Name: curried pumpkin soup
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 whole pumpkin; olive oil; 8 cloves garlic; 2 " fresh ginger; 3 fresh chilies; 3 dried kaffir lime leaves (optional); 6 dried curry leaves (optional); 1 tsp whole cumin seeds; 1 tsp whole mustard seeds; 1 tsp curry powder; 1 tsp dried chili flakes; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp coarse sea salt; 6 cups chicken or veg stock or water; 1 tsp Old Bay or other seasoning; 14 oz can coconut milk; salt & pepper to taste; 2 limes; 1 handful pea shoots or cilantro; olive oil to drizzle

Is your Hallowe’en pumpkin still taunting you with its beauty, well into the darker half of the year? That’s hardcore! Cook that mother in a pot of delicious spices, and try not to eat the whole thing in one go.

cook your jack o'lantern — cook your jack o’lantern

Pie pumpkins are thick-walled and generally heavier for their size than the big roundies you see on stoops in October, but you can cook any kind of pumpkin or even a squash into soup. Yes, you can cook your Hallowe’en pumpkin, but only if it’s fresh, firm, and intact! Don’t cook a pumpkin that you’ve carved or that has any mold or mush to it. Gross.

If you can’t stand the prospect of peeling the tough skin from a giant round fruit with the most tenuous of kitchen implements, the peeler, you can skip it–instructions for baking a pumpkin instead are included. You can also use pumpkin mash that you’ve previously frozen, or canned pumpkin (though I’m convinced your homemade mash will taste better).

Use coconut milk with no sugar added. Organic brands don’t contain potassium metabisulfite, but include guar gum or other thickeners. I take what I can get.

Use any combination of homemade chicken stock, leftover bean or vegetable-cooking water, regular water, vegetable stock, bone broth, or your liquid of choice. Use whatever spices you like, add more or less, and skip the coconut milk if you like. This is your soup, do your thing.

Yields8 Servings

ingredients

1 whole pumpkin

olive oil

8 cloves garlic

2 " fresh ginger

3 fresh chilies

3 dried kaffir lime leaves (optional)

6 dried curry leaves (optional)

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

1 tsp whole mustard seeds

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp dried chili flakes

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp coarse sea salt

6 cups chicken or veg stock or water

1 tsp Old Bay or other seasoning

14 oz can coconut milk

salt & pepper to taste

2 limes

1 handful pea shoots or cilantro

olive oil to drizzle

Slice up the pumpkin and bake the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment, in a 400ºF oven, for about 25-35 minutes until the pumpkin is tender. Let it cool a bit, then scoop the pumpkin from its rind and set aside in a bowl for now. Compost the rind.

Peel and mince or grate the garlic and ginger. Seed and mince the chilies (avoid touching the insides of the chilies with your hands, or wear gloves). Add these minced things as well as the leaves, whole seeds, and ground spices to a little teacup.

In a soup pot large enough to hold all of that pumpkin, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the teacup of minced things and spices, stir around, and sizzle just until the mustard seeds begin to pop. Your kitchen will smell amazing and you will at this point become hungry.

Carefully pour in the stock—chicken is great, vegetable is too, and water works just fine. Add in the pumpkin mash, the 1 teaspoon of salt, and water if you need it to cover the pumpkin. Bring the soup to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

While the soup cooks, preheat the oven to 350ºF, rinse off the pumpkin seeds, and spread on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and whatever spices you like (Old Bay, curry powder, taco seasoning, whatevs) and bake for about 20 minutes, watching closely near the end to avoid burning. The seeds should be lightly browned and crispy, but not hard as rocks. You can save them to garnish your soup, or you can eat all of them yourself, before anyone else knows they were even there...

Once the soup is cooked through, pour in the can of coconut milk. Blend the soup with a stick blender, or cool it a bit and blend in batches in your regular blender and return to the pot. I don't fish out the whole leaves for this step, but you can. Taste and add salt and pepper as you like.

Juice one of the limes and add in the juice. Cut up the other lime for the table. Ladle soup into warm bowls and top with a drizzle of olive oil, a few pea shoots or cilantro leaves, and maybe a squizz of lime juice.

Ingredients