Pumpkin soup has a special place in my repertoire and I’ve been dabbling with a lot of different recipes and ways to make this soup and not that I’m trying to be smug or anything but looks like I’ve finally perfected a recipe that I might sick to, and that it needs no pottering over a stove really does help.
The thing about soups and pumpkin soup, in general, is that it’s a very non-fussy way to create deliciousness from a rather humble looking vegetable and it’s versatile in a way that there’s never just the one way of cooking it just like there’s never one way of eating something and this particular recipe can be adapted to make pasta sauce, pizza sauce and curry base as well. Just a question of thinning or thickening it to your liking and I like it on the thicker more velvety side of things and that’s what I said and say.
Right, this blog is no stranger to pumpkin soups and in fact, I’m linking a previous pumpkin soup recipe here as well which is just as delicious but not nearly as quick and mad with flavours.
Did I mention it was simple as simple as can be? The taste and colour are amped up with spices and how much or how little you add is up to you but I like it very spicy especially in this weather and turmeric helps with the goldenness of it all. Like molten sunshine on a chilly afternoon. There’s pumpkin, onion, garlic, salt, turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, nutmeg and black pepper.
Chop the vegetables to an almost equal sized thickness and add some oil. The amount of oil you want to add is up to you. It could be a drop, a drizzle or a glug. Did I mention this is an atrociously healthy recipe as well?
Next, come the spices and this is really what maketh the soup. I’ve been known to add almost three times the amount of pepper I show here and so can you. The spiciness is really a personal choice and so is salt. No nutmeg at this stage. It comes in later.
there you go. All in.
Time to smoosh it all together. Coating the vegetables with spices and oil.
Bake at 190º for 15-20 minutes until the pumpkin is almost falling apart and the onions and garlic have softened but not burnt.
At this stage, you can modify it to how you’d want the final results to be. You can add stock, cream, coconut milk, regular milk or just plain water which is what I’m doing because it’s choke full of flavours but having said that I do add coconut milk to it on days when I’m in an altogether different mood.
grate in a bit of nutmeg and add that as well. Not too much or it’ll overpower. Just enough to haunt the soup with a peripheral kiss of the exotic and blitz.
Pulse until it’s all emulsified and you have glorious golden soup. Oh, how it glows. taste for seasoning and thickness and adjust by adding more of whatever is required.
and lo and behold!
Ingredients
Pumpkin: 250g
Onion: 1 small
Garlic: 3-4 cloves
Turmeric: 1heaped tsp
Paprika: 1tsp
Black pepper: 1/2tsp
Salt to taste
Cinnamon: 1/2tsp
Nutmeg: 1/4tsp
Oil: 2tsp
Water: 200mls
Recipe instructions
Chop the vegetables into equal sized portions and drizzle over oil and mix in the spices and salt except for nutmeg. Place in a baking tray and bake at 190º for 15-20 minutes or until the pumpkin is very tender and the other vegetables softened.
Add the vegetables to a mixer, grate in the nutmeg and add hot water and blend to a smooth puree.
Serve hot with bread or even rice.
Oh this cake. I could sing songs, write sonnets and do a bit of dance and tell you how unbelievably heavenly this cake was. Instead I’m just going to do a bit of unhinged prose and explain with all the emphasis at my disposal about the fabulousness that is this Date & nut cake. It’s appearance as humble as it might seem is most beguiling and hides the delectable reality of this exquisite cake.
it’s a date & nut cake, so it has dates and nuts and milk, sugar, egg, flour, butter, vanilla extract, clove powder (ground cloves), orange zest, cinnamon, baking powder, crushed pepper.
start by adding baking powder to the flour and mixing it thoroughly. Keep it aside.
As with most cake recipes this one starts with creaming the butter and sugar in a bowl. Make sure the butter is at room temperature. Mine was not 😦
beat or cream the butter, add in the sugar
add the orange zest
beat until it sort of looks like this, or you can do a better job if the butter is room temperature.
crack in an egg
splash in some vanilla
and beat again until well mixed. My batter looks a bit curdled and that’s because I didn’t use r
add in the flour
followed by spices..cinnamon, ground cloves
crushed black pepper
mix a bit and add milk
followed by chopped dates
chopped nuts
and mix until just barely mixed. Do Not overmix the batter.
scrape batter into a baking tin of choice. I’ve lined mine with some baking paper.
smoothen the top and bake at 180°C for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out completely clean
let it cool. Slice and enjoy!
Driedredchillies 