Now after all the baking and rich dinners that I cook, it’s only reasonable that once in a while we make something which doesn’t contain loads of carbs or sugar. Many of you may not think this is an appropriate recipe to add to my blog, but it’s more put up to remind people of easy, budget meals (especially in these times) that anyone can make any time. It fulfils a lot of requirements for dinner:
Cheap – I was able to buy a 3.7kg Kent pumpkin @ $0.98/kg = $3.65 for the entire batch of soup– if this serves 8 people it’s 46c per serve – Bargain!
Not many ingredients required
Low in Kilojoules – If you’re on Weight Watchers it’s 0 points!! (as long as you don’t add cream or eat bread with it)
Easy and Fast
Able to freeze (Just thaw and reheat)
What more could you want?
You only really need two ingredients a pumpkin and some chicken or vegetable stock, or stock powder – for those who won’t use up the rest of container of stock.
You can refrigerate or freeze the leftovers and reheat in the microwave or on the stove (it may form crystals when frozen, but once mixed through it’s fine).
Pumpkin Soup
Serves: 8 or more
3.5kg Jap or Kent Pumpkin (any other pumpkin will do e.g. Butternut, etc)
1 teaspoon chicken or vegetable stock powder (or one cup stock)
Peel and de-seed pumpkin. Cut in small pieces (4 x 4 x 1.5cm) and place in a large pot. Add enough water to almost cover (1-2cm below) the pumpkin pieces. This will make a thick soup, so you can add more water now or after blending if you prefer it thinner. Add the stock and heat over medium heat until the pumpkin is soft and a cake tester or sharp knife goes in and comes out easily.
Stir occasionally to make sure all pumpkin is cooked evenly
Use a hand blender to blend up the pumpkin.
Blend then serve
See – I told you it was easy!
Now you can eat your cake or a lovely decadent dessert and not feel so guilty! 🙂
Variation:
You could always fry up one finely sliced onion before adding the pumpkin, a bit of cream after it’s blended to add some more taste and serve with tasty herb bread. Of course the bread and cream make this a bit less healthy, but it certainly tastes great!
Wow, I love soups. And this recipe is just great. I’ll try it for sure, it sounds so good.
I agree, it’s imperative to balance healthy with the unhealthy and one of the best things about such a healthy, sustaining soup is that you can eat more dessert! 😛
The one advantage of the change of season is eating soup again. Pumpkin soup sounds perfect.
this sounds easy enough for even me. I’m not as fond of pumpkin soup as some others. Can you adapt this recipe for some other vegies? Do you have any other recommendations?
I love pumpkin soup. I have some pumpkin puree in the freezer, I wonder if it would work here?
Great idea to use the hand blender in the pan!
Thanks for the comments everyone!
Hi Cecilia – This is a great and adaptable recipe. I hope you enjoy it.
Hi Lorraine – Yep, more dessert is definitely a plus!
Hi Arwen – Even though I’m not looking forward to really cold days, I am looking forward to the soups in Winter.
Hi Beta Gal – The only other recipes similar to this might be a potato and leek soup. I’ve also had a cauliflower soup which is pretty much cooked cauliflower with some stock, which is then blended. Otherwise you could make a chunky vegetable or minestrone soup, which require a few more ingredients. I’ll probably be trying out a few more recipes as we get into Winter, so I’ll let you know how they go.
Hi Sara – I’m not quite sure what sort of pumpkin puree you would have, as I would consider this to be a pumpkin puree. If it’s just pumpkin and a bit of water, perhaps you could just add a bit more water to make into a soup.
Hi Barbara – The hand blender works so well in the pan and you don’t have to transfer it – which is a plus!