You should know that I generally dislike soup. Of course I eat chicken noodle when I’m sick (Chick-fil-A’s is great) and recently had some amazing roasted tomato in Michigan. But I don’t like things that are watery/brothy. So the first time I attempted to make this recipe, I was concerned about the amount of water it said to add, but I added it anyway… and the soup was way too watery. This time, I cut back the amount of water a LOT, and the soup was fantastic. I hope you like it.

I used an actual squash last time (hence the photos in “how to chop a butternut squash”), but this time I used pre-cut chunks from the grocery store. I still had to cut the skin off and cut the chunks into smaller pieces, though.

It was about this time when I realized I didn’t have any celery. Oops. You should put celery in yours, though, if possible.

You don’t need that much ginger, by the way. Just a little. But you can’t really buy a tiny piece of ginger root at the grocery store.

And I didn’t have enough red lentils. Sigh.

Besides this soup being really good, I was excited because I got to use my French oven for the first time!

You’ll need to chop up all the vegetables and cook them for a little bit before you add the curry powder, lentils and water. You can pick through and rinse the lentils while the veggies are cooking.

I love curry. Madras curry is preferred for this recipe, but you can also use a mix of sweet and hot, or whatever kind this is.

You can eat this like normal soup or serve it over basmati or brown rice. And there is an optional cilantro oil you can drizzle over it if you’d like — I haven’t tried that, but I will give you the recipe in case you’re interested. And one more thing: This came from the Gourmet Quick Kitchen special edition magazine, but it is not quick. It takes about 45 minutes just to cook, not to mention all the chopping. So while I think it’s worth it, I wouldn’t recommend you start preparing it at 8 p.m. on a Wednesday night or something.

Curried squash and red lentil soup (Adapted from Gourmet Quick Kitchen)
3 tablespoons canola (or vegetable) oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2-pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1-2 celery ribs, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons peeled, minced ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon curry powder (preferably Madras)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup red lentils, picked through and rinsed thoroughly
3 1/2 cups water
*optional: 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Start by chopping all the vegetables. Then heat oil and butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat until butter melts and foam goes away. Carefully (don’t let the hot oil splash you!) place squash, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, ginger and salt in the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, 15 to 20 minutes — until vegetables are softened and starting to brown.

Stir in curry powder and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add lentils and water and bring the mixture just a boil. Then reduce heat and cover. Cook 25 to 40 minutes, until lentils are soft. Add lemon juice if desired and season with salt and pepper.

Cilantro oil
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Puree ingredients in a blender. Drizzle over soup just before serving.