Thursday, June 14, 2018

Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin and Coconut Soup, a family favourite



Pumpkin soup with sourdough toast is always a winner with us, and this quick and easy recipe with the subtle flavours of curry powder and coconut milk, has been a longstanding family favourite in our home. I bought a whole Jap pumpkin at the Farmer's Market two weeks ago, what was I thinking, that's a lot of pumpkin, so I decided I had to work on using it all up this week. Pumpkins are plentiful and cheap right now and can help to stretch the budget. Using the simplest ingredients, and cooked quickly in the microwave oven, my pumpkin soup recipe can be prepared and ready to eat in under an hour. How's that for convenience during the week. It doesn't feel like cooking really when I make this.

This recipe uses a kilo of pumpkin, and you can stretch it as far as you need by adding more water and coconut milk if necessary. Or if you enjoy it thick and quite filling just leave the recipe as is. It also freezes well, so I'll be making another batch and freezing it.

Ingredients:

1 kg Jap pumpkin (peeled and chopped into 3 cm pieces), also known as Kent pumpkin
2 cups of chicken stock, or 2 chicken stock cubes and 2 cups of water
2 large garlic cloves crushed
2 teaspoons curry powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 can of organic coconut milk (400 ml)

Method:

Place first five ingredients into a 2 litre  casserole dish. Cook on High for 15-20  minutes in your microwave oven until all pieces of pumpkin are well cooked. You might need to take out the dish carefully,  give the pumpkin a stir to move the middle pieces to the outside, and pop it back in the oven for 5 another minutes. This depends on your pumpkin.

Remove dish when pumpkin is cooked,and allow the pumpkin to cool slightly.

Puree pumpkin with a stick blender. Stir in coconut milk and add seasoning to your taste. I used a lot of pepper. (Cream can be substituted.)

Cook on high for another 4 minutes in the microwave.

Garnish with fresh garlic chives or coriander, finely chopped.

I also baked a Pumpkin and Apricot Fruit Cake this morning, so I'll share that recipe with you very soon. Gosh, I still have half a pumpkin left though. At the very least, it will be some baked vegetables including pumpkin with Corned Silverside for dinner tonight. What would you do with all that pumpkin?

Warm wishes

Pauline

6 comments:

  1. This is one of my favorite soups. Easy to make and tastes great.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Nil. Every family probably has their favourite recipe for pumpkin soup.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pumpkin Cake.. so yummy...I roast the pumpkin first then mash..
    Pumpkin Cake
    •2 cups sugar
    •1 cup vegetable oil
    •4 large eggs
    •2 cups SR flour
    •2 teaspoons baking soda
    •2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    •1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
    •1 teaspoon baking powder
    •1/2 teaspoon salt
    •2 cups cooked mashed pumpkin
    •1/2 cup chopped pecans

    Preparation:
    Directions for pumpkin cake
    Combine sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl; mix well. Sift dry ingredients into a separate bowl; stir into oil mixture, beating well. Stir in pumpkin mash.
    Pour batter into two greased and floured 9-inch round layer cake pans. (I use a pyrex lasagne dish) Bake at 160° for 35 to 40 minutes (50 to 60 for the lasagne pan). Turn out onto rack to cool. Frost pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with chopped pecans.

    Cream Cheese Frosting
    •2 tbs butter
    •125g cream cheese, room temperature
    •1 ½ cups icing sugar
    •1 teaspoons vanilla extract

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like that this one uses a lot of pumpkin and makes a large cake.A nice change from pumpkin fruit cake. Must give it a try. Thanks Tropigal.

      Delete
  4. Love this! You've kind of combined Thai and Indian flavors.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave me a note - I love hearing from you.
If you would like to receive follow up comments, simply click the "Notify me" link to the right of the "Publish" and "preview" buttons.
Comments containing personal or commercial links will not be published.
(c)2014-2022 Copyright on articles and photographs by Hope Pauline McNee