GET THE RECIPE: Spiced Seedy Squash Soup with Tahini Drizzle by The Body Balance Diet Plan

With the weather cooling down, few things are better than a nice, hot warming bowl of soup! Eminé Ali Rushton, author of Ayurvedic eating guide The Body Balance Diet Plan agrees. She’s sharing her delicious squash soup recipe below – a healthy and quick meal to whip up after a long day at work!

The Body Balance Plan’s Spiced, Seedy Squash Soup with Tahini Drizzle

“It has been feeling decidedly autumnal these last couple of weeks. Driving rain has been driving us indoors; the temperature has dipped and we start to nourish our spirits with heat. The stove gets a breakfast of seasoned logs and pine cones, and the seasonal veg basket must be turned to warming things; hearty and spiced, laced with great oils and seeds, wrapped in those roasted edges. Our constitutions are tetchy with seasonal change and raw things will not do. There must be hot pots on the bubble and steam from our mugs.

I have an onion squash and a couple of gems, rarely carried by the supermarkets but great in season. You can use any seasonal squash; there are pattipans about and the butternuts will be along in a bit. It is great to use things when they are local and best. Pair with warm, intelligent spice and flavour enhancing cooking, roasted garlic and healing seeds. Stock the fire, dust off your favourite coat and enter the new season in tune.”

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 large onion, red or white (a leek or a few shallots are fine here too)
• 3 medium sized ripe, seasonal tomatoes
• 1 large onion squash
• 1 gem squash
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ¼ of a nutmeg grated / 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme / 1 tsp of dried thyme
• 2 tsp of organic vegetable bouillon
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp of tahini
• A handful of fresh flat leaf parsley
• Good, cold pressed rapeseed oil
• Good, extra virgin olive oil
• ¾ of a tsp each of:
  • Nigella seeds
  • Linseeds
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Sumac
  • Sea salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 6 / 200 c.
2. Half your squashes and scoop out the seeds and centre. Save a handful of the gem squash seeds as these are delicious roasted and sprinkled. Pare off the skin and cut into rough chunks. Add to a roasting dish.
3. Add your whole garlic cloves with the nub cut off along with your onion, roughly sliced, your whole tomatoes, cumin, paprika, ground coriander, nutmeg and thyme.
4. Season well with sea salt and add enough rapeseed oil to coat all the veg. Mix well to combine and place in the preheated oven for about 35-40 mins or until your squash colours and the edges start to catch. A little char on your onion and tomato skins is all fine and good.
5. Clean the squash seeds and add to a separate little ovenproof dish with no oil. Add the linseeds, sunflower seeds and nigella seeds and place in the oven with the veg for about 12 minutes, adding your sumac for the last 2 minutes. Set aside for dressing.
6. When your veg is suitably roasted remove from the dish to a large saucepan. Squeeze the garlic from the skins and cook for a minute or two in the residual oil muddling your tomatoes from their skins. Add your bouillon, a sprig of rosemary and a large bay leaf and just cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mins.
7. While you simmer add your tahini and finely chopped flat leaf parsley to a bowl / jar / teacup. Add a good dash of good olive oil and muddle well with a teaspoon. Set aside for dressing.
8. After 20 mins, use a hand blender to pulse your soup until smooth. If you don’t have a hand blender you can remove to a food processor and return to the pan when smooth.
9. Add a little water if your soup is thicker than you prefer. (Better than trying to reduce a thin soup). Taste and season with sea salt and black pepper accordingly.
10. Ladle hot into your favourite bowls and dress with a sprinkling of your roasted seeds and sumac, a few rosemary needles and a good drizzle of your tahini, parsley and olive oil muddle.
11. Serve with a good chunk of great sourdough, toasted on a griddle or grill and rubbed with fresh olive oil and your remaining rosemary.

Read More: AUTUMN ATTUNEMENT