Cream of Pumpkin Soup

I use yellow pumpkin to make Erisserri, Pumpkin bread or this soup. The Soup has become so wished for that I hardly make the other two recipes these days. It’s a creamy filling soup that tastes delicious the next day too. We make a big batch of the soup so we can enjoy it for two continuous days.

Ingredients you’ll need:

1 tbsp Olive oil
3 or 4 cloves of garlic pods
1 medium yellow onion
1/2 cup  chopped Carrot
4 cups of chopped Yellow Pumpkin
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp All purpose flour | Maida
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp or to taste green Chili sauce
1/4 cup fresh cream (Optional)
Salt and Pepper

Serves: 4 ppl
Preparation and cooking time: 25 mins

Preparation:

Roughly chop garlic pods, onions. Peel and chop carrots and pumpkin in cubes.

Over medium heat, in a heavy bottom pan, add 1 tbsp olive oil. When oil is hot, add the chopped garlic pods, onion, carrots and pumpkin (all at the same time).

Saute over medium heat with salt and freshly crushed pepper (to taste) till the oil coats throughout the pumpkin, cook till the carrots and pumpkin begin to soften.

Add 1/4 cup of water to the vegetable mixture so that they don’t begin to caramelize or fry. Cook till the pumpkin begins to mash when pressed with back of a spoon. Remove from heat and transfer to a blender jar.

Do not purée the pumpkin mixture immediately after removing from heat, let it cool for 10 mins.

Meanwhile, let’s make the Roux for the soup. Roux (derived from french cuisine) is a silky-smooth sauce for thickening and adding a rich flavor to the soup.

In the same pan, add 2 tbsp butter. As it melts, sprinkle 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour | Maida and stir until the butter & flour are well combined. Pour in milk, stirring constantly as it thickens. Add 1/4 tsp garlic powder and green chili sauce (I used ching’s secret brand). Mix well.

Reduce heat to low or remove the roux when the pumpkin is pureed.

Hold the cover of the blender jar with a kitchen towel, purée the pumpkin-carrot mixture.

Add pumpkin mix to the white sauce. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. If the pumpkin is not sweet enough- add 1/2 tsp sugar.

Add 2 cups (more or less) of boiling water/vegetable broth to bring the soup to a desired consistency, adjust seasoning.

Pour 1/4 cup of cream (optional), mix well and remove from heat or drizzle a few tsp of cream before serving.