squash and cumin soup with squash chips recipe

Written by:
Sarah Raven
Last updated:

This is one of the best autumn soups for pumpkin or squash. The flavour improves if you cook it some time before. It also freezes well.

For 4

  • 3 teaspoons cumin seeds
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 medium-sized onion squash or butternut squash – at least 1kg weight
  • 3 medium-sized onions
  • 50g butter
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • ¾ litre vegetable or chicken stock
  • Generous drizzle of olive oil
  • 220ml crème fraîche
  • Salt and pepper

Toast the seeds in a dry frying pan for a couple of minutes and grind to a powder with the cayenne.

Take a slice off your squash for making chips. Then bake it – cut in half with the seeds removed – at 190°C/Gas mark 5 for 45 minutes or until soft.

Scrape the flesh from the skin and put to one side.

Finely chop and sweat the onions and garlic gently in the butter for about 10 minutes.

Add the spices, pumpkin and the stock and simmer gently for a few minutes. Blend. Season well and whisk in the crème fraîche.

To make the chips, slice thin strips of squash with a potato peeler and shallow fry them in hot groundnut oil until they begin to brown.

Drain on kitchen towel and serve scattered on top of the soup.

This recipe appears on p376 of Sarah's Garden Cookbook.

squash and cumin soup with squash chips