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Warming Squash Soup with Sesame Cheese Cracker

Recipe

A silky, spicy squash soup with a crispy, nutty cheddar cracker you smash at the table. Big heat, bold flavour, and a bit of drama too.

Serves: 4 people | Cooking time: 60 minutes

MOB | Starter

Ingredients

For the soup

  • 1 kg Squash
  • 1 Brown Onion
  • 4 Cloves Garlic
  • 2 Chillies
  • 30 g Fresh Ginger
  • 4 Spring Onions
  • 400 ml Coconut Milk
  • 750 ml Vegetable Stock
  • 1 tsp Turmeric
  • ½ tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
  • Olive Oil
  • Black Pepper
  • Salt

For the cracker

  • 200 g Cheddar Cheese
  • 1 tsp Chilli Flakes
  • 40 g Sesame Seeds

To serve

  • 2 Spring Onions

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 190°C. Peel the squash and cut it into 3cm chunks. Peel the onion and cut into wedges. Peel the garlic cloves but keep them whole. Halve the chillies lengthways and remove the seeds if you prefer less heat. Trim the spring onions for roasting. Peel and thinly slice the ginger.
  2. Add the squash, onion, garlic and chillies to a roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss everything together. Roast for 25–30 mins, turning once, until golden and soft.
  3. Add the sliced ginger and trimmed spring onions to the tin, toss again, and roast for another 10 mins.
  4. Tip all the roasted veg into a large saucepan. Pour in the coconut milk and vegetable stock. Stir in the ground turmeric and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10 mins. Taste and add more soy sauce, if needed.
  5. While the soup simmers, make your sesame cheddar cracker. Grate the cheddar. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add roughly 50g grated cheddar to the pan in a mound. Let it melt and bubble for 4–5 mins until starting to brown. Sprinkle over some sesame seeds and a pinch of chilli flakes. Keep cooking for another minute or so, until it darkens but doesn’t burn. Carefully lift the cheese from the pan using a spatula and transfer to a tray to crisp up. Repeat with the remaining cheese.
  6. Use a stick blender to blitz the soup until smooth. If it’s too thick, loosen with a splash of hot water or extra stock. Taste and adjust seasoning.
  7. Finely slice the spring onions for garnish. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the sliced spring onions, and serve with a cheese cracker on top, smash it at the table.