Vietnamese Kabocha Squash Soup

Vietnamese Kabocha Squash Soup, fragrant, colorful and ever so flavorful. This soup is simple, easy and squash is in season, so why not give it a try!

Song of the day: "Everybody Wants Some" by Van Halen.

Vietnamese Kabocha Squash Soup, if you love squash this soup highlights the wonderful texture, color, and velvetiness of Kabocha squash! However, combine that with a light broth enlightened by fresh notes of green onion, lemongrass, and basil, and morsels of ground pork, and you are left with an end result of pure deliciousness!

This one's mine!

Nicoletta and I usually decide which countries we want to do, however, when I heard this month's destination for Eat the World was Vietnam I stepped to the for-front and declared this one's mine! I love Vietnamese food. It is fresh, colorful, simple, and so delicious. More so, I believe it is very healthy for you too! There were so many options of recipes I wanted to do, and I was craving all of them, but one really captivated me, because it had kabocha squash in it, and it just so happened that we had one. 

Today I am really happy and excited to share this recipe with you: Vietnamese Kabocha Squash Soup. Soup season is still in full swing in our kitchen, and this one will surely make it to your top ten soup favorite!

Welcome to eat the world!

In this day and age traveling the world physically has become quite a challenge. I know Nicoletta and I are sure missing traveling and being inspired by all the food we experience. Well, we are so grateful for this group of passionate food bloggers and the virtual tour of the food world. Excitement always comes at the beginning of the month, knowing that the next destination will be revealed! I am so excited to see all the dishes our fellow bloggers will share!

Look at all these wonderful ingredients!

One thing I love about Vietnamese cuisine is that they always use fresh healthy ingredients! Likewise, this Vietnamese Kabocha Squash Soup is no exception! Let's have a look at what's in this dish:

• Kabocha squash
• garlic
• ginger
• green onion
• purple onion
• lemongrass
• fresh basil
• ground pork
• vegetable broth
• fish sauce

Braising the pork!

Firstly, to get things started, we need to get some peanut oil and sesame oil heated up. In goes the garlic and onion and when that has flavored the pot well by releasing all those aromatic lovely juices, we throw in the ground pork. Furthermore, with a wooden spoon, we want to break up the ground into nice small morsels! You don't want big chunks of pork in a spoonful, consequently overtaking the other elements of the soup!

Once the pork is cooked, I took a few spoonfuls and set them aside for garnish! 

The next phase

Secondly, time to add the vegetable broth and some chopped basil and lemongrass. Once it's all stirred in and it starts to simmer again, this is when the squash goes in! The aroma is absolutely wonderful! Now it is all about time, which translates in the food language to flavor, flavor, flavor!

A thing of beauty and comfort!

Look at this finished dish. Lastly, I garnished with some fresh chopped green onion, and the ground pork I set aside. One final touch, a splash of fish sauce. This is purely optional. I personally love the flavor boost it adds. Actually, likewise, it seems to enhance all the ingredients including the kabocha squash! Having those chunks of squash seems almost colossal, however, when you have a spoonful, the balance that you experience is unbelievable. That squash just melts and the broth swirls as the pork comes in with texture and sweetness.

Garnishes matter!

Sometimes we seem to think, why garnish? Well, I love finishing a dish. It not only brightens the dish with color, but it also adds some bright notes to the palate.  Likewise, in this Vietnamese Kabocha Squash Soup,  the finish of green onion, chopped fresh basil, and that fish sauce plays with the taste buds beautifully! It takes the flavors of the broth and squash, plus that juicy pork, to levels not ever traveled to before! Wow, sounds like an intro for Star Trek, lol. All in all, we loved this soup to no end. I wanted to lick the bowl but refrained as I got the mind clip and it was not good! lol. Really all I  was trying to say was that this soup was spectacular, and I wanted to share it with you! A perfect meal for the weekly meal plan.

Wanted to share

P.S. I brought a bowl to my mom. She loved it and that is huge because number one she is Italian, a nonna, and very critical and opinionated! So I took it as a huge compliment, and wiped the sweat from my brow with a sigh of relief!

 So many great recipes!

Check out all the wonderful Vietnamese dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld. Click here to find out how to join and have fun exploring a country a month in the kitchen with us!

Enjoy!

Pandemonium Noshery: Bánh Tráng Nướng
Magical Ingredients: Vietnamese Summer Spring Rolls
Sneha’s Recipe: Vietnamese Che Chuoi /Coconut and Sago Pudding
Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Vietnamese Chicken Porridge (Chao Ga)
Sugarlovespices (us!): Vietnamese Kabocha Squash Soup
Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Cà Phê Trứng (Vietnamese Egg Coffee)
A Day in the Life on the Farm: Easy Beef Pho
Making Miracles: Vietnamese Style Beef with Garlic, Black Pepper, and Lime
Kitchen Frau: Vietnamese Caramelized Ground Pork Rice Bowls
Palatable Pastime: Vietnamese Inspired Marinated Bean Salad

Vietnamese Kabocha Squash Soup

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Vietnamese Kabocha Squash Soup. If you love squash this soup highlights the wonderful texture, color, and velvetiness of Kabocha squash! However, combine that with a light broth enlightened by fresh notes of green onion, lemongrass, and basil, and morsels of ground pork, and you are left with an end result of pure deliciousness!

• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: serves 4 people 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Squash:

• 1 kg kabocha squash

Pork:

• 150 g ground pork
• 1 Tbsp peanut oil blended with 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• ⅛ cup of minced purple onion
• ½ tsp each onion powder, garlic powder, white pepper
• 1 tsp each five spice, and grated lemongrass

Broth:

• 5 cups vegetable stock
• 3 leaves fresh basil slivered

Garnishes:

• 3 green onion stalks chopped
• 2 leaves fresh basil slivered
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• ground black pepper to taste

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Instructions

Squash:

1. Cut the squash in half, scoop out seeds and pulp.
2. Now cut the halves into quarters, and peel. Then cut each quarter into 2-inch pieces, roughly 4 cm long. Place into a bowl.

Pork:

1. Heat up peanut and sesame oil in a large crockpot, add in garlic, ginger, and onion and sauté for 2  minutes on low to medium heat.
2. Add in the ground pork and break with a wooden spoon. Simmer this until it starts to turn pink. Sprinkle in the spice mix and stir to incorporate.
3. Take a few spoonfuls of the mixture and place in a bowl or ramekin, and set aside for garnishing.

Broth:

1. Time to add in the broth.  Throw in the chopped basil and lemongrass and stir. Place heat to low/medium and let simmer for 10 minutes. However,  if a foam forms on top use a spoon, skim off the top and discard.
2. Add in the squash, stir, and cover. Simmer on low for 10-15 minutes stirring frequently. When the squash is fork-tender it is ready.

Garnishing:

1. Turn off heat and pour in fish sauce. Stir.
2. Ladle soup into the bowls, then sprinkle with chopped green onion and basil.
3. Place some of the cooked ground pork we set aside and dust with ground black pepper.
4. Ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Notes

If you can't find the Kabocha squash you can use butternut squash or even pumpkin.

As for the broth, you can also use chicken broth,  but don't use beef broth, it may overpower the squash

• Author: Loreto
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Category: Soup, meat
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: Vietnamese

Keywords: Kabocha squash, green onion, ginger, lemongrass, basil, fish sauce, vegetable broth, Vietnamese cuisine, soups,

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Loreto

When I am not cooking, I enjoy playing musical instruments, singing, writing. I have learned over the years to live in gratitude and enjoy the moment.