The sun is going down and the house is settling into its closed-curtain and roaring-fire state.  I’ve just taken the dogs for a short walk down the driveway because once again this morning we didn’t have time to take them for their usual five kilometre exploration.  Although they sniff at the same bushes and wee on the same tree trunks every single day, you’d swear that every morning it was their first time out in their whole lives and I feel terribly guilty if they don’t get their daily walk.  Also, they stare at me and whine a lot if they haven’t, which is pretty bloody annoying.  Anyway, whilst out on my walk, I was thinking about what to cook for dinner and I remembered this yummy soup I made a couple of weeks ago and thought I must share it with you all over here because it was so yummy.  I’d also quite like to make it right now, but alas, I have no chickpeas.  Perhaps I shall try it with lentils.  Anyhoo, here is the recipe and some pics I snapped from the last time I made it.  And also some pics of the driveway this evening because the light was just too lovely not to take a snap or two, and I don’t have many more evenings like this left in the Midlands.

This spicy butternut and chickpea soup was born out of two essential components: pretty much nothing else to eat in the house, paired with freezing cold winter weather.  I’m not the greatest fan of a traditional butternut soup, but in my drive to eat as local and as seasonally as possibly, the humble butternut has now become a weekly feature in my local vegetable box.  I therefore wanted to create a butternut soup with a bit of a zing and how better to do that than by adding some of my favourite spices (forget cookies, I’m the cumin monster).  My friend, Olivia, who eats vegetarian largely by default (dodgy gall bladder), made this for her husband and three sons the other day and they all couldn’t believe that it was meat and dairy-free!  So vegan or not, give this baby a whirl on a cold day or night this winter.

Ingredients:

1 small white onion, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon cumin spice
1/2 teaspoon ginger spice
1/2 teaspoon coriander spice
1/2 teaspoon mild curry powder
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1 butternut, peeled and chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 large potato, peeled and diced
Vegetable Stock of your choice
300ml boiling water
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Fresh coriander and coconut cream to serve

Method:

In a large sup pot, fry the onion in the olive oil for about three minutes.  Add the fresh garlic and celery, as well as the cumin, ginger, coriander, curry powder and turmeric and stir fry the whole lot for another 3 minutes.  Add the butternut, sweet potato and potato.  Stir it all about in the onions and spices for a few minutes.  Add the hot water and veg stock and boil until the vegetables are all soft.  Mash everything up or shove it in the food processor if you want it really smooth.  Add the chickpeas in at the end and cook for another five minutes.  Serve with fresh coriander and a good dollop of coconut cream.