Spiced Pumpkin Soup Recipe

It’s almost that time of year. Time to get creative and design your own Halloween pumpkin lantern. This year most of us will be celebrating Halloween at home and our spiced pumpkin soup recipe is the perfect solution for what to do with all that leftover pumpkin flesh. Spice up your evening with a bowlful of this tasty treat or trick your family by ordering a takeaway or delivery from Zouk. Our delicious garlicky curry sauces will keep the vampires away at least!

Ingredients For Spiced Pumpkin Soup

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1kg carved-out pumpkin flesh cut into chunks with seeds and stringy bits removed
• 1 onion diced
• 1 red chilli chopped
• 6-8 cloves of garlic peeled
• 500ml vegetable stock
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder or cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 200ml coconut milk (tinned is fine)
• Pumpkin seeds and fresh coriander to garnish (optional)

Method to Make Spiced Pumpkin Soup

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C. Place the pumpkin, onion, garlic, chilli and spices in a roasting tin and toss in the olive oil. Roast in the oven covered in foil for 30 to 40 minutes until the pumpkin is cooked through. Check halfway through and remove the foil.
2. Pour the vegetable stock into a large saucepan and add the roasted pumpkin mixture. Blitz the mixture using a stick blender.
3. Add the coconut milk and heat gently until brought to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Toast the pumpkin seeds in a frying pan for a few minutes being careful not to let them burn. finely chop the fresh coriander.
5. Serve in bowls or a large hollowed-out pumpkin with the toasted seeds and coriander sprinkled on top. Crusty bread or a fresh naan and a dollop of yoghurt make great accompaniments.

Alternative Ideas For Your Spiced Pumpkin Soup

Try a sweeter version of this soup by adding 2 large peeled and diced apples at the roasting stage. You can also omit the spices and try just adding 1 head tsp of mild curry powder and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon if making for children.

Make getting your 5 a day easy by adding extra veg like carrots, peppers, tomatoes and butternut squash to the roasting tin too for an extra-large batch of pumpkin and veg soup.

For a more filling version add cooked rice or chunks of cooked potato after blending.

3 Other Things to Try with Pumpkin

1. Roast it – toss your pumpkin in olive oil, sea salt, pepper and a tsp each of coriander powder and cumin. Then roast until cooked and serve with your Sunday dinner for a side with some bite.
2. Stew it – cut your pumpkin into chunks of roughly 2cm and throw it into your favourite curry or stew. Spiced dishes like curries work great for most types of squash or pumpkin.
3. Bake with it – we’ve become a nation of bakers and there are loads of great ideas out there for cakes, muffins and a variety of sweet treats. Try substituting carrot for pumpkin in your favourite carrot cake recipe or throw some cooked pumpkin into a quick and easy scone recipe for a healthy slant on your favourite sweet treat. We love this simple and tasty recipe on BBC Good Food.

Useful Links

Zouk hosts regular cooking classes at our restaurant in Manchester. Visit our cooking class page to find out what classes we have coming up here.

If you liked our Spiced Pumpkin Soup Recipe, then check out some of our other recipes like our Indian Mint Sauce here or our Roasted Lamb Raan here.

Make a booking at our restaurant for Halloween or any other date.