Spiced Soup

We were lucky enough to get free tickets to a day of racing at Ascot yesterday (did you know the Queen owns Ascot?!). Though it is a gorgeous lush green track with a very stylish modern grandstand there is little to be said about the food available there. Obviously I'm not talking about the exclusive restaurants, but the kiosks for the hoi poloi.

The sandwiches looked OK, some pre-packed and some freshly filled (though the odd radioactive colour of the Coronation Chicken filling made my stomach turn a tad), but were pretty expensive, at £3.50 - £4, for what you got. We ended up sharing a doorstep of a gammon sandwich, the meat freshly cut from a lump of hot gammon and slathered with piquant piccalilly. It was good, but at £6.50 it ought to have been!

After a pretty abysmal day (we didn't have one winner, or even a placed horse between us - bloody lucky we didn't have to pay for the tickets, is all I can say) we returned home feeling chilly and knackered. First things first - cup of tea, but then we needed something savoury. I really didn't want to eat more bread, so had a look in the larder and seeing what I had I decided to put together a nice warming spiced soup. We ate it watching Top Gear and felt all the better for it.

Spiced Soup
1tbsp oil
1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1tbsp tikka curry paste
1/2 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1.5cm chunks
1/3 block creamed coconut
750ml hot stock
2 small potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1tsp mustard seeds
1tbsp green cardamoms
pinch chilli flakes

Topping
Small handful coriander leaves
1/2 red chilli, finely chopped
1 or 2 spring onions, cut in half lengthways and sliced

Heat the oil in a heavy based pan, add the onion and garlic and cook over a low heat for a few minutes until softened slightly. Stir in the curry paste and sizzle for a minute before adding the squash. Cook for another couple of minutes then add the cremed coconut and pour in the stock. Stir to dissolve the coconut as much as you can then add the potatoes, mustard, cardamom and chilli. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes have broken down into the soup to thicken it. Season to taste and serve in warm bowls with a scattering of the fresh topping.

I'd post a picture, but we ate all the gorgeous warming soup before I could even think of taking one!