Thursday, November 18, 2010

Indian Spiced Squash and Bean Soup

Happy happy Thursday!

I love Thursdays in general and am having an extra good Thursday, and I'm not even sure why. Especially since Fall has been stolen from me and my world now looks like this:


Beleive me that's not the worst part. This week the temperature plummeted...wasn't I just talking about fall running gear? Looks like it's time to dig out the winter layers...

So of course I had a food craving today, something to soothe my cold bones...my wild rice soup was the first thing that came to my mind.  But when I got home (after planning a creamy delicious navy bean/pea/brocolli soup) I whipped open the fridge to find that I did not have enough milk to make a creamy soup, instead I had...


Lots of orange things to eat up.  I wasn't about to abandon my soup idea though. I knew with a little vegetable broth and lots of spices I would be able to create a delicious dish.


3 of the 4 essential spices used: Rosemary, Cumin, and Ginger.  The secret spice? Read on...


Indian Spiced Squash and Bean Soup

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp EVOO
½ Onion
2 Garlic Cloves
2 Tbsp Whole Wheat Flour
2 cups Vegetable Broth (I made mine using bullion cubes)
1 1/2 tsp Rosemary
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp ginger
1 Tbsp Curry Powder
2 cups Butternut Squash
1 cup navy beans
1 cup carrots

Directions:
1. Steam butternut squash and carrots to desired softness.  Mash/puree butternut squash. Set aside.

2. In large pot saute the garlic and onion in olive oil.  When onions are translucent and soft add the whole wheat flour to the mixture.  Stir in well, you may need to add a bit more olive oil if the flour makes it dry/clumpy.

3. Add the vegetable broth and spices.  Stir well to make sure there are no lumps of flour.  Let simmer for 10 minutes to bring out spice flavors.

4. Stir in butternut squash.  Mix well to make sure there are no huge lumps.  (My soup is slightly lumpy because I don't like perfectly smooth butternut squash, I left a couple lumps in when I was mashing!)  Add in beans and carrots.  Once the beans and carrots are heated through this soup is ready to serve!

Makes about 4-5 servings...or 2 if you're me :)



Definitely helped take the chill out of my day.


As I write this post my hands are slowly freezing...looks like I'll be making lots of soup this winter to stay warm.  I love the big windows in my apartment...during the summer.  When it was warm I never really thought of how a corner full of floor to ceiling windows might be a tad impractical in Minnesota.


Alright I'm off to edit some photos of my art work for my upcoming B.F.A. application.  I'll post a couple soon!  The ceramic studio is taking over my life lately, but I am SO excited for the pay off.  Pretty soon I will have new mugs and bowls to put my food into and take pretty pretty pictures of.  I'm getting really sick of the plain white bowls and plates we have.  Are you? Haha, ok I'm going to get to work on my portfolio and my homework so I can relax and cook all weekend long.

Stay warm!


What's the weather like where you are?

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