Lunch Friday 8 December - Curried Pumpkin Soup

Curried Pumpkin Soup
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 red onions, chopped (about 200g)
3-4 red of green chillis (to taste)
3 ribs of celery, chopped (about 120g)
2 carrots, chopped (about 200g)
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1/2 smallish pumpkin, peeled and chopped (about 450g)
1.5 pints vegetable stock
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon curry powder*
handful fresh parsley, chopped

20g hulled pumpkin seeds
spray oil
salt & pepper to taste

In a large pot, saute the red onions, garlic, chillis, celery & carrots in the olive oil until the onion is soft and translucent.

Add the pumpkin, stock, herbs and spices. Cover and simmer over low heat until the pumpkin and all veggies are cooked, about 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.

Puree the soup (or not, as you like) in a blender. I normally puree about 2/3 and leave 1/3 chunky, so the soup has both elements.

When ready to serve, spray a non stick pan with a little olive oil and saute the pumpkin seeds until they are toasted & golden - be careful, they burn easily.

Garnish the soup with the toasted pumpkin seeds and serve.

Makes 2 servings

Nutrition Data per serving
Calories (kcal) 270.0
Carbohydrate (g) 25.7
Protein (g) 7.7
Fat (g) 15.6
Fibre (g) 8.1

I use the Sharwood's Malaysian fish curry powder in this to good effect, but I don't think it is made any longer.