Curried Pumpkin Soup

DH brings pumpkin/kaddu/kumda/kumro quite often, there are few recipes which are very regular one of those is pumpkin dry curry or say stir fry, other one’s I shall post soon.   I wanted to make pumpkin soup for long as it’s one of the favourite at ‘The Soup Shop’ and after having it at Secret Recipe I decided to try it.   Exactly like Secret Recipe I made it as curried pumpkin Soup and as expected it was delicious, creamy with hint of spices.  This easy soup is filling and goes well with western, Indian or Chinese food, we had it with fried rice. Try this simple soup recipe and I am sure you will love this too as we did. 


Ingredients: [Severs 3-4]
Chopped Pumpkin/Kaddu/Kumda – 2 cups
Onion – 1 medium
Garlic – 1 tsp chopped
Ginger – 1/2 tsp chopped
Cumin Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Curry/Sambar Powder – 2 tsp
Curry leaves – 4
Oil – 1 tbsp
Vegetable Stock Cube – 1
Water – 1.5 cup + as needed
Salt – to taste
Pepper – to taste [if needed]
Cilantro – 2 tbsp chopped
Garam Masala  - 1/2 tsp [optional]


Method:
1. In a pan or pressure cooker heat oil, add cumin seeds and let it crack.
2. Add ginger and garlic and sauté.  Add onion and sauté until light brown.
3. Add pumpkin pieces and sauté for 2 minutes
4. Add curry or sambar powder, garam masala and mix well.
5. Now add 1.5 cups water, curry leaves, vegetable stock cube, salt and give a stir
6. Close pan with lid and cook for 10-15 minutes or until pumpkin gets cooked or pressure cook for 1 whistler.
7. Once pumpkin cools down, puree it in mixer or blender.  Bring it back to pan, add water 2 cups or as required and simmer for 3-4 minutes, adjust salt if required.   Add chopped cilantro and off flame. 
Serve Hot/warm and relish the soup.

Variations:
1. You can add 1/4 cream while simmering the soup for creamy soup.  But the soup itself is creamy I don’t find a need of adding any cream.
2. Quantity of water to add while simmering is depends on how you like your soup consistency.
3. Add pepper powder only if required, otherwise it really not needed.
4. If you are using curry powder you can avoid garam masala.
5. While serving you can add 1tsp of olive oil on top of soup if you prefer. 
Have a nice day ~~