Curried (pretend it's not) squash, lentil and coconut soup

I don't like squash. I have no idea why people eat it. But after a friend of ours graciously bought us some groceries after we returned from Victoria, there it was: an acorn squash. I looked at it. I put it in the fridge. The next day I looked in the fridge again. It was still there. I closed the fridge door. What to do with said squash?

Then I remembered my kids make squash soup. My kids like squash. They get those genes from Fred's family. Luckily my mother shielded me from squash growing up. Fred wasn't so lucky.

So I asked my girls for a recipe. Johanna sent me hers. She said it was great. I believed her. Except there was nothing in it to hide the squash taste. Except garlic. We don't eat garlic.

Then I thought. Curry. Coconut milk. Lentils. Okay maybe I can save this squash from an early death. I googled some recipes. Found a couple. Combined and modified the recipes. And voila. Curried lentil squash soup. The best part is. It's good. I am. Not. Kidding. I know you won't believe me. After all, it's still squash.

PS. I forgot to take a picture. Who posts a recipe on the Internet without a picture? Me apparently.

Curried squash, lentil and coconut soup

Olive oil
2 diced onions
1/2 tsp dried ginger

1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1 acorn squash (halved and with seeds removed) roasted in oven with salt and pepper and olive oil, covered with aluminum foil for about 1 hour in 400 degree oven until soft. 

1 cup red lentils
2 cups can diced tomatoes with liquid
3 cups water
1 14-ounce can lite coconut milk
3/4 veggie large broth cube

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger and curry powder, and garam masala; cook, stirring often, until the onion is starting to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Let squash cool, then scoop out flesh and add to pot.

Add lentils, tomatoes, water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are mostly broken down, about 20 minutes.

Add coconut milk and simmer until heated through, about 1 minute. Blend with hand blender.

Eat.

Mulligatawny Soup

The last time I made mulligatawny soup was in chef school I think. A very long time ago. Recently for some reason I can't even fathom, I started thinking about it again. So I looked it up and found some recipes. Below is what I made. It was very yummy.

Some of the recipes I found had hot peppers in them. But I don't like to use hot peppers because I don't like burning my mouth off. You may like burning your mouth off in which case, fill your boots.

And if you are a vegematic like Maude, you could always substitute a can of drained and rinsed chick peas instead of the chicken, along with vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
8 (approximately) cups chicken stock (I used half no salt chicken stock and half water)
1/2 cup red lentils
salt and pepper to taste (I used about 3/4 tsp salt)
4 tsp curry powder
1 can low fat coconut milk
1 cup basmati rice
1 chicken breast (I had one cooked in the freezer and just threw it in. But it could be raw as it will cook with the rest of the soup.)
1 raw unpeeled apple, chopped fine

Fry the celery, carrots, onion in oil at a low heat until the onion is translucent. Stir in the curry powder to blend and cook for a minute. Pour in the stock, add the lentils and chicken and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Remove chicken and chop or shred and put back into soup.

While the soup is simmering, put rice in. Add the chopped apple. Simmer about another 15 minutes or so until rice is cooked.

The lentils kind of disintegrate and thicken the soup.