Pumpkin Soup Recipe

So Halloween is over, and people are already starting to think about Christmas, so what do you do with that left over pumpkin? 95% of the 10 million pumpkins used at Halloween are thrown away, so how can we avoid sending pumpkins to landfill? By eating them! My personal favourite is pumpkin soup, because it’s easy to make it creamy without using dairy, and it’s a great sweet soup that goes well with salty bread. So, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1 Medium Pumpkin (or the leftovers of 2-3 pumpkins from carving)
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 2 Garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 litre of vegetable stock
• 1 fresh chilli (or 1 tsp chilli flakes)
• 1 Tsp of Mixed Spice
• Half a Tsp of Cumin
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp of olive oil
• Plain Yoghurt, Sour Cream or another alternative (to drizzle)

Method:

1. Chop up your pumpkin into medium sized cubes – you can use the stringy flesh too if you like! If you have skin left on your pumpkin, then remove it.
2. Heat your oil in a large saucepan, then add your onion and chilli until it is soft.
3. Next add the pumpkin.
4. Then, add your mixed spice and cumin, and cook the pumpkin until it is soft.
5. Next, add your vegetable stock and simmer for about 10 minutes.
6. Take the pan off the heat and blend the soup – I use a hand blender, but any type of blender that is suitable for hot food will work.
7. Once the soup is smooth, add your salt and pepper. Taste once you’ve added some, and add more if you need to. You can also add more of the other spices here.
8. Done! This soup shouldn’t need to be sieved, but you can sieve it if you want a super smooth texture!
9. Serve with some sour cream or yogurt if you like – I personally like to pair it with the coconut collaborative yogurt.

That’s all! Keep an eye out for more pumpkin recipes…