Butternut Squash, Chickpea & Spinach Soup

by Chetna Makan January 09, 2023

This hearty soup is filling by itself but can also be served over rice. The delicate spicing brings together the simple flavours of the chickpeas, squash and spinach.

This recipe is from Chetna Makan’s wonderful book Chetna’s Healthy Indian. Chetna draws inspiration from her family to show off healthy Indian home cooking at its best, working with few ingredients and straight-forward methods to produce dishes with crowd-pleasing flavour, nourishment and comfort.

We were lucky to meet Chetna in 2019 at the British Dal Festival where she talked enthusiastically about her love of dal and demonstrated one of the many dal recipes from the book.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) cubes
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp Sunflower oil
1¼ tsp Sea Salt
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Cumin
½ tsp Chilli Powder
400g can chopped tomatoes
110g Chickpeas, cooked from dried (plus 150ml of cooking liquid)
100g Spinach Leaves, finely chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350oC fan), Gas Mark 4.
Spread out the squash pieces on a roasting tray. Sprinkle over 1 teaspoon of the oil and 1⁄4 teaspoon of the salt, then rub the oil over the cubes with your fingers. Bake for 40 minutes, until the squash is soft and starting to brown.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a large saucepan over medium–low heat. Add the onion and cook for 5–7 minutes, until it begins to colour.
Add the remaining salt to the saucepan, along with the cinnamon, cumin and chilli powder, and mix well. Next, tip in the canned tomatoes, the chickpeas (along with the canning water) and the measured boiling water. Give everything a good stir, then cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat to low and cook for 30 minutes, until everything is cooked down and well combined.
Stir the roasted squash and spinach leaves into the saucepan. Cover the pan with the lid and cook for a further 10 minutes, until the spinach has wilted. Serve immediately.

Chetna's Healthy Indian: Everyday family meals effortlessly good for you. By Chetna Makan, published by Mitchell Beazley. Photographer: Nassima Rothacker

Chetna Makan

Author

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