Curried Squash Soup with Spicy Pepitas & Chives

The smell of this soup is intoxicating. It makes me miss walking into my friend Migi's house because it always smelled of wonderful Sri Lankan spices. She cooks everything from scratch and nearly all Sri Lankan food starts out with similar spice blends. If only we weren't a continent away now. Anyway, it makes me so happy when when this scent fills my house.

Butternut squash and carrots give you tons of Vitamin A and the spices are full of anti-oxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties. The pepitas (pumpkin seeds) are full of minerals and protein. It's great when something so tasty can be so healthy, too.

This is a really quick soup to make. If you have homemade broth, by all means use it but a box of organic gluten free vegetable broth works great.  Fresh ginger would have been great but I was out and used powdered today and it worked beautifully.  You can adjust the heat with the cayenne from just a dash to a good shake.  

The spices toast in a bit of olive oil to bring out their flavors and then simmer in broth with the garlic, onions, carrots and squash until the vegetable are soft which took about fifteen minutes. All that's left to be done is to quickly puree and stir in some coconut milk to give it an extra creamy flavor.

While the veggies simmer toast a cup of pepitas and you'll be ready to serve in about thirty minutes.

Curried Squash Soup with Spicy Pepitas & Chives

In a large saucepan, saute together the following until the spices just start to lightly brown which takes under five minutes:

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Tumeric

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 teaspoon Ginger

1/4 teaspoon Sri Lankan Curry Powder or Curry Powder of your choice

dash Cayenne

When toasty, add:

2 large Garlic Cloves, chopped

1 small Onion, chopped

1 cup Carrots, peeled and chopped

1 pound Butternut Squash (approximately)

1 quart Gluten Free Vegetable Broth

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmering.  When vegetables are soft, turn off heat and puree the soup using an immersion  (stick) blender right in the pot on the stove.  (If you use a counter top blender do it in batches of two or three. )

When well blended and creamy, add:

1 can Coconut Milk, regular or light

Stir and bring back to a simmer.

While your soup is cooking, start toasting the pepitas.  

In a medium saute pan over medium heat add:

1 cup raw pepitas

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Cumin

dash Tumeric

dash Cayenne

dash Ginger

Stirring frequently to coat the pepitas in oil and spices toast until medium brown. Add sea salt if desired.

Chop desired amount of Chives - I used about a teaspoon per bowl.

To serve, ladle soup into bowl sprinkle with chives and toasted pepitas.

Enjoy!