Preheat oven to 400 F

Place squash halves on a greased large baking sheet. Rub the squash with oil and then Sprinkle squash with cinnamon and baked covered with foil for about 45 minutes to an hour (when you insert a fork, it should be soft.

In a stockpot, heat oil over medium. Sauté the onions for about 5 minutes. Add the chilli flakes and sauté for another 2-3 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, salt and sauté for another 2 minutes.

When squash is ready, remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes or so. Scoop out the squash - it should be very easy to remove from the skin. If not, you didn’t cook it long enough. Add Squash to the stockpot with the sauteed onions and other spices and along with the 8 cups of veggie stock. Simmer for about 15 minutes while stirring every so often to allow flavours to combine and deepen. Add the maple syrup.

Transfer the soup in a blender or keep the soup in the stock pot and use an immersion (hand) blender and blend until smooth- I wanted mine extra smooth so I blended for at least 5 minutes until it was velvety smooth.

Add coconut milk and blend for another 10-20 seconds or so.

Return to the pot and warm again and serve. Test it out and add more spice and salt and pepper if needed.