Curried Pumpkin Soup

 Fall!  Pumpkins!  Soup!  Curry!  These are a few of my favorite things...

Light, complex, spicy, smooth and filling.  Deceivingly filling.  You'd be surprised how little soup you need to sate an appetite after an afternoon raking leaves.  And perfect for a gathering when many hungry hands may be idling.  This soup can be made ahead, chilled and re-heated when ready to serve.  Or, transferered into a slow cooker to linger and warm for whenever pepple are ready to eat.

I prefer the slightly sweeter and smokey flavor oven roasted pumpkin lends to recipes, so I opted to replace a portion of the originally recipe's canned pumpkin with my own roasted variety.  The spices are easily modified to accommodate any palate  And the soup does play well with heat...so feel free to add more red pepper or a dash or too of hot pepper sauce to liven up the tongue a bit.

adapted from Epicurious

serves 16-18

The Ingredients:
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 Tbsp oil
3-4  garlic cloves, mince
2-3 -inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp salt
1 small pie pumpkin (2-3 lbs)
1 - 15 oz can pumpkin puree
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 - 15oz can  coconut milk

The Process:
Preheat the oven to 450.  Slice the pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and place cut side down on an oiled baking sheet.  Bake for 45-60 minutes,or until soft and beginning to carmelize, flipping cut side up halfway through.  Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.

Scoop out the softened pumpkin flesh.  Mash slightly for a smoother soup, or leave as scooped for more texture.  

Meanwhile, heat a large heavy bottomed saucepan over medium high heat, and sautee the onions until soft, about 3-5 minutes.  Add the ginger and garlic, sautee 1 minute longer.  Stir in the cumin, coriander, cardamom and cinnamon, mixing until the onions are well coated*.

Add the pepper flakes, salt, canned pumpkin, fresh pumpkin, broth, coconut milk.  Bring to a simmer and let cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.   For a smooth soup, puree in batches with  food process, or process with an immersion blender, or serve as is.  Thin with additional broth, if desired.

* in lieu of the individual spices, you can substitute 1 Tbsp of your favorite garam masala.