We were invited to a Ryza Interactive Cooking Event at Loblaw Maple Leaf Gardens’ cooking school. A really nice venue. Chef Patricia Muzzi of Mood Food Culinary was doing a demonstration on how to use a new product “Ryza” as an ingredient.  Unfortunately, we had a family emergency we needed to leave early during the cooking process.  So, while we didn’t get a chance to sample the food. They gave us 2 cartons of Ryza to go home to try the product.

Ryza is a rice milk that is lactose and gluten-free. It actually looks like and in some way taste like soy milk. While we were given recipes to try with Ryza, I happened to have buttercup squash at home. So, I decided to use Ryza to make a squash soup.  It actually turned out fabulous.  Here’s the recipe for those who would like to give this a try.

1 small buttercup squash, about 2 pounds
2 cups of Ryza
2 onions diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon of curry powder
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350°. Cut the buttercup squash in quarter and remove seeds. Brush olive oil on the squash and baked for 40 minutes or until lightly brown on the top.  Let cool, then scrape out the squash from the skin.

In a medium pot, heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil and sauté diced onions in medium heat.  You don’t want to burn the onions. Cook until onions are transparent then add curry powder, squash and 2 cups of Ryza. Bring to a boil and use a hand held mixture to stir the soup to remove any lumps.  Reduce heat to low and continue to cook for another 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 4 servings, so we had it for 2 lunches for the two of us at work.