You may have noticed I’ve been posting lots of pumpkin recipes lately, from breads, pancakes, and muffins to chilies and curries. And I am not done yet! 🙂 No pumpkin menu is complete without this amazingly delicious and easy pumpkin soup. I am very particular about pumpkin soups: I like them savory and so that the pumpkin is not the only dominating flavor. Last year, I made this pumpkin and black bean soup which fit these 2 criteria and was super tasty (I highly recommend you make it!). Well, this year I wanted something REALLY SIMPLE that did not even involve food processor but only one saucepan, so I came up with this recipe.
Here I combine pumpkin puree with a little bit of coconut milk, a touch of red curry paste, cumin and honey. The soup does not have a strong overwhelming Thai flavor, neither does it taste too much like a pumpkin. It’s just perfectly balanced. I use honey not to sweeten the soup but only to balance out other flavors. Even with the honey added, the soup is not sweet, the honey is just used to balance out the slight acidity of pumpkin.
This soup is highly nutritious (thanks to pumpkin), gluten-free and vegan.
MY OTHER VIDEOSI like to sprinkle the soup with chopped pecans caramelized in brown sugar. It makes the soup pretty and even more fit for Thanksgiving. It also adds these tasty chunks of sweetness (little islands of sweetness :)) to the mostly savory soup!
I do use butter to caramelize the nuts, so if you’re vegan, make sure either to sprinkle the soup with plain, non-caramelized, pecans or use alternative, vegan-friendly way to caramelize them.
This soup has so many great qualities that I just fall in love with it over and over, each time I make it! It’s so tasty, without Thai or pumpkin flavors overwhelming one another; it’s healthy; it’s super easy to make; and it looks so festive! Fit for everyday and for holidays, too!
Ingredients
- 2 cups pumpkin puree (from the can)
- 2 cups water
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon (up to 2 teaspoons) red curry paste
- 3 or 4 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 teaspoon or more cumin
- salt
- 1/3 cup Pecans
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, combine pumpkin, water, and coconut milk on medium heat, and stir to combine. Add 1/2 teaspoon of red curry paste, stir to combine. Add honey. Add 1/4 teaspoon of cumin to the soup and season the soup with salt to achieve the desired saltiness. This step is very important: the soup should be generously seasoned with salt which will help bring out the rest of the flavors together.
- Once you seasoned the soup with salt, you may add more red curry paste if desired, using 1/2 teaspoon. Using more or less of red curry paste will depend on several factors. First, depending on the brand, some ready curry pastes are spicier than other so you have to be careful not to make the soup spicier than you want. Second, you might want your soup to be on the spicier side or you may want it to be milder. However, I would not recommend adding more than 2 teaspoons of red curry paste, no matter what brand. This way, Thai flavor is not overwhelming: it just nicely balances with the pumpkin flavor.
- To caramelize pecans: add butter and sugar to the frying pan on medium-high heat, add pecans. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring, to coat the pecans until they caramelize. Place pecans on foil and let them cool. Chop them up and sprinkle over each serving of warm pumpkin soup.
If you like PUMPKIN, I have a wonderful board on Pinterest for you:
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