol, thinly sliced
- 1tablespoon neutral-tasting or melted coconut oil
- 1tablespoon minced lemongrass
- 1teaspoon sugar
- 10lime leaves, thinly sliced (optional)
- Handful of Thai or Italian basil leaves
- 2 to 3limes, quartered
For the Soup
For the Garnish
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 300 degrees. Melt oil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium-high heat. When oil shimmers, add shallots, ginger, lemongrass and a generous pinch of salt. Reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are tender and just starting to brown, about 18 minutes.
- Step 2
Add squash, coconut milk, curry paste, 3 tablespoons fish sauce and 3 cups water or stock. Increase heat to high. When liquid comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook the soup covered until squash is tender, about 25 minutes.
- Step 3
Make garnish while soup cooks: In a medium mixing bowl, toss together peanuts, coconut flakes, fish sauce, chiles, 1 tablespoon oil, the minced lemongrass, the sugar and the lime leaves, if using.
- Step 4
Spread mixture out onto a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes after the first 10 minutes. Remove from oven when coconut is deep golden brown, and pour mixture immediately into a bowl to prevent overcooking. Stir to combine, and set aside.
- Step 5
Remove soup from heat. Remove lemongrass stalks from pot. Use a hand blender to purée soup. Alternatively, transfer soup in batches to a blender or food processor and purée. Taste and adjust for salt and curry paste. Add water or stock to thin soup to the desired consistency.
- Step 6
Thinly slice the basil leaves and arrange on a small plate or platter, along with lime wedges and peanut mixture. Serve soup hot with garnishes.
Private Notes
Comments
I made this for dinner with some girlfriends last night. It was fun and easy to make. I great twist on butternut squash soup. However, it was so spicy we had a difficult time eating it. If you're planning to use traditional green curry paste from an Asian Market, I would absolutely recommend starting with just 3 or 4 tablespoons. Will give it another try soon!
I grew up in Thailand and know how to cook authentic Thai curry. The amount of curry paste in this recipe is ways too much. Usually we only use 2-3 spoons of curry paste per 2 cans of coconut milk/broth to make a real spicy green curry. For this soup, I'd say 2 tbp of green curry paste is more than enough. It's a butternut squash soup enhanced with green curry taste, not a bowl of curry itself. You can also use Thai red curry paste and it tastes really good too!
Braggs Liquid Amino is a great sub for fish sauce, not the same flavor but the umami boost is helpful to dish like this.
Are you, like me, a Thai food aficionado who thinks you can handle 6 to 8 tablespoons of green curry paste, no problem?! Think again. I used almost a full can of Maesri curry paste, assuming the spice would mellow out with the coconut milk and chicken broth, but my friends and I couldn't eat the (otherwise delicious) soup without adding embarrassing amounts of heavy cream. You've been warned!
The only changes I made were to add shrimp to the garnish (to make it more substantial and because my husband doesn’t like coconut meat, which I left out) and to use pepper flakes instead of dried chiles. It was divine! Half made three servings for us.
This is delicious and fairly simple. I halved the recipe and found that plenty. We have Mae Ploy curry paste which is very spicy so I used about 2 heaping tablespoons. That was just right for a first try.
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