October 2022 - Leann’s Crown Prince Squash, Chilli, Ginger and Coconut vegan Soup with Paprika Seeds

For 6-8 portions

Prep time 20 mins

Total prep and cooking time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients from HFM

1 x Crown Prince squash, This one was 1kg

1 x Red Chilli

1 x Sweet Potato

6 x Garlic Cloves

100g Ginger Root

1 tbsp Paprika - in a small bowl to coat seeds with

1-2 tbsp Maldon Sea Salt

1 bunch Coriander

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Ingredients from other suppliers

1 x tin Coconut Milk

Equipment

1 x Roasting Tin

1 x large Saucepan

1 x Chopping Board

1 x Chopping Knife

1 x Spoon for Scooping

1 x Wooden Spoon

1 x Peeler/ Peeling Knife

1 x Jug Bllender / Hand Blender

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 200°C

2. Prepare veg for roasting. First the Crown Prince Squash, being careful as he is tough to cut into, chop the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Save the seeded gloop for later. Chop the squash halves into chunks, about 8. Now peel the sweet potato and chop into large chunks. Peel the ginger and roughly chop. Throw all of this in the roasting tin, put the garlic cloves and chilli in there whole, no need to chop or peel. Drizzle the veg with a couple of good slugs of olive oil and toss them around until evenly coated in oil, sprinkle over a few pinches of salt and put in the pre-heated oven for 50 minutes, checking halfway through and giving a quick toss around. See photos below.

3. Whilst the veg is roasting, prepare some squash seeds for sprinkling over the finished soup. With clean hands sort as many seeds as you can from the gloopy insides of the squash. They don’t need rinsing as the squash residue on the seeds acts as a natural binder for the paprika. Put the seeds into the bowl with paprika and roughly coat the seeds. We’ll roast these once the veg is done so put to one side for now.

4. Once the veg is roasted and soft, take out of the oven and reduce the temperature of the oven to 150°C. Squish the garlic cloves with back of a spoon, the cooked garlic should squeeze out leaving the skin to be discarded. The squash will still have a firm texture so to remove the thin skin simply scrape it off the squash with a spoon and discard.

5. Tip the contents of the roasting tin into the saucepan. Put the saucepan on a high heat and pour in the tin of coconut milk along with around 200ml of water. Bring this to the boil.

6. Whilst the veg mixture is boiling, tip the paprika coated squash seeds into the roasting tin and spread them out a little so they’re not too stuck together, no need to rinse the tin, any juices from the roasted veg will only add flavour to the seeds. Roast the seeds for 10-12 mins until lightly browned and bring out of the oven to cool.

7. Once boiling and bubbling for a few minutes,, take the pan off the heat and add half of the bunch of coriander. Let it cool for a couple of minutes so its a little safer to blitz. Now either pour into a blender or leave in the pan and using a hand blender blitz the mixture for 2-3 minutes until the mixture has become a smooth soup. If you prefer your soup thinner you could add a little water at this point. Season to taste.

8. Serve the soup in bowls with a sprinkling of paprika squash seeds and chopped coriander.