Curried butternut squash and red lentil soup

With all the stresses and strains most of us have been through this year, it’s not surprising that many of us have been seeking out comfort foods. Typically these comfort foods aren’t exactly the best foods for your waistline. There’s even a term now for the extra pounds that a lot of us have put on over the last few months — the “Quarantine 15” (like the common phrase “Freshman 15”).
But comfort food doesn’t have to equate to fattening food. This luscious and nourishing curried butternut squash and red lentil soup is a perfect example. A warming bowl of this soup, in our opinion, is among the most comforting things you can eat. Yet at the same time it’s packed with nourishment and goodness and not a lot of calories.
In fact this soup is just the sort of comfort food you want to be consuming at the moment because butternut squash is a particularly rich source of beta carotene, which helps promote a healthy immune system.
1 onion — finely chopped
2 cloves garlic — finely chopped
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon dried chili flakes
2 lbs (1kg) butternut squash — peeled and cut into cubes
½ cup red lentils
1 cup coconut milk, plus extra for drizzling
5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro (fresh coriander)