South African Butternut Soup

Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 kg butternut squash
• 2 large brown onions, finely chopped
• 3 small garlic cloves, finely chopped or 1 elephant garlic clove
• 500 ml chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 250 ml water
• 3 small strong green chilies or 1 large jalapeno, no pips, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 250 ml fresh pouring cream

Recipe

• 1 peel and pip the butternuts, and cut it into about 5cm square chunks.
• 2 peel and chop the onions quite finely.
• 3 chop the garlic very finely, or push through a garlic press.
• 4 halve the jalapeno pepper or green chillies and scrape out all the pips. chop the green flesh very finely.
• 5 put the onions, garlic and chillies into the melted butter in a saucepan on a moderate heat and cook until the onions are soft and transparent. add the lemon juice and chicken stock and stir until well mixed.
• 6 add the water and the cubes of butternut, and simmer until the soup is thick and all the ingredients are well blended together, about 1 hour.
• 7 liquidise with a bamix or a food processer.
• 8 serve hot.
• 9 swirl a tablespoon or two of fresh cream into the centre of each bowl of soup just before serving.