Coconut Squash and Dumpling Soup

This vegan-friendly vegetable soup is a perfect way to use up any veggies rotting away in the back of your fridge. During the winter, when the arctic air is whipping your windows and your back, dumpling soup just inherently sounds… perfect.

It’s the kind of meal that I think a pillow princess would eat. Something comforting like their body pillow on their bed, or the body of the man whose number they still haven’t deleted.

This soup uses the warming spices in curry powder, anti-inflammatory turmeric, and lots of veggies to make a nutritious and filling mouthful, for your mouthful.

Add beans for protein, or use up some shredded chicken from your costco $5 rotisserie. The world if your oyster and this soup is YOURS, so do with that what you will. Dive in!!!

Coconut Squash and Dumpling Soup

Yield: 3-4 servings

Time: about 60 to 70 minutes

INGREDIENTS

TO MAKE THE DUMPLING DOUGH:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoons salted butter

• 1/4 cup milk of choice

TO MAKE THE SOUP:

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 shallot, minced

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons salted butter

• 1 tablespoon curry powder

• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

• 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms

• 2 cups of butternut squash, cubed

• 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, or 2 cups shredded chicken (this is one of my favorite ways to use rotisserie chicken scraps)

• 4 cups vegetable stock (sub with 4 cups water plus 1 tablespoon vegetable bouillion paste)

• 2 (15-ounce) cans of full-fat coconut milk

• 1 cup chopped kale

• salt, to taste

• fresh chopped parsley, for garnish

• chili crisp oil, for garnish

INGREDIENTS

1. Prepare the vegetables by dicing the cloves and shallots. Then peel the butternut squash and chop 1/2, saving the other half for future uses. Dice the squash into 1/2” cubes. Remove the stems of the shiitake mushrooms and quarter the mushroom heads.

2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a pot over medium-low heat. Add the shallots and garlic, then saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the curry powder, turmeric, and cinnamon and toast the spices until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. Toss in the butternut squash, mushrooms, and beans. Toss to coat in the spice mixture. Cover with 4 cups of vegetable stock and cook for 10-15 minutes while you make the dumpling dough.

4. To make the dumpling dough, add the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar into a medium bowl and whisk until combined. Cut the cold butter into the flour using a fork or pastry cutter until crumbly. Add the milk and stir until a sticky but manageable dough occurs. Set aside

5. Stir the coconut milk into the soup until combined. Then, using a spoon, drop the dumpling dough into the soup in small spoonfuls. Let cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Before serving, add the chopped kale and cook for 2 minutes.

6. Stir and taste, adding more salt and/or pepper if needed. Serve with a drizzle of chili oil and fresh chopped parsley.

7. Dive in!

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