Curried Black Bean and Roasted Squash Soup with Meatballs

Curried black beans and roasted squash soup with meatballs

This is a lazy weekend soup that takes a bit of time but not overly complicated.  There are a few steps to complete at your leisure - roast the squash,  make the meatballs, prepare the soup base.   The process can be speeded up, if you're pressed for time.  The soup cones out spicy and flavorful - a filling winter soup. 

To speed up the process, brown the meat along with the onions and boil the squash when preparing the soup base, instead of roasting the squash. 

Either way, I think you'll be pleased.



Ingredients:
one smallish squash
2 tsp of olive oil
salt and pepper
1 pound of ground meat
1 tsp of minced garlic
2 tsp of olive oil
squirt of lemon juice
salt and pepper
1 finely chopped onion
1/2 cup salsa or a chicken-stock cube - something to flavor the soup base
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin seeds
chili powder or cayenne to taste
1 tsp curry powder

1.  Preheat oven to medium high about 400F.
2.  For the roasted squash: peel, clean out inside, and chop into small cubes.

Smallish butternut squash

peel and clean

3.  Toss squash cubes with 2 teaspoons of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Place on a baking sheet.

Squash tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper-ready for the oven

4.  Roast squash in oven for 30-40 minutes until soft, crispy and cooked through.  Put aside.

Roasted squash

5.  For the meatballs: gently mix 1 pound of ground meat, I used lamb, minced garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and bread crumbs and form into small meatballs.  There were 38 little meatballs when I was finished rolling the batch.  The number doesn't matter much, you could even just brown the chunk of meat and add to the soup instead of going to the trouble of forming balls.  I used a very small ice cream scope.

38 meatballs on parade

6.  Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat and spray with nonstick spray.  Fry meatballs in batches until brown and set aside.

meatballs browning in a non-stick pan

meatballs and squash waiting for their cue

whole wheat dinner rolls, just out of the oven

7.  For the soup base, mince onion and heat a medium sized sauce pan.  Add 2 tsp of olive oil.
8.  Slowly brown onion in the oil.
9.  Add the cumin, chili powder, curry powder, and salsa and fry till fragrant. 

onion, spices, and salsa

10.  Add 4 cups of water, reduce heat and simmer.

soup base

11.  Add meatballs and simmer for a few minutes so they can cook through.
12.  Add the drained black beans and roasted squash.

13.  When hot, taste, and season with a bit more chili and curry powder, salt, and pepper.

This makes 6 filling 1 1/2 cup servings of soup

Enjoy!

Astrid