Northern Squash Soup

Name: Northern Squash Soup
Yield: Serves Four
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 2.5 ml/½ tsp shrimp paste; 10 drained bottled green peppercorns; 1 small fresh green chilli, seeded and finely chopped; cooked rice, to serve; 115 g/4 oz shallots, sliced; 225 g/8 oz raw prawns (shrimp); small bunch fresh basil; 15 ml/1 tbsp Thai fish sauce; 90 g/3½ oz/scant 1 cup green beans, cut into 2.5cm/1in pieces; 45 g/1¾ oz dried banana flower (optional); 1 butternut squash, about 300g/11oz; 1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups vegetable stock

Preparation info

Serves
Four

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Thai Food and Cooking

By Judy Bastyra and Becky Johnson

Published 2011

About

As the title of the recipe suggests, this comes from Northern Thailand. It is quite hearty, something of a cross between a soup and a stew. The banana flower isn’t essential, but it does add a unique and authentic flavour.

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, about 300g/11oz
1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups

Asia
Thailand
Pescatarian
Gluten-free
South East Asia
Soup

Method

Peel the butternut squash and cut it in half. Scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon and discard, then cut the flesh into neat cubes. Set aside.
Make the chilli paste by pounding the shallots, peppercorns, chilli and shrimp paste together using a mortar and pestle or puréeing them in a spice blender.