I made this pumpkin soup recipe back in Australia and I have been here in Istanbul, Turkey for more than 8 months now, so I’m a little late in posting it. I plan to start posting some Turkish recipes in the coming weeks as firstly they’re ridiculously tasty and secondly, I’m in Turkey!
But back to the pumpkin soup. I never used to like pumpkin at all. I never ate it for years and years as I would always tell people how disgusting it is and how I never ever touch it.
That was until I went to this beautiful little cafe overlooking the ocean late one afternoon. I was starving hungry but the cafe was almost out of food for the day as they were getting ready to close soon. All they could offer me was pumpkin lasagna but they said it was absolutely delicious. I got caught up in the enthusiasm they had for the lasagna and before I realized that I’ve always hated pumpkin I said yes, I’ll have some pumpkin lasagna and salad please!
And just as they had promised me, it was absolutely delicious! I could hardly believe it. This food that I had avoided all of my life was actually pretty good.
Next time I went to my mother’s place for a baked dinner I said I want pumpkin too. After she reminded me that I don’t like pumpkin I said just give it to me please, I think I might have been converted.
And voila, just as I had enjoyed the pumpkin lasagna at the ocean side cafe a week or two earlier, I ate all of my baked pumpkin! I could hardly believe it but I was now a card carrying pumpkin eater! 🎃
I remembered this lesson while here in Istanbul too. I’ve always disliked olives. Doesn’t matter if they’re green, black, stuffed or sprinkled with magic dust, I’ve never liked them. But here, there’s olives everywhere and people Love them. So from time to time I’ll try one.
I’m still not too fond of olives but I can eat a whole one without spitting it out. I can appreciate them a whole lot more but I have a bit of work before I can say I’m converted. Every month or two I’ll try an olive while I’m here.
Getting back to this easy creamy pumpkin soup recipe though, there’s a thousand different ways to make pumpkin soup. I make mine a little differently every time I make it.
So use the recipe below as a starting point but play around with it according to your taste and preference. Just have fun with it.
Let me know how you go with it in the comments below. Share your tips with others so we can all learn together 😀
Pumpkin Soup Recipe
Remember to experiment with the recipe to suit your taste.
Ingredients
- 1kg of diced Pumpkin
- 2 medium sized Onions, chopped
- 2 Garlic cloves, crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon ground Coriander (cilantro)
- 1 teaspoon ground Cumin
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 liter Vegetable stock (or Chicken stock if you prefer)
- 1 teaspoon of Olive oil
- 1/2 cup of Cream
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the olive to a pot large enough to hold the Pumpkin. Put in the chopped onion and start to fry it off for a couple of minutes on medium heat. Then add the crushed Garlic cloves for another few minutes.
- Add the Coriander (cilantro), the Cumin and Bay leaf to the mix and stir it in.
- Then include the diced pumpkin along with the Vegetable stock liquid and cook it until it starts to soften. This should take about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Then let the mix cool down a little so that it's not boiling hot. Remove the Bay leaf and depending on the equipment you have available in the kitchen, either use a hand held electric blender to blend the soup mixture in the pot, or add your mixture to a blender or a food processor if you have one.
I prefer to use a blender as it gives me a nice smooth texture. Do it in several batches so that you don't overfill the blender. As you blend one batch, poor it into a similar sized pot and start to heat the mixture up again. - Once the entire mix is blended and in the new pot, add the cream and salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
Don't try to put too much of the mixture in the blender at once or you may well end up with it all over the place. I also like to let it cool down enough to be able to comfortably put my finger in the mixture without burning it. Trust me, it's just easier that way.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6Amount Per Serving: Calories: 320
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