Recipe for fresh butternut soup

Butternut is some kind of pumpkin that is eaten a lot in South Africa. Besides as a vegetable, you can use butternut to make soup. Very nice and something different!  

The recipe below is not difficult to make and although the butternut has to be boiled beforehand to make it soft, it is not too much work to make this delicious soup.

Preparation time: about 25 minutes pre-boiling (depending on the size of the butternut), 25 minutes preparation, ten minutes to cook and some time to let the soup cool down a bit.

Ingredients for four people

• ½ litre (17 fl oz) boiling water
• 1 cube of vegetable stock
• 200 ml (6 fl oz)  orange juice
• 1 large butternut
• 1 onion
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• 200 ml (6 fl oz) cream
• salt, pepper and ginger to taste

Preparation

Boil the butternut until it is soft, and then let it cool down. In the mean time, chop an onion and fry this in the olive oil until it is brown. Crush the clove of garlic and add to the onion. Fry them together for a little while but regularly stir to prevent the garlic from burning. Peel the cooled down butternut and remove the pips. Cut the butternut in pieces and add these to the onion and garlic. Now add half a litre of boiling water and stir. Add the vegetable stock cube and stir well to let it dissolve. Add the orange juice. Allow the soup to boil for a few minutes to further soften the butternut, and then let it cool down. 

If the soup is cooled down enough, put it in a blender till all pieces of butternut are chopped and the soup is smooth. Now add the cream and stir well. Before serving, heat the soup and add salt, pepper and ginger to taste. 

This soup can be prepared beforehand very well. You can store it in the fridge for a few hours or even freeze it to use another time.

Tip

Make some toast and remove the crusts. Cut the toast in cubes and spread these over the plates of soup.

Sources: www.todio.nl