Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup

• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 70 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
• Servings: 4 to 6 bowls

Ingredients:

• 3 mini pumpkins/1 medium pumpkin or squash (approximately 1kg)
• 1 medium potato (approximately 150g)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ inch piece of ginger, minced
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon mixed spice
• Tiny dash of cayenne pepper (optional, if you like spice)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tin full fat coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

To serve:

• ¼ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
• Fresh coriander
• Coconut cream or Oatly crème fraiche
• Turmeric and Ginger Superkraut

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 C.
2. Slice each pumpkin into quarters. Brush or rub 1 tablespoon olive oil over the flesh of the pumpkin and place the quarters, cut sides down, onto the baking sheet. Roast for 35 minutes or longer, until the orange flesh is easily pierced through with a fork. Set it aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. Heat 1 Tbsp coconut oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Once the oil is heated, add the onion to the pan and cook a few minutes until they begin to soften.
4. Add in garlic, ginger and salt to the pot. Stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, about 5 more minutes. In the meantime, peel the pumpkin skin off the pumpkins and discard the skin.
5. Add the pumpkin flesh, cinnamon, nutmeg, mixed spice, cayenne pepper (if using), and freshly ground black pepper. Use a wooden spoon to break up the pumpkin a bit. Pour in the broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, to give the flavours time to marinate and become aromatic.
6. While the soup is cooking, toast the pumpkin seeds in a frying pan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant, golden and making little popping noises. You want them to be nice and toasty, but not burnt. Watch closely as they can burn fast! Transfer pepitas to a bowl to cool.
7. Once the pumpkin mixture is done cooking, stir in the coconut milk and maple syrup and cook until heated. Remove the soup from heat and let it cool slightly. You can use an immersion blender to blend this soup in the pot or working in batches, transfer the contents of the pan to a blender (do not fill your blender past the maximum fill line!). Securely fasten the blender’s lid and use a kitchen towel to protect your hand from steam escaping from the top of the blender as you purée the mixture until smooth. Transfer the puréed soup to a large bowl and repeat with the remaining batches.
8. Taste and adjust if necessary (you might want to add more coconut milk for extra creaminess/milder flavour, maple syrup to make it a little sweeter or cayenne pepper for a little more spice).
9. Ladle the soup into individual bowls. Swirl through coconut cream or vegan crème fraiche, sprinkle pepitas and fresh coriander over the soup, top with Turmeric and Ginger Superkraut and enjoy this delicious bowl of pumpkin goodness!
10. Let leftover soup cool completely before transferring it to a proper storage container and refrigerating it for up to 4 days (leftovers taste even better the next day!). Or, freeze this soup for up to 3 months.