• Butternut seeds taste great toasted. To prepare your butternut, peel it with a potato peeler, chop in half and then scoop out the seeds.

    Chunky butternut and chickpea soup

    Serves: 4 - 6
    Cooking Time: 1 hr 15 mins

    Ingredients

    • 1 butternut, peeled and diced (seeds reserved)
    • 15ml (1 tbsp) cumin seeds
    • 1 dried red chilli, crumbled
    • olive oil, to drizzle
    • 2 small red onions, peeled and finely chopped
    • 2 celery sticks, trimmed and finely chopped
    • 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
    • a few sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped, stalks finely chopped
    • 1,5 litres chicken or vegetable stock
    • 2 x 400g tins of chickpeas, drained
    • 50g almond flakes
    • 7,5ml (½ tbsp) fennel seeds
    • 7,5ml (½ tbsp) sesame seeds
    • 7,5ml (½ tbsp) poppy seeds
    • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
    • zest of 2 lemons
    • a few sprigs of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
    • 10ml (2 tsp) – 15ml (3 tsp) harissa paste
    • extra virgin olive oil

    Instructions

    1

    Preheat the oven to 200°C.

    2

    Place the butternut, cumin and crumbled chilli on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, mix together and place in the oven. Roast until the butternut is cooked through, about 45 minutes.

    3

    Once the butternut is roasted, heat a large saucepan and pour in a splash of oil. Add two thirds of the onion, the celery, garlic and the parsley stalks, and cook gently with a lid on until softened. Drop in the roasted butternut and sweat for a few minutes, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the chickpeas and simmer for 15 minutes.

    4

    Pick the butternut seeds out of the butternut pulp. Toast them with the almond flakes, fennel, sesame and poppy seeds in a little olive oil in the oven until they are nicely coloured all over. Set aside until needed.

    5

    Season the soup well with salt and pepper and, using a handheld blender, whiz for a few seconds until the soup is chunky. Keep it warm while you mix together the lemon zest, chopped parsley leaves and mint. Chop the remaining onion a little more until it is very fine and mix it into the zesty mixture.

    6

    To serve, spoon 2,5ml (½ tsp) harissa paste into each bowl. Divide the zesty herb mixture into the bowls and ladle over the soup. Stir each bowl once with a spoon, then sprinkle with the toasted seeds and finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

    Notes

    To drink: Boland Five Climates Viognier is light and floral, wonderful with Middle Eastern dishes.

    ×
    Exit mobile version