Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Soup

Saturday, October 01, 2022

Autumn arrived full force a couple of weeks ago with lots of rain and surprisingly cold temperatures. And with the cold weather comes a craving for warm and comforting meals like soups and stews! And is there anything more comforting than snuggling up with a big bowl of creamy pumpkin soup? So last week, I put my wellies on and went to the local farmshop that sells a wide variety of pumpkins and squashes and also offers a little pumpkin patch to pick Halloween pumpkins! I loved it and came back with a few little pumpkins and the hokkaido pumpkin needed for this recipe :) Hokkaido is perfect, as you don't have to peel it - just give it a good wash and it's ready to go!

To make this pumpkin soup super creamy we'll use coconut milk, which also gives it a bit of an exotic taste. I also love using roasted pumpkin as that really enhances the taste of it! With all the amazing spices used, another plus of this recipe is, that you can easily prep this soup a day in advance as the flavours only get stronger. So definitely keep those leftovers in the fridge for an amazingly tasty quick lunch the next day :)

You'll need:

(this serves 4)

1 hokkaido pumpkin

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 big onion

1 clove of garlic

1 thumb of ginger (more if you like spicy food)

1 can of coconut milk (I used light coconut milk)

500ml vegetable stock

2 tsp roasted paprika powder

1 tsp turmeric

salt and pepper to tast

Preheat your oven to 200°C.

Wash and half your pumpkin. Spoon out all of the seeds, then chop into same sized chunks. Place the pumpkin chunks on a baking tray and roast for about 30 minutes or until it's softened and browned on the outside.

In a big soup pot, melt the coconut oil then add the finely chopped onions and garlic and fry until the onions start to become translucent. Grate in the ginger and fry for another minute or two.

Into your pot, add the roasted pumpkin, all the spices as well as the stock and coconut milk. Bring the whole thing to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Your kitchen will be smelling amazing by this point :)

Take the pot off the heat and blend it until it's smooth and creamy. If needed, add a bit more stock.

To serve, add some toppings to your bowls such as pumpkin seeds, balsamic, some swirls of soy yoghurt some chopped parsley - whatever floats your boat :)