Take advantage of all those beautiful fall pumpkins, and prepare a heart-warming, authentic Thai soup. This creamy yet fresh soup is flavored with roasted pumpkin, lemongrass, and traditional Thai ingredients. For an extra special and cozy presentation, serve in mini-roasted pumpkins.
Serves: 6-8
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 1 medium pumpkin (approximately 5 lb)
- 1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tablespoons grated lemon grass (alternatively, cut one lemongrass stalk into 3 pieces then smash it a couple of times to release the flavor)
- 5 tablespoons thai red curry paste
- 2 canscoconut cream (may substitute coconut milk) - reserve 1/4 cup for garnish
- 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 5 tablespoons high-quality fish sauce (we recommend three crabs brandfish sauce
)
- 3 tablespoons palm sugar
or coconut sugar
- Juice of 1 lime
- Coconut oil
Garnish:
Coconut cream (reserved)
Toasted pumpkin seeds, sliced jalapeño and cilantro (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut pumpkin in half, remove stem, scoop out seeds, and rinse with cool water. Pat dry using paper towel. With clean hands, coat the entire pumpkin, inside and out, with coconut oil. Place pumpkin halves face down in a large baking dish, then add water to the baking dish until 1/4" deep. Cover with foil and bake for about an hour, until pumpkin flesh is fork tender. Discard water and let pumpkin cool.
- When the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and chop into chunks, just small enough so that they are easily broken down by your blender or mixer. Set the pumpkin aside.
- Tip: If your pumpkin is tender enough, the skin should come off easily when pulled at.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent. Add ginger, lemongrass and red curry paste; heat until just fragrant (about 30 seconds), stirring constantly. Add pumpkin and coconut cream, and stir to combine. Stirring constantly, cook until the milk is heated through.
- Whisk in the fish sauce and sugar until sugar has dissolved, then add the broth.
- Cool a bit first, then blend all ingredients in a blender or by using a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Please see safety note below for important instructions.
Safety Note: Blend in batches, filling the blender no more than 1/4 full each batch. It is best to cool the ingredients a bit first. Remove the plastic center portion of the blender lid and cover with a dish towel to help dissipate the steam. If using a hand mixer, you may want to drape a dish towel over the top of the pot to protect yourself. Since the liquid may be extremely HOT, be sure to start your mixer on low, working your way up to a controlled speed.
- Reheat if necessary and serve immediately. Drizzle with coconut milk and top with pumpkin seeds, jalapeño and cilantro. For an impressive and beautiful presentation, serve in individual miniature roasted pumpkins.*
- Reheat if necessary and serve in small soup bowls or in roasted baby pumpkins. Drizzle coconut cream over top. Garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds, sliced jalapeños and cilantro if desired.
Notes:
*For a beautiful presentation, serve Thai Pumpkin Soup in mini roasted pumpkins. Your guests will be thoroughly impressed, and they are simple to prepare.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut the top off the pumpkins so the hole is big enough to eat out of. Reserve tops. Scoop out the seeds. Rinse, then pat dry with paper towel.
- Coat the entire pumpkin, inside and out, with coconut oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt inside each pumpkin. Set the pumpkins in a baking dish and replace the tops. Add 1/2" water to the bottom of the baking dish.
- Bake the pumpkins for about 25-30 minutes, or until tender.
- Pour prepared Thai Pumpkin Soup inside and drizzle coconut cream on top. Beautiful!
Note on lemongrass:
- Lemongrass is very stringy, so either finely grate it into the recipe, or just pound the stalks a couple of times, add to the soup, and then remove after cooking.