Curried Butternut Squash and Red lentil Soup (aka Kaddu Wali Dal)

✨Why you'll love this recipe

• It's packed with plan based nutrients
• Flavorful and comforting
• Is a complete meal in itself
• Easy to make and simple ingredients
• Gluten free
• Swapping one ingredient will make it vegan

🍛Basics of cooking Indian style lentil soups

A basic lentil soup or daal in my kitchen involves two steps - cooking the lentils and the tadka or tempering that is added after the lentils are done cooking. The lentils can be slowly cooked in an open pot or quickly in a pressure cooker or Instant pot. While cooking the lentils you can add salt and turmeric and optional veggies and aromatics (like in my mixed lentil dal recipe).

The tempering or tadka as I call it, is made of spices and ghee is added to finish the daal. You can think of tadka as a spiced oil drizzled over the lentils. I use my homemade ghee for making tadka of all my daals, but if you replace it with olive oil or oil of your choice you can make the recipe vegan.

Most Indian style lentil soups are naturally gluten free. The only lentil soup I can think of that has gluten in it is the Chicken Haleem recipe that has wheat berries in it. It's delicious!!!

📋What ingredients you'll need

You will fall in love with the incredible flavors that come from warm Indian spices (bonus: health benefits). The texture of this curried butternut squash and red lentil soup is perfect for when you are craving for something comforting. Here's what you'll need to make it:

• Butternut squash - you will need peeled and cubed butternut squash. It takes some effort but is worth it.
• Lentils - Red lentils are easy to find and are sold in most American grocery stores and are sometimes called football lentils. These lentils, known as masoor dal in India, cook quickly (so you don’t really need a pressure cooker to save time), and are a relatively inexpensive source of protein. If you’ve never cooked daal before, red lentils are the easiest to start with.
• Spices - you'll use basic spices like turmeric, coriander powder and cumin seeds. These add a flavor punch and have great health benefits. I finish the soup with my homemade recipe of garam masala.
• Ghee - I use my homemade ghee for the tempering/tadka of this butternut and lentil soup. Homemade ghee is easy to make, is inexpensive, and is free of any additives. If that's not your thing you can always buy your ghee.
• Produce - other than the butternut squash, we will use a tomato to add the fruity notes to this dal soup. I also love finishing and garnishing the soup with chopped cilantro. Garlic is optional to add in the tempering but ALWAYS recommended 😁.

Don't forget to check out the recipe card below for a complete list of ingredients along with the quantities.

👩‍🍳Steps to make this recipe

Step 1: Start by peeling and cubing your butternut squash (Image 1) and chopping the tomato. A trusted, super sharp knife is helpful.

Step 2: Set a heavy bottomed sauce pan or a dutch oven on medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add ghee and let it melt. Once the ghee is melted, add the chopped tomato (Image 2). Cook until the tomatoes are slightly mushy, about 2-3 minutes.

Step 3: Add the cubed butternut squash, turmeric and a pinch of salt and give it a mix. Cook for a minute or two (Image 3).

Step 4: Now add the red lentils (Image 4).

Step 5: Give everything a mix, add the water and a little more salt (may be a teaspoon). (Image 5). At this point turn the heat to high, cover the pot and let it come to a boil. Once boiling, give a stir, lower the heat to medium high and cook for 25 minutes. Uncover the pot and stir intermittently.

Step 6: After 25 minutes, take the lid off and check the butternut squash and the lentils for doneness. The butternut squash should easily by smashed when pushed against the wall of the pot with a spoon and the letils should be soft. Your soup should look like a soup by now (Image 6) 😁. Turn the heat to simmer or absolute low.

Step 7: Take a small tadka pan (or any small fry pan) and put it on medium high heat. Add ghee and after the ghee melts, add asafoetida (heeng), cumin seeds, and chopped garlic (if using). Cook for about 30 seconds (Image 7) and then add the coriander powder. Cook for another 15 seconds or until the coriander powder is toasted. Turn the heat off. Your tadka/tempering/spiced ghee is ready.

Step 8: Pour the tadka into your pot of curried butternut squash and red lentil soup (Image 8).

Step 9: Add garam masala and chopped cilantro to the soup (Image 9).

Step 10: Mix everything, adjust seasoning if needed (Image 10). Serve the soup hot garnished with more cilantro.

📖Substitutions, Additions and Variations

This recipe is naturally gluten free.

• Vegan - Swap the ghee with olive oil or your favorite cooking oil and make this recipe vegan.
• Butternut squash - you can substitute cubed sweet potato or pumpkin if you cannot find butternut squash. Or you can use frozen butternut squash.
• Spicy - add chopped serrano or jalapeno along with tomatoes in step 2 to spice things up.
• Vegetable broth - use low sodium vegetable broth instead of water to further increase the nutritional value of this lentil soup.
• Lentils - you can use any deskinned, split lentils for this recipe as these will cook approximately in the same time as the red lentils. Yellow lentils or moong dal is an ideal substitute.

🫙Storage, freezing, and reheating instructions

If you have leftovers or if you make a double batch of this recipe (highly recommended), here's how you can store or freeze them:

• Storage - you can store the leftovers in a air tight container in the refrigerator for upto 5 days.
• Freezing - you can freeze leftovers for upto 3 months. Let the soup cool completely and you can either put them in a freezer proof container or in a freezer safe ziptop bag. If you make a double batch, do not temper with the spiced ghee. Instead, freeze the soup after step 8 and temper and finish with cilantro and garam masala when ready to eat.
• Reheating - Reheat leftovers from the refrigerator in a microwave or in a small saucepan on medium high heat until heated through. From the freezer, let the lentils thaw and then reheat in microwave or sauce pan. If you froze the soup without tempering, warm the thawed soup in a sauce pan, make the tempering, add it to the lentils and bring to boil. Then finish with cilantro and garam masala.