Simple and Healthy - Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Spicy Pumpkin Soup
Home Cooking



Sometime last year, my granddad (who's a fanatic foodie like myself) recommended The Walnut Restaurant for its seafood buffet. You can easily sign up for their restaurant card which entitles you to buy-1-get-1-free on the buffet and menu items.

I got the card by signing up online but had it in my wallet for a long, long time before I even used it. One day, we were finally in the mood for a seafood buffet so we chose The Walnut at 'Royal on the Park'. It was a pretty good experience overall but surprisingly, what really left an impression on me was their pumpkin soup.



I was already full by the time I tried the soup but it was still notably good. Charlie remarked that it tasted like curry (in a good way). The soup was thick and creamy and had a 'suggestion' of Indian curry flavor. It wasn't exactly like drinking curry sauce, which would have been... a bit 'full on' to say the least.

Since I had 1/2 a butternut pumpkin at home (ironically, left over from making the cauliflower and pumpkin balti curry), I thought I'd use it up in a pumpkin soup.

This soup doesn't follow any recipe - I just did my own thing. It was important for me to keep it low fat so I didn't go crazy by adding lots of cream. The texture of pumpkin itself is what gives this soup body. My recipe is REALLY easy - literally just whip it up.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup
Serves 1-2 people (depending if you're having this as a main or on the side)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 a butternut pumpkin
• 1 cup (250mL) skim milk (use full-cream milk or half-and-half if you like)
• 1/2 tbsp of curry paste, or to taste (I used balti curry paste but you can try others such as korma or Thai red curry paste)
• pinch of hot cayenne pepper

Procedure:

1. Remove seeds from the pumpkin. Place it skin-side-up on a plate and microwave for 3-4min on high.
2. When the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh.3. Heat the milk up in a saucepan until it's boiling. Reduce the heat and add the pumpkin flesh. Stir it a bit and let it simmer for a while. Stir every now and again to break up the pumpkin and mix it into the milk.4. After about 7min, the milk should have reduced a bit. Remove from heat and use a stick blender to whip the pumpkin and milk together into a smooth, even blend.5. Return to the heat and let the soup thicken to your liking.
6. Add the curry paste, cayenne pepper and some salt to taste.
7. Serve with some hot, crisp bread sticks (I used a toasted grissini stick).


This soup was really creamy, considering I just used skim milk. I was worried it'd be too watery but it thickened nicely as it simmered away. The curry sauce and cayenne pepper gives it a nice edge. The soup goes perfectly with crisp bread sticks. Such a wonderfully guilt-free meal.