Kabocha Squash Soup

I first discovered Kabocha Squash over ten years ago when I was first learning to cook Korean and Japanese cuisine. Unlike other types of squash, the skin of Kabocha can be eaten. It’s nutrient dense and delicious. So, if you’d like to leave the skin on in this recipe, you can.

Kabocha is native to South America, the Caribbean, and South East Asia. It’s very filling and dense but low in calories.

To make this soup I used a few simple ingredients. Kabocha, coconut milk, and cassava flour. Plus a few spices including cinnamon, garlic powder, turmeric and sage.

Ingredients:

(Makes 3-4 servings)

• 1/2 Kabocha squash

• 1 onion, minced

• 15oz can full fat coconut milk

• 2 tbsp cassava flour (sub all purpose flour, rice flour or oat flour)

• 4 cups vegetable broth

• 1/8th tsp sage

• 1/2 tsp turmeric

• 2 cloves garlic, grated

• 1 tsp cinnamon powder

• Salt, to taste

• Pepper, to taste

Preparations:

• Roughly dice your squash. Dice the onion into quarters. Steam both in a steamer basket or a skillet with some water.

• Once it is fully cooked through, let it cool down enough to touch and peel the skin off the kabocha if desired. Kabocha skin is edible so you may keep it on if you like but the color of your soup will change.

• Add the flesh to a large pot and mash it with a potato masher. Add the coconut milk and continue to mash it to combine.

• Then add the garlic, cinnamon, turmeric and sage.

• Bring the soup pot back to the stove and cook on low heat for another ten to fifteen minutes to make sure the soup is cooked through.

• Turn off the stove and serve.