BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND FENNEL SOUP WITH PAN-FRIED SAGE CHICKPEA DUMPLINGS
Whether you’re into Halloween or not, you can’t help but notice that it’s squash AND soup season. I’ve put together this roasted butternut squash soup — excellent for taming Vata, thanks to pacifying butternut, whereas pumpkin can be aggravating for Vata (especially when it has a scary face carved into it!).
My tip for dealing with one of these easy-to-grab-from-the-supermarket veggies, but not-so-easy-to-cut (knife stuck in a butternut anyone?), is to pop the whole thing into the oven for 45 mins to soften and then take it out and slice in half like a pro. I popped the halved butternut back into the oven, bright orange side up, with a simple seasoning of salt and pepper, added some ghee to the pan along with some split leeks and a quartered fennel bulb — a wonderfully flavoured Tridoshic (great for all Doshas) veggie that imparts a wonderful aniseed flavour, complementing the sweetness of the butternut.
Get that cooking and then once tender, throw into a pot with stock and spices and you’re a blender blitz away from a hot bowl of soup. But this all sounds too easy! And we need something to go with the smooooth. Ordinarily my go-to is pan popped pumpkin seeds — quick, crunchy and well, er, pumpkiny. But this time I fancied something bobbing in there. Like bobbing apples from a bonfire night to stay on theme. I reserved some of the tender butternut flesh, mixed it with toasted chickpea flour and fresh sage from the garden and rolled them into balls. A quick pan-fry got them golden and the dish was complete. Have a go!
INGREDIENTS
Serves 6
1 large butternut squash, approx. 1kg
1 large bulb fresh fennel, white part only* (approx 350g), sliced into quarters
½ leek, sliced in half lengthways
3 tbsp ghee (or other cooking oil)
½ tsp sea salt
1L veg stock/chicken stock (I used one Kallo stock cube in a litre of water)
½ tsp Mixed Spice **
Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste (optional)
Pinch of asafoetida/hing (optional)
For the sage chickpea dumplings
½ cup chickpea flour
150g cooked butternut (from your big one, you don’t need a second squash!)
8 sage leaves, finely chopped, plus extra for garnish
1½ tsp garam masala
¼ tsp plus a pinch of sea salt
Ghee for frying (or other cooking oil)
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Wash the butternut and then pop it onto an oven tray. Roast for 45 minutes and remove (check after 30 minutes that it isn’t burning). Allow to cool slightly and then slice lengthways — it will be very hot inside! Arrange the two halves on the tray along with the fennel quarters and the split leek, sprinkle with the salt and dot with the ghee.
Place the tray back in the oven, reduce temperature to 180°C and roast for another 25 minutes giving the fennel and the leek a turn halfway through.
Add the roasted fennel, leek (removing any papery bits) and the caramelised “stuck bits” to a large cooking pot. When cool enough to handle, use a spoon to scrape away the tender butternut squash flesh from the skin (if it needs a bit more cooking pop it back into the oven for 5-10 minutes). Reserve 150 grams of the softest squash flesh for the chickpea dumplings and leave any stringy bits for the main pot.
Pour in the stock, stir in the mixed spice and bring up to a rolling boil. Pop on the lid and simmer gently on a low heat for 15 minutes while you prepare the balls.
To make the dumplings, carefully toast the chickpea flour for about 15 minutes in a dry pan on a medium high heat until nutty and fragrant and a few shades darker — stirring often to prevent burning (you can do this while the squash is roasting in the oven). Add the toasted chickpea flour to a mixing bowl with the spices and mix. Mash in the 150 grams of butternut, finely chopped sage leaves and salt. Thoroughly combine everything using a spoon (the mixture will be wet and sticky).
Heat a couple of tablespoons of ghee in a medium hot pan. Take a heaped teaspoon of the mixture and use another teaspoon to help shape it and place it in the pan. Fry the dumpling until golden brown all over - about 7 mins. Cool and taste, adding more salt to the dumpling mixture or sage if needed - I like a lot of sage! Then proceed to fry the rest of the dumplings.
Use an immersion/stick blender to blend the soup, until smooth or to your liking. Taste and adjust the seasoning including the mixed spice — important as vegetable sizes vary as do stock cubes - I end up adding up to another 1/2tsp of mixed spice and 1/2tsp more salt. Ladle the hot soup into bowls, add a few sage and chickpea dumplings and garnish with extra sage.
East by West tips:
*Save the green parts of the fennel for the stock pot. Alternatively, add them to the soup and remove any tough parts after you’ve blended — either by straining or simply while mindful eating!
** Mixed Spice is a British mix of warming spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice as well as ginger and clove - similar to American Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix.
For more soup recipes, try veg patch soup and blue-green soup with blue cheese and green veggies.