Red Kuri Squash Thai Red Soup

A lightly spiced soup, perfect for colder days. Using a whole jar of medium spiced paste, this was lightly spiced. To jazz it up you can add extra chillis. Makes 3-4 small bowls of soup

Ingredients
1 medium-large whole red kuri squash
1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 carrots, diced 
2 spring onions, finely sliced
180g jar of red thai curry paste (I used Sainsbury's own brand medium strength)
160ml tin of coconut cream
400mls vegetable stock
1 lime, juice and zest
Olive oil
Salt 

To garnish: some additional spring onions, fresh coriander, chillis, chilli oil, toasted peanuts 

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200C (fan). Chop your squash in half and remove the seeds, then split into around 8 chunks. Drizzle with olive oil, and salt and roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until completely soft.
2. Meanwhile, warm a tablespoon or so of oil in a large saucepan and saute your onions, carrots and spring onions with a pinch of salt for around 5 minutes until softened. Add the curry paste and cook out for 2 minutes before adding the coconut cream and vegetable stock. Simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the carrots have completely softened.
3. When the squash is ready, remove from the oven, allow to cool until cool enough to handle, then scoop out the flesh from the skin and add it into the saucepan with the rest of the ingredients. 
4. Either transfer everything to a blender, or use a hand stick blender, to blitz the soup until velvetty smooth. Add more stock if you prefer a thinner soup. Put the soup back in the saucepan, season with the lime juice and add more salt if necessary.
5. Serve up and garnish as you like!

Recipe by Ceri Jones