Thundering Pumpkin Soup

Thundering Tandoori Pumpkin Soup

I was quite ill a couple of weeks ago and then I flew to the UK with near sub-zero weather, which made me crave soup but I obviously wasn’t going to go for the traditional chicken noodle soup and opting for a non-chicken noodle soup seemed like a cheap copout. I wanted something that was special, hearty and a full on explosion. I wanted this soup to not only feel comforting and soothing, I wanted it to feel as if it just conducted a full on assault on that bloody virus that had me bed ridden for several days.

I had it as a main and had two full bowls but realistically it could also be served up in a small soup dish as a starter.

Special Equipment

This is a creamy pumpkin styled dish and although you could chop everything super fine and cook it till all the ingredients dissolve, I prefer and recommend that you use a blender.

Ingredients

a big chunk of pumpkin (about the size of 2 big potatoes chopped up with skin on)

a small sweet potato (chopped up small)

one red onion (chopped coarse)

2 garlic cloves (whole or chopped – they’re all going in the blender)

a bit of ginger (about the same amount as the garlic)

butter* (table spoon)

milk* (a cup)

water (2 cups)

your favourite curry powder to taste  (I used tandoori)

1-2 whole chilli peppers

a tablespoon of paprika

salt (to taste)

*as a vegan option, one can replace the butter for olive oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil or vegetable oil and the milk for soya milk or water.

Preparation

This dish is quite easy to prepare. Start of by heating up the butter in a large sauce pan then sauté the onions, garlic, ginger and the chillies; sprinkle salt over them and continue sautéing till the onions are caramelised.

Add the pumpkin, sweet potato and the spices and mix it all up. As it cooks add water and milk to avoid it drying up. I tend to cook it until the pumpkin skin goes a bit soft and then all of it goes in the blender – there’s quite a bit of soup so it may need to be done in two batches.

Once blended to a smooth consistency serve up hot with a dribble of olive oil, fresh coriander, basil leaves or grated cheese or walnuts.

Enjoy and get well soon.