Butternut Curry Coconut milk soup

Growing up in New Zealand in the 1950's and 1960's the only ethnic food you could "take out" was Chinese or Indian Food.  So curry was something I was very accustomed to.  Living in Thailand in the 1980's gave me the extra joy of using coconut milk with curry.  Pumpkin was something I had grown up with, as a vegetable used for roasting with Roast Lamb. I first was introduced to butternut squash in the USA......but now I see it all over the world.  Its sold in huge abundance very cheaply in South Africa, for example.  Now you don't even have to peel and cut it up yourself if you don't want to.  You can buy it already prepped in a bag in the supermarket.  How easy is that?
 This is a soup I've been making for years, and have several versions of it offered below.

BUTTERNUT CURRY COCONUT MILK SOUP
 Saute one chopped onion, in a little olive oil in a large pot until tender, about 5 mins,
 add 1 tsp curry powder and stir for 30 secs.
Add two bags of cut up butternut squash, and stir,
add 1 can of reduced fat coconut milk
 and 4 cups of chicken broth.
  First bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for 30 mins.

 Another idea is to use pumpkin.  You can roast it ahead of time which deepens the flavor.  Or you can just boil it the same way you would the butternut squash.  Even canned pumpkin works well.

Use a potato masher or submersible blender to mash everything until smooth.  Serves 4

To change the flavor completely, omit the coconut milk and curry powder and add a mixture of herbs.  I like sage, thyme and rosemary.    This version is a lot lower in calories and very delicious.

My daughter Jenny, likes to make this with a bit of nutmeg and some orange peel left in while the squash or pumpkin is cooking and then removed at the end.  She uses about a cup of cream to finish it off.