Teresa's Kid Approved Vegan Pumpkin Soup
This has quickly become a new favourite in our household because it gets messy, the kids can get hands on with the food and it’s both yummy AND healthy. My boys absolutely LOVE cooking with me and I think they had the most fun making this because they really got to handle the food the way they don’t usually. I had Forest pick up the scraps and put them in a bowl which he loved, he used tongs for the first time and was giggling away (I said it got messy!) Bodhi helped me dig out all the bits that we didn’t need from the pumpkin. It is so fun incorporating the kids in to the preparation and cooking of food and I find it makes them want to eat it even more! This recipe takes about 35 minutes start to finish.
INGREDIENTS
Half a pumpkin
White pepper
Red onion
Almond/Coconut Milk
Olive or Coconut oil
Himalayan sea salt
Organic Vegetable StockHoney/Maple Syrup (NOTE- I actually forgot to add the sweetener to this today and it was SO delicious without it that I don’t think this is necessary. If you really want to use it then you can add a tablespoon)
Directions
1. This is the fun part for the kids! Grab them a fork to start digging out the seeds and stringy parts of the pumpkin. It won’t be perfect but you can always finish the rest after it’s been boiled and softened down.
2. Next cut the pumpkin in two, I do this by grabbing a big knife and putting all my weight down on top of it. NOTE; I find if I can put it on a surface that’s a little lower like the kitchen table, the angle makes it easier to slice through.
3. Boil water in a deep pot or saucepan, if you can fit both pieces of pumpkin in great! If not you can do one at a time. Boil them for 10 minutes. I boiled one then after 10 minutes I chucked the other piece in while I took the skin off the first one. The skin can easily be cut off as well as any additional stringy parts that the kids didn’t quite get.
4. Cut the pumpkin in to pieces, mine were about 2 inches x 2 inches in size.
5. Chop up the whole red onion.
6. Put the large pot back on medium heat with 2 tablespoons of olive or coconut oil.
7. Add the chopped onion, cook for about 3 mins until the onions are opaque. Add in the cubed pumpkin and mix around. Cook for about 5 mins.
8. Add 4 cups of vegetable broth and 3 & 3/4 cups of the Almond/Coconut Milk. Lower heat and cook for an additional 20 minutes, so it simmers the yummy flavours together.
9. Take the soup off heat and add the a teaspoon of sea salt and a teaspoon of white pepper.
10. Add it all to a vitamix, nutrabullet or any other blender you have. The pumpkin will easily blend even with a less powerful blender. It should be smooth and creamy. NOTE; If, like me, your blender doesn’t fit the whole soup and you have to blend it in two goes make sure you’re putting equal amount of liquid and chunky pumpkin each time. I accidentally added most of the liquid to the first batch as I didn’t realise it wouldn’t fit the whole thing. For the second blend I had to add in a little coconut milk.
11. Serve with crunchy grilled bread with a drizzle of olive oil on top and sea salt & pepper to taste.
DELICIOUS & SOOOO HEALTHY! I served 4 adults and two kids with this amount, and two of which were very hungry men! My husbands friend Dustin is staying with us as they finish the edit on Marks film and they both were very satisfied. My husband said this is “the best pumpkin soup I’ve ever had in my life!”. Mark has a big sweet tooth so I was worried that without the addition of the maple syrup it wouldn’t be sweet enough but it WAS and Thai recipe really doesn’t need additional sweetening. I hope you guys love this recipe as much as we did. Can’t wait to make it again.
Bon Appetite!
xo,
Tez