Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup with Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
Serves: 8 Cooking time: 1 hour
This vibrant soup (from the Food Effect Doctor) is jam-packed with goodness and the pumpkin seeds it’s topped with are a great source of plant-based protein (they also make a delicious snack on their own).
Ingredients:
For the soup:
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2 tbsp olive oil
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1 large white onion, diced
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2 green apples, peeled and chopped
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1 tsp Total Sweet Xylitol
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½ tsp ground cinnamon
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½ tsp ground ginger
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¼ tsp chilli powder
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1½ tsp fine sea salt
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2kg butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and cut into cubes
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2 litres of vegetable stock (made from vegan stock powder)
For the seeds:
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140g pumpkin seeds
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1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
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½ tsp ground cinnamon
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½ tsp chilli powder
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Generous pinch of salt and black pepper
Method:
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.
- Add the chopped onion, apple, cinnamon, ginger, chilli powder and salt. Cook, whilst stirring occasionally, for around 5 minutes.
- Add the butternut squash to the pot, and stir to coat for another 5 minutes.
- Add the stock, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, with the pot covered, for around 40-50 minutes, until the squash is soft.
- Allow the soup to cool and blend in a blender or with a hand-held immersion blender until completely smooth.
- To make the spiced pumpkin seeds – combine the oil, cinnamon, chilli powder, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Add the pumpkin seeds and stir to coat.
- Heat a pan over medium heat.
- Add the pumpkin seeds, and allow to toast in the pan, whilst stirring to ensure they don’t burn, for around 3-5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool fully.
- Serve the soup heated, with a generous sprinkling of Spiced Pumpkin Seeds on top.