Butternut Squash and Green Curry Soup

I made this for dinner with some girlfriends last night. It was fun and easy to make. I great twist on butternut squash soup. However, it was so spicy we had a difficult time eating it. If you're planning to use traditional green curry paste from an Asian Market, I would absolutely recommend starting with just 3 or 4 tablespoons. Will give it another try soon!

I grew up in Thailand and know how to cook authentic Thai curry. The amount of curry paste in this recipe is ways too much. Usually we only use 2-3 spoons of curry paste per 2 cans of coconut milk/broth to make a real spicy green curry. For this soup, I'd say 2 tbp of green curry paste is more than enough. It's a butternut squash soup enhanced with green curry taste, not a bowl of curry itself. You can also use Thai red curry paste and it tastes really good too!

Braggs Liquid Amino is a great sub for fish sauce, not the same flavor but the umami boost is helpful to dish like this.

This soup is really easy to make and quite good, but it was super spicy/hot (and we eat a lot of spicy food.) I added a 3rd can of coconut milk and a little more broth. I would recommend starting with maybe 3-4 tablespoons of curry and building from there. I also added shrimp to have a protein in it. My daughter ate it over rice and liked it that way as well as a simple soup. The topping is delicious-do not skip that or the lime juice. It really enhanced the flavor. This is definitely a keeper.

This recipe is easily halved and still makes more than enough for a family of four for dinner. Roasting the squash ahead of time (halved, seeded, face down at 400F for 40 min) makes this come together really quickly and allows you to avoid peeling the raw squash, which I find a chore. You just scoop out the cooked squash, add it at the same point as above, and then the soup is basically done but for warming through and pureeing. The garnish is the bomb!

I halved the recipe and used red curry paste instead of the green (because that's what I had). I used home-made chicken stock and served it with some store-bought mini egg rolls. I could have eaten the whole pot of soup myself! A great way to use those big packages of prepped butternut squash from the supermarket.

You can make your own vegetarian fish sauce:
9 square inches dried kombu seaweed
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons powdered mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon regular soy sauce

Tear the seaweed into small pieces and soak overnight in the water. The next day, add the mushrooms, salt, and soy sauce. Stir, then let sit for 2 to 3 hours.
Filter through paper coffee filter. Taste and add extra salt or soy sauce for flavor. If you add more mushroom powder, re-filter it.

I halved the recipe, except used the full amount of shallots and ginger, and less green curry because it was all I had. I roasted the squash in the oven, cut in half, face down...(so much easier than pealing and cubing!!),scooped it out when soft and followed recipe as per above. I used pumpkin seed instead of peanuts, and cilantro instead of Thai basil. It was delicious.. Even at 1/2 recipe it was ALLOT of soup, as there are only 2 of us... Several servings in the freezer for a rainy day...

This soup freezes perfectly. For easy meal just defrost, and make the peanut/coconut garnish. I added about 1/4 C cooked jasmine rice per bowl to make it a more substantial meal

I like Trader Joe's Green Curry sauce a lot. It isn't very spicy, however but you can doctor it up.

This soup is AMAZING. Tons and tons of flavor.
- Agree with others re the curry paste - I used 3-4 Tbps and found the soup to be PLENTY spicy.
- Much of the spiciness comes from the topping (which is delicious) - be careful with your choice of chiles here.
- You can use mint leaves instead of the lime leaves or basil.
- I couldn't bring myself to use two full cans of coconut milk, so I used one and added some almond or cashew milk - still created a thick, delicious soup.

My favorite curry pastes are by Mae Ploy, found in almost all Asian markets, Target and even some grocery stores! It has more heat than Thai Kitchen so be careful......I'd start with half the amount this recipe calls for!

I heartily recommend "Hand" brand Thai curry pastes, available via mail order from importfood.com The website also features recipes.

I have tried all the Hand varieties except yellow curry, and they are worth the wait for the mail order to arrive. Each packet is enough for several servings, and the leftover paste freezes beautifully.

Are you, like me, a Thai food aficionado who thinks you can handle 6 to 8 tablespoons of green curry paste, no problem?! Think again. I used almost a full can of Maesri curry paste, assuming the spice would mellow out with the coconut milk and chicken broth, but my friends and I couldn't eat the (otherwise delicious) soup without adding embarrassing amounts of heavy cream. You've been warned!

I am sensitive to the heat of Thai foods, so used only one T. of green chile paste. Also, I don't like a lot of fish sauce in my soups so only used one T. of that. Perfect. Used home-made chicken stock. It was absolutely delicious, with just enough heat for me but with that delicious green child flavor. Yum. One of my favorites now. The topping is an extra treat and I did make it. Also delicious (skipped all the chiles because i didn't have any, so used a few red pepper flakes.)