I brought you soup. Sweet and spicy, deliciously thick chickpea and butternut squash soup, to be exact.
This recipe is a slightly adapted version of one from Thomasina Miers, ex-Masterchef contestant and co-owner of the ever-popular Mexican restaurant chain Wahaca. It’s from her Mexican food cookbook, one of my bookshelf favourites (although now that we’re vegetarian, the number of recipes I can re-create has dwindled).
I love to cook thick, hearty soups for dinner on colder days, and when I saw that this one is thickened with chickpeas and sweet butternut squash, I knew it would be a winner for us. The “sweet and spicy” element comes from the natural sweetness of the butternut squash, coupled with a little cinnamon and a spicy chilli oil drizzled over the top.
If you’re not a fan of fresh chilli (as is in the oil), then you can always add a teaspoon of chilli powder to the soup with the rest of the ingredients to tone down the heat factor but still add a an element of warmth.
Sweet and Spicy Chickpea and Butternut Squash Soup
4
servings20
minutes30
minutesIngredients
1 red chilli, de-seeded and chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
1 tsp cumin
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 small leeks, washed and roughly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Small handful fresh thyme, chopped
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and chopped into chunks
1 tsp cinnamon
1 3/4 cups (400ml) vegetable stock
220g can chickpeas, drained
Salt and pepper
Directions
- Mix the red chilli and a good pinch of sea salt in a small bowl, then pour over just enough olive oil to cover the chilli. Give it a quick stir and leave to infuse while you make the soup.
- Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook the leeks until they are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and cumin (and 1 tsp chilli powder if you want extra spice or are omitting the oil from the recipe). Cook for a further 3 minutes.
- Add the squash and cinnamon to the pan, stir and then cover with the stock. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the squash has softened.
- Add the chickpeas to the pan 5 minutes before the end of cooking time and heat through.
- Transfer the soup to a blender and process until smooth, then return to the pan, re-heat and season with some salt and pepper.
- Serve the soup in individual, bowls, topped with a little of the chilli oil.
I love the idea of chickpeas and butternut squash! Thanks for sharing!
Wow, this looks amazing! I definitely have a weakness for anything with chickpeas in it. I haven’t been able to decide what to do with the butternut squash sitting on my counter, but now I know exactly what to try out with it! Can’t wait to try out this recipe! Pinning and sharing! 😀
Yay! Let me know if you try it 🙂
This looks delicious! I love the idea of adding the chickpeas to the soup to give it a little protein boost!
PS Have you ever tried jackfruit? It is a fruit/vegetable that you can find canned in Asian markets (you’ll want the green kind, not ripe). When you cook it, it “shreds” just like pulled pork or chicken and makes an awesome whole food substitute for meat. I’ll bet you can use it for a lot of those recipes in your Mexican Cookbook.
What a great idea, Debbie! I’d never even considered jackfruit. And we have a big Asian store around the corner from us so I’ll be sure to give it a try!
I have chickpeas and squash that need to be used… perfect timing and YUM!