Recipe | Spiced pumpkin soup

Who doesn’t love a good pumpkin soup? This flavourful take on a classic is perfect comfort food.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Number of serves: Four

Ingredients

Soup

4 large (200g) golden shallots, or 1 large leek
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon margarine or dairy blend
½ teaspoon celery seeds (or 1 stalk celery)
2 large carrots
800g Jap pumpkin (about a large half), peeled, deseeded and chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
1L reduced-salt chicken or vegetable stock
Pepper

To serve

(optional; not included in nutritional information)

Red cabbage, chopped, tossed with olive oil, pepper and cumin, roasted
Parboiled and drained cubes of potato, cooled slightly, and tossed in olive oil, pepper and roasted turmeric
Greek yoghurt, unsweetened
Crumbled feta
Coriander, washed, dried and roughly chopped
Roasted almonds, chopped (or pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds)

Method

If using the shallots, peel and roughly chop. If using the leek, trim and cut in half through the centre. Rinse well to remove any grit, and then chop into pieces; set aside.
Warm the olive oil and margarine over a medium-low heat in a large, heavy-based soup pot, while you prepare the carrots. Peel the carrots, or simply give them a scrub to clean the skins. Chop into pieces and once the oil has warmed, add the shallots/leek, garlic, chopped carrot and celery seeds (or chopped stalk of celery).
Saute the vegetables, covered with a lid, for a good 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and fragrant.
Add the pumpkin, stir together, and replace lid, continuing to cook like this for another 10 or so minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure it doesn’t catch. If you need to add a little more oil, you can, or else a little water will also help to loosen the vegetables from the base of the pot if needed. (Check the heat isn’t too high, as the veg shouldn’t be sticking at this point.)
Add the spices, and continue to cook for a few minutes, lid off and stirring every minutes or so, until spices release their fragrance.
Add the stock, a good grind of fresh pepper and cover, bringing everything to a boil. Once at a boil, reduce and simmer for 20 minutes, or until pumpkin is soft. Puree using a stick blender. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. I always like to add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice to balance and round out the flavours, too. Serve with the optional extras.

Nutritional Information (per serve)

Energy	822 kJ (196 calories)
Protein	4.6g
Total Fat	9.6g
Carbohydrates	16.6g
Saturated Fat	2.6g
Sugars	14.2g
Dietary Fibre	9.6g
Sodium	750mg