Spontaneous pumpkin soup
Most of my life I believed I don’t know how to cook and I would never have thought I’d fall in love with it one day. Luckily time passes allowing people and their skills to evolve. Now I can spontaniousley mix various ingredients and spices with pretty good results. This very soup is an effect of such experiments. Pretty mild and slighly sweet with tasty, deep, earthy tones. It’s got all you need to warm up after a grey and chilly long walk.
RECIPE
1 Hokkaido pumpkin (1-1,5 kg)
2 tbsp coconut milk
1 tbsp thick soy sauce (regular one will also do)
1 tsp maple/agave syrup/liquid honey
1 tbsp coconut/rice oil
Heat up the oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Half the pumpkin, remove all seeds and dice (no need to peel, that’s the beauty of Hokkaido pumpkin:)). Transfer to a heat-resistant vessel and pour all the liquid ingredients. Stir thoroughly and bake around 20 minutes until soft (it’s good to stir once or twice during baking). Remove from the oven and continue with following ingredients.
1 onion peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves peeled and smashed
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 cm piece of ginger root peeled and diced
0,5 tsp turmeric
0,5 tsp powdered cumin
0,5 tsp dill seeds
pinch of cinnamon
0,5 cup of hot veggie broth
1 cup coconut milk
Use a big pan to heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic for 2-3 min. Add ginger and all the spices and roast for a moment to reveal all aromas (be careful not to burn). Add broth and baked pumpkin and bring to boil, than pour in the coconut milk and bring to boil again letting it simmer for a couple of minutes and making sure the pumpkin is really soft. Remove from heat, let cool a bit and process in a blender roughly (I like this one with some bigger clumps of pumpkin). If the cream is too thick add more water/stock/coconut milk. Use soy sauce or salt to taste. Enjoy and don’t stint on it, it is cold Autumn after all!
