The selection of recipes featured in Komali Nunna’s “Entertaining from an Ethnic Indian Kitchen” brightens up a vegetarian holiday feast and provides innovative and delicious ways to enjoy seasonal fare. Become inspired to host a community gathering around a decorative table with this Kahocha Squash Coconut Soup Recipe.
Ingredients:
3 pounds kabocha squash, quartered and seeded
melted butter for brushing
6 cups milk, divided
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
20 fresh or dry curry leaves
½ teaspoon cayenne one
13.5 ounce can coconut milk
½ teaspoon ground dry ginger
½ teaspoon lightly packed saffron
2 teaspoons salt garnish
fried curry leaves
paprika
Directions
Preheat oven to 400º F. Brush the flesh side of the squash with melted butter. Set the squash on a sheet pan, flesh side up. Roast for 35 – 40 minutes or until flesh is soft.
Scoop flesh from the squash and puree in the food processor using 2 cups of milk. Puree in batches if necessary.
Heat oil in a medium stockpot over medium heat. When oil is hot, add curry leaves. As soon as curry leaves crisp up, add pureed squash along with coconut milk and rest of the 4 cups of milk. Bring it to simmer. Stir in cayenne, ginger, saffron and salt. Continue to simmer for another 5 – 10 minutes. Season to taste. Ladle soup into the soup bowls, and garnish with curry leaves, and sprinkling of paprika, and serve.
Komali Nunna is the author of “Entertaining from an Ethnic Indian Kitchen.” For Nunna and her family, the table is a place to break bread, make friends, share joy and revel in the abundant produce found growing around their Southern California home. Picking the fruit growing in this area, such as the fall season’s orange persimmons that become ripe and found in yards and farmers throughout the fall season, Nunna has adapted traditional family recipes to the cyclical bounty of her new home.