BY SHALEEN DESTEFANO
Ok, listen, before you look at the ingredients and freak out about cubing a real pumpkin, don’t. You can do this! This recipe calls for the much less intimidating variety of pumpkin, the sugar pumpkin, or pie pumpkin. You can find them in your produce section, and they’re much smaller than the jack o’ lanterns on your porch.
The best part though, is that this soup is low calorie, high on flavor and overflowing with nutrients. This can easily be adapted to a vegan dish as well. We’ve had both varieties and it tastes amazing. Let us know how yours turns out!
Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs sugar pumpkin, seeded, skinned and cubed
1 1/2 lbs butternut squash seeded, peeled and cubed
3 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp red pepper (optional)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper (more for serving)
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup coconut milk (more for serving) or cream if you’re feeling decadent
Toppings
Pink peppercorn, micro-greens, jalapeño (seeded and sliced), cilantro, pumpkin seeds, feta, drizzle of coconut milk, croutons…the options are endless.
Directions
Prepare the pumpkin and butternut squash, if you have a sharp peeler, it actually works quite well to use it to remove the skins from the squash. Cube the pumpkin and squash flesh into 2-3” chunks.
Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or heavy soup pot, sauté onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 2 more minutes.
Add the pumpkin, squash, curry, nutmeg, ginger, red pepper, salt and pepper and stock. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until squash is tender and can be pierced with a fork, about 15-20 minutes.
Puree the soup in a food processor or blender in small batches.
Once your soup is nice and creamy return it to the pot. Add your coconut milk, additional salt and pepper if needed and warm it back up over medium heat.