Spicy Pumpkin Soup

This quick and easy Spicy Pumpkin Soup recipe combines the wonderful flavours of pumpkin, ginger, cumin, turmeric and garam masala, with just a touch of chilli… The result is a delicious and nutritious meal that can be on the table in under 30 minutes! (No pumpkin? No problem! You can sub with butternut squash – it’s just as delicious!)

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine American, British

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings people

Calories 174kcal

Author Eb Gargano

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions diced
1 cm ginger grated (or 1 teaspoon pre-chopped ginger – see Note 1)
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes (or to taste)
1 kg pumpkin cut into 1cm cubes (see Note 2)
500 ml vegetable stock (from a cube is fine – I used 1 x Kallo organic vegetable stock cube)
Salt and pepper to taste (See Note 3)
50 ml coconut cream (optional)
Pumpkin seeds for garnish (optional)

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Place the olive oil and diced onions in a fairly large saucepan and gently fry the onions for 4 minutes, with the lid on, until softened but not brown. Stir occasionally.
Add the ginger, garlic, garam masala, cumin, turmeric and chilli flakes and fry for 1 more minute on low, stirring frequently. Add a small splash of water if it gets too dry.
Add the chopped pumpkin, vegetable stock, salt and pepper and turn up the heat. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down and simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on, or until the pumpkin is quite soft.
Tip the soup into a blender and blitz until completely smooth. PLEASE TAKE CARE AS THE SOUP WILL BE VERY HOT! (See Note 4.)
If necessary, return the blended soup back to the saucepan and warm back up to your desired temperature. You may also wish to check the seasoning at this point too. If the soup is a little thick for your tastes, add a little extra water at this point to achieve your desired consistency.
Optional: Turn off the heat and stir through 50ml coconut cream and/or add a swirl of coconut cream to the soup once you’ve put ladled it into the bowls.
Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with pumpkin seeds (optional) and serve with homemade bread.

Notes

To make this soup even easier, you can use ready chopped frozen ginger – which is easy to find in most supermarkets.
For best flavour, use a culinary pumpkin. Peeling and cutting a pumpkin is not as hard as it sounds! Scroll up to see step by step instructions and photographs.
I prefer to only add black pepper to this soup, as the salt content of the stock cube makes this soup salty enough for my tastes.
If you prefer, you can use a stick blender or potato masher - or leave the soup un-blended.
Suitable for freezing.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition