This past week, my mom brought me some awesome Opo Squash! Typically, I make a standard Indian Curried Opo Squash & Lentil dish (recipe to come), but this time I wanted to try something different. I was tired of eating Indian food last week, but did not want them to go bad in the fridge. I recalled making an opo squash soup awhile back and decided to make another variation of it. I was sort of shooting from the hip in terms of what else include in this soup, but the outcome was so delicious and satisfying (so much so that my entire family could not get enough!) that I knew I had to share the recipe. It is very simple, flavorful, and fairly quick to make.
I started off with some Opo Squash and decided to add some red bell peppers for their sweetness (for those of you who follow my blog, you may recall that my husband cannot eat carrots, so I went with red bell peppers as the other choice). As I was steaming both of these vegetables in the pressure cooker, I decided to toss in some red potatoes to thicken the soup and make it hearty. I kept the seasoning simple and went with some thyme, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. The soup came out fresh and flavorful! Pickup some Opo Squash and try making it today!
Opo Squash, Red Pepper, & Potatoe Soup
INGREDIENTS
- 2 medium opo squash peeled & diced into large cubes
- 1/2 large red bell pepper cut into large squares
- 1 medium red potato peeled and diced into small cubes
- 1/2 medium white onion , chopped
- 1.5 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp butter , salted or olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1/2 teasp dried thyme
- fresh lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Using a pressure cooker or instant pot, steam the opo squash and red bell pepper at the same time. (If you do not have a pressure cooker, steam the squash and bell pepper in your preferred method. Alternatively you could add them to the red potatoes step and cook them all together in the pot.)
- Continue onto the next step while they are cooking.
- In a large non-stick pot, heat the salted butter (or vegetable oil) on medium heat.
- Add the garlic and onions and cook until fragrant and the onions start to become translucent (a few minutes).
- Add the diced potatoes to the pot and combine with the onions and garlic.
- Add the vegetable broth and some salt, pepper, and dried thyme. Cover and reduce the heat. Simmer until the potatoes are very tender (~20 minutes). Make sure you add enough broth so that the potatoes don’t burn.
- Once the potatoes are very tender, use a hand blender to puree everything in the pot. Thin the soup with additional stock if it is too thick (most likely you will NOT need any additional stock).
- Add fresh lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.
- Serve hot with some toasted french bread on the side!
Sarah
Where do they carry opo squash? what is it in gujrati?
anjali
Opo Squash in Gujrati is ‘Dudhi’, or at least that’s what I knew it as growing up. If you look it up online on google images you can see what it looks like. But basically a long light green squash.
They should carry opo squash at any asian market. That’s where I’ve gotten mine from. Hope that helps! Let me know if you need more info.
Pd
I always wonder how to use pop squash
Julianne
I bought all the ingredients for this soup and when the time came we had a situation that suddenly made me in a huge rush.
I had already cut all the vegetables, but I had no time to follow the instructions!
So instead I quickly sautéed the onions and garlic in the instant pot, then I threw in all the remaining ingredients (minus the lemon juice) and set the instant pot sealed on high pressure for 6 minutes.
When I returned home the pressure had released and I blended everything… added w’a bit of lemon… and it turned out absolutely delicious!
I gave a 5 star rating even though I did not follow the recipe because the pairing of ingredients was very good. Also it was so simple how I did it, I may do it again! Thank you 🙂
anjali
Thank you so much for the review – I love the way you made it! This is an older very out-dated recipe and is on my list to update using the Instant Pot for sure! Glad you enjoyed all the vegetable pairings. I have anohter great IP recipe coming using Opo Squash!