Primordial Soup

Worm makes a proper Dabbler soup…

Yesterday was the first properly bitter and miserable day of winter, and when it’s shivery cold and I’m driving home through the gloaming, I’m always thinking about rib-sticking winter food for dinner.  This soup recipe is just the thing for cockle warming – very hearty, simple and hands down the best soup I’ve ever tasted, so it’s my great pleasure to share it with you. I first came to it via Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who calls it Butternut Nutbutter Soup, but it would appear to be originally of West African origin.

What’s really good is that you can go off-piste and substitute the butternut squash with similar amounts of pumpkin, sweet potato or even tomatoes if you like.  From my experiments it would appear that the more you turn up the chilli and seasonings, the better it tastes. So be daring! After all, it was pyschologist Abraham Maslow who said that “A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.”

Cooking time

  • 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 large butternut squash
  • Big knob of butter
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped, or a pinch of dried chilli flakes
  • 3cm piece root ginger, grated
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • About 1L chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1/2 jar of crunchy or smooth peanut butter
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • handful of chopped coriander
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

  • Plain yoghurt or sour cream
  • Coriander leaves
  • A few bits of chopped chilli or chilli oil (optional)

1. Halve and peel the squash, then scoop out the seeds and cut the flesh into cubes. Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and sweat until soft and translucent. Add the chilli, ginger and garlic and cook for another couple of minutes. Then add the squash, a sprinkling of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Stir well and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Pour in the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer gently, partially covered, for about 20 minutes, until the squash is soft – you should be able to squish it easily against the side of the pan with the back of a wooden spoon.

3. Whiz in a blender (or, better still, use one of those stick blenders to purée it in the pan) until very smooth. In a bowl, mix the peanut butter with a ladleful of the hot soup until smooth and well blended. Return this runny mixture to the soup in the pan, stir well and heat soup through again if needed.

4. Remove from the heat, add the lime juice and chopped coriander, then taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve each portion topped with a dollop of yoghurt and a few coriander leaves. Sprinkle toasted pumpkin seeds or peanuts and a little extra finely chopped chilli or chilli oil on top, if you like.

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About Author Profile: Worm

In between dealing with all things technological in the Dabbler engine room, Worm writes the weekly Wikiworm column every Saturday and our monthly Book Club newsletters.

6 thoughts on “Primordial Soup

  1. russellworks@gmail.com'
    ian russell
    November 30, 2011 at 22:13

    Any recipe that involves “a big knob of butter” must be good.

    • Gaw
      December 1, 2011 at 07:55

      Would it be possible to make a joke about Jeremy Clarkson at this point?

  2. Wormstir@gmail.com'
    Worm
    November 30, 2011 at 22:33

    It’s well worth trying Ian! Everyone I’ve served this soup to has been really surprised at how good it is

  3. Gaw
    December 1, 2011 at 07:57

    I love that lime, coriander and peanut combo. V Vietnamese.

  4. andrewnixon@blueyonder.co.uk'
    December 1, 2011 at 09:37

    Yes very postmodern this. Thai-American? I might even give it a go it looks so nice.

  5. info@shopcurious.com'
    December 1, 2011 at 22:48

    Hugh F-W is one of my secret passions:-) But in the words of one of a n other, this sounds totally delish!

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