Received The Cake Bible through the post today and, while my fifth year pupils puzzled and scribbled their way through a particularly difficult test, I began to educate myself on the intricacies of baking. After half an hour of reading about all of the variables, my head exploded.
As you probably know, the only cure for an exploded head is curried squash soup. How fortunate! Not only had I brought that very dish for lunch, the theme for this month’s No Croutons Required event is spicy soups. Must be my lucky day. 🙂
Thai-Spiced Squash and Coconut Soup
1 large squash, cored and cut lengthways into 6 slices
Olive oil
Seasoning
100g desicated coconut
150ml water
3 – 8 tablespoons thai green or red curry paste (home-made or from a jar)
300 – 500 ml stock (chicken or vegetable)
Coriander leaves to serve
- Preheat oven to 190oC. Brush the squash segments with olive oil, season and roast for 45 minutes until soft and beginning to caramelise.
- Meanwhile, soak the coconut in the water.
- Scoop the roasted squash from it skin into a large pan. Add the hydrated coconut and 3 tablespoons of thai green curry paste. Pour stock into the pan until the ingredients are just covered and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Blend the soup until smooth but speckled. Add more stock if it is too thick. Taste and add more curry paste until the soup is spiced to your taste.
- Reheat and serve topped with coriander leaves.
A Wee Bit of Cooking 
Hi Wendy I can’t wait to hear what you think of your new book – I have heard this is a good one to have 😀
Your soup looks very delicious and after having your head exploded I agree soup is such a comfort!
Rosie x
Boy oh boy, Wendy, what a cure that is! I love the addition of coconut! Thanks for entering it into the March challenge! The round-up of entries will be posted at the weekend, along with a voting poll.
I make Thai curry soup all the time; it’s such comfort food for me. Your looks lovely, Wendy. Have fun with the new cookbook; I’ve flipped through it at the bookstore, but I don’t own it. So I’ll look forward to seeing your Cake Bible posts. 🙂
Sounds and looks utterly fabulous. I did a spiced squash and red pepper soup at the weekend, topped with coconut foam. Personally, it could have done without either the foam or the spice. Alas, you live and learn, eh?
Beautiful way to soothe an addled brain…
Have a great weekend away. I hope the book doesn’t do your head in too much!
So that’s what teachers were so “busily” doing when I was taking tests at school.
Beautiful soup recipe and I’m intrigued by the coconut. While I would have considered adding coconut milk, I wouldn’t have even thought about dessicated coconut. Very interesting.
I never knew that curried squash soup was the cure for an exploded head. This is clearly where I have been going wrong all my life! Now that I know, headaches will be banished for good. Hurrah!
Great looking soup – agree the dessicated coconut is a really interesting addition that sounds good.
Rosie – Will give a full report soon. My first impressions are that it is VERY specific and incredibly useful.
Holler – Ok doke, thanks!
Susan – They’re on their way!
Phantom Chef – Foam sounds fun to make but it always makes me think of cuckoo spit. :-s
Lucy – Think I may cry with frustration at some point reading it but that’s ok. Sometimes things have to be hard.
Kathryn – I used to use coconut milk but then was caught short one day. Tried this instead and preferred the texture.
Antonia – It is the secret to a happy healthy life. 🙂 And the coconut was a fluke. See reply to Kathryn.
How funny – was just looking through the NY Times food blog in which they were asking for favorite cookbooks, and someone said the Cake Bible used to be their favorite but had to be retired due to similar brain explosion problems. I can only hope it does the trick with your wedding cake dilemmas. Soup looks looooverly.
My mother used to bake wedding cakes… I used to watch.
Wouldn’t attempt one myself for all the tea in China (And I rather like tea).
I sit in awe at your endeavor…and I’ll send supportive thoughts your way.
Not a bit of advice though…
Annemarie – Me too! It is very reassuring in some ways and utterly confusing in others. 🙂
Katie – Thanks for the support! Need it.
Hi Wendy,
I’m a sometimes lurker who lives in the US and is married to a great guy from the UK.
Rose Levy Beranbaum has a website and blog at http://www.realbakingwithrose.com
She frequently replies to questions left in the comments (but search her archives first, she may already have answered) and also has a forum on the site. So you might find help there as you go through the process. Her audience is worldwide, not just from the US.
Oh, and the soup looks terrific!
cheers
Hi. If you are interested in cooking Thai food try
http://www.thaifoodtonight.com
It’s got about 30 recipes each one with a cooking video to go along
Good if you like to try cooking Thai food at home
Cheers
Mary – Helo! Thanks for that. May just have to contact her. 🙂
MMMMMM…this soup sounds as music to my ears & mouth!!!!