Soup is cheap, filling and nutritious. There’s eating and drinking in it. My kids love soup. It took me quite a while to find little bowls with two handles. We always had them as kids: pot-bellied French onion soup-style bowls that we could drink from.
When we were little our mother used to sometimes give us cups of homemade soup while we waited for dinner. It gave her a bit of breathing space to carry on getting the dinner ready, as it stopped us nagging her for a while.
My own small boys specify the soup they want by colour. “White soup” is potato and leek. Orange is this butternut coconut soup, which is fragrant with fresh ginger and garlic. It’s so quick and easy to make. The smooth coconut milk adds a sweetness and creaminess.
Not all coconut milks are created equal. Next time you’re shopping, take a look at the back of the tin. Ingredients range from about 35 per cent coconut in the cheaper brands to 99 per cent for the marginally more expensive organic versions.
The cheaper milks are thickened with gums and filled with emulsifiers and water. If you can’t find a good coconut milk, you can use a block of coconut cream or make your own by soaking dried coconut chips in water, then blitzing in a high-speed blender and sieving through muslin, as you would almond milk.
It’s a real eye-opener when you start reading the back of the packets of some foods. It’s so important that we know what our food contains. I try to keep as many whole foods in my diet as possible.
Making things from scratch is a little more time-consuming but always worth it. It tastes better and gives me peace of mind. Processed food is just that, and there are often hidden ingredients that you would never add yourself. Jars of sauce and ready-made foods are often high in sugar and salt, with emulsifiers, thickeners, gums and E numbers.
Whipping up a huge pot of soup only takes minutes. With a recipe such as this, it’s just a matter of peeling and chopping the vegetables, then throwing them in the pot. Smooth soups such as this freeze really well and are great to have in the freezer for bringing to work for lunch or having for dinner with good bread.
Soup is the perfect seasonal dish. It makes sense to buy what’s in-season and blitz it into a smooth, creamy puree. It’s so cost-effective. Pumpkins, root vegetables, leeks and onions are all perfect soup ingredients.
After the indulgence of the festive season, it’s quite sobering to go back to eating normal food. I can’t justify adding a splash of rum or brandy to everything in January like I did in December. That’s a good thing, though, and I know it’ll be for a short time, as February is just around the corner and it brings luxurious romantic recipes for seafood, steaks, chocolate fondants and all the typical Valentine’s day dishes.
This January, starting with this week’s recipe, I’m focusing on food that’s delicious, nutritious and budget-friendly instead of embarking on an unrealistic “detox”.
BUTTERNUT COCONUT SOUP: SERVES 6
The five ingredients
- 1 butternut squash
- 2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tin coconut milk
From the pantry
- Butter
- Salt
- Pepper
Method
Halve the butternut squash; remove the inner seeds with a spoon and discard them. Peel and then roughly chop. Peel and chop the sweet potato. Peel the ginger and slice it. Peel the garlic cloves and bruise them by crushing with the flat of a knife.
Melt two tablespoons of butter in a heavy-based pan.
Add the ginger and garlic and leave to cook for a minute before adding the squash and sweet potato.
Stir everything well to coat in the butter. Add 500ml of water or stock and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Add the tin of coconut milk. Blitz until smooth and season to taste. Sprinkle with coconut chips or fresh coriander before serving.
- Every Thursday, we'll tweet the five ingredients from @lillyhiggins and @irishtimeslife so you can have them ready for Friday. Email givemefive@irishtimes.com with your suggestions for recipes
