Butternut and Lentil Soup

VeganMoFo 2015 – Day 17: Make or eat a local traditional dish.
My take is a local version of butternut soup. Mine I make with red lentils and it’s a very basic but tasty and hearty meal.
Here’s how I make butternut and lentil soup.
Ingredients:
– one white onion, finely chopped (or use equivalent amount of shallots whichever you prefer)
– 1 cup red lentils (masoor dal)
– 500g chopped butternut
– 1 1/2 litres of vegetable stock/broth of choice
– fresh coriander to garnish
– 1 teaspoon of curry powder (optional)
– fresh red chillies (optional, amount depending on your tolerance)
– 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or any vegetable based oil)
– salt (to taste)
– black pepper (to taste)
Method:
– Sautee onions in coconut oil on medium heat until translucent
– Add vegetable stock/broth and bring to boil
– Add red lentils and bring back to boil
– Add butternut and bring back to boil
– Once boiling add the curry powder, reduce heat and simmer until the butternut is soft
Once the butternut is soft you can eat the soup as is if you prefer a chunky kind of soup or blend if you prefer a smoother soup.
Add freshly chopped coriander and season with and black pepper to taste (optional).
It has a really good natural flavour so you don’t need to worry about adding to many additional seasonings.
There are many variations you can make of this soup. For example, if you’d prefer more of a stew effect add 1/4 cup of quinoa at the same time as the butternut for a thick stew. (If you do this be careful to monitor the liquid content. You may need to add more hot water to stop from sticking).
Try it out and let me know what you think of my butternut and lentil soup.

For more traditional South African food @ameyfm has some wonderful recipes on her blog (Vegan Eats and Treats), especially the recipe for “South African Bobotie”.