RECIPE | Pumpkin Soup With Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
I've been on a bit of a clean eating crusade recently. I was tired of my persistently bad skin, my lethargy and my weak nails, among other complaints. So I decided to cut out all the crap and start cooking from scratch using raw, nutritious ingredients. I love knowing that what I'm putting into my body is full of the goodness.
Something that's so easy to make, especially during the colder months, is a lovely warming bowl of soup. I don't have an oven right now so I'm steaming everything (I try to never boil my vegetables). Pumpkin makes such a lovely sweet, creamy soup however I like to balance the sweetness with a bit of spice. If you're not a fan of spicy food maybe just add some black pepper instead of the red chilli.
Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 mini pumpkin half an onion 1 large handful of pumpkin seeds (packet bought) 1 heaped tsp Bouillon or other vegetable stock 1 red chilli (optional)
Directions:
Cut your pumpkin in half, de-stalk it, peel it and scoop out all the seeds then chop it into 1 inch cubes. Cut your half onion into quarters. Steam the pumpkin and onion until cooked through using filtered water (about 15 minutes).
When the pumpkin is almost ready get your pumpkin seeds and toast them on a dry hot pan for about 5 minutes, moving them constantly so they don't burn. Deseed and chop your red chilli. If you don't like a lot of spice, use half a chilli.
Once the pumpkin is cooked put all the steamed ingredients into a blender, add some of the water you were cooking with until it's reached about 3/4 up to where the food sits. Add the Bouillon and red chilli then blend (if you are sharing with kids you can blend it without the chilli then after you've served their portion add the chilli and blend some more). Serve in a bowl and scatter the toasted pumpkin seeds on top.
Additional options:
For non-vegans you can stir in some creme fraiche or double cream before serving.
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