Moroccan Butternut Squash Chick Pea Soup Recipe

We Moroccans love butternut squash in every way shape of form

And goodness knows it comes in countless shapes and sizes. Butternut squash turns up in many Moroccan dishes (Couscous on top of the list). Their spicy sweetness is equally at home  in savory dishes (I love Pumpkin Corn Pudding) and in desserts. To the classical pumpkin, which can often be hit or miss inside (sometimes we do want to eat pumpkin, not just make Halloween funny faces with it!), I much prefer the more reliable butternut squash. Like all my soups (except of course chicken soup, beef borscht, fish soup etc: Soups that have meat of fish at their central theme), my butternut squash soup is totally and naturally vegetarian, has lots of flavors going for it and needs no help from any stock or broth to be delicious. Perfect choice for a Rosh Hashanah Menu!

Don’t worry about peeling butternut squash:

I use it peel and all. The peel dissolves during the cooking, and is actually very thin.

The pairing of butternut squash and chick peas is wonderful and typically Sephardi, especially when rounded out, as here, with sweet spices.

Please do take the trouble of using dried, not canned, chick peas, here: you will taste the difference in the finished dish!

Using a hammer makes short work of cutting butternut squash and many other gigantic vegetables.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried chick peas, soaked overnight in cold water and rinsed, reserved
• 1/3 olive oil
• 2 large onions, quartered
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 medium size butternut squash, or 1 medium kabocha squash, about 3 1/2 pounds,  seeded and cut in 1" squares
• 3 quarts (12 cups) water
• 2 good pinches saffron
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• Ground pepper to taste
  
• Garnish: 1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds, optional.

Instructions