Curried Pumpkin Soup

For the last two years, I've heard about a supposed "pumpkin shortage."  So when I see pumpkin for cheap at the grocery store, I snatch it up to add to my stockpile.  $1 a can?  Don't mind if I do.

The only problem is, I now have a ton of pumpkin and my family (okay, my kids) tends to get tired of me doing all the baking in pumpkin flavors.  ("Yay! Mom made cookies!  Oh.  They're...pumpkin.  Nevermind.  Got any chocolate?")  I needed to find another way to use some of it.

My other inspiration for this recipe comes from me being cold and wanting soup for lunch today.  We typically have soup or chili or stew on the menu about once a week around here during the cold months.  I love it when we have homemade leftover soup for lunch.  Alas...I have not gone grocery shopping this week and our only leftovers to be had were the slices of fundraiser frozen pizza.  Nummay.  (Actually, not so much.  Fundraiser pizza is pretty gross and not worth the price or calories.  The things we do for our kids and their school's PTO.)

I was a tad nervous about trying a savory pumpkin recipe since I'm used to sweet pumpkin recipes.  I turned to my good friend Internet and looked up a few different recipes that sounded good.  I liked parts of some recipes, and ingredients in others.  Some batches made way too much soup and others were too high in calories.  So I took what I liked from the recipes and cobbled together my own:

Curried Pumpkin Soup

You will need: 

Not pictured?  The ginger or garlic, because I took the picture before I got them out of the fridge.  Also missing? Water.  But you know what that looks like.

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion (white or yellow), chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or chopped
• 1 (14.5 oz.) can of chicken broth (can substitute veggie broth if you want a vegetarian soup)
• 1 (15 oz.) can of canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp minced ginger (if you don't keep ginger on hand - I don't - get thee a jar of pre-minced ginger to keep in the fridge.  It's way better than ground ginger from the spice aisle but it's super convenient.)
• 1.5 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• a pinch of coriander (about 1/8 tsp, actually.  I just don't have a 1/8 teaspoon and eyeballed half of my 1/4 teaspoon.)
• a pinch of cayenne (same as the coriander - about 1/8 tsp)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp half and half
• parsley (fresh or dried) for garnish

Heat your olive oil in a big saucepan over medium heat.  Add your chopped onions and garlic.  Saute until onions are tender and translucent.  Add the chicken broth, water, pumpkin, ginger, curry powder, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine well.  

Heat until soup comes to a low simmer.  You might want to taste it at this point and adjust spices accordingly, according to your preferences.  (If you don't like hot-spicy, I'd recommend not adding the full amount of cayenne in the beginning and adjust at this point.  At the amounts listed in the recipe, I don't think it's too spicy-hot, it's just right, but then again, I like spicy food.)  Once you've adjusted your spices and reached your low simmer, it's time to transfer the whole soup to a blender or food processor.  Behold, The Ninja:

Proof that I'm not a good blogger - a splotch of soup on my counter top.  Oh heavens!

I bought The Ninja Master Prep Pro a few weeks ago after that unfortunate hummus incident at the beginning of the month.  We love this thing.  The kids think it's awesome when I use it to make shaved ice for snow cones.  My husband uses it a couple of times a week for smoothies for breakfast.  I've used it for hummus twice and haven't killed it.  Not even close.  It's the best blender we've ever had.  I think it's less of a blender and more of a blender/food processor hybrid, but whatever.  It's awesome.  Anyhow...

Blend your soup until smooth.  There will probably be a few visible flecks of garlic or onion, but you just want an overall nice, even consistency.  (If pressed for time or clean blender - I've been there, believe me - you could skip this step altogether.  You'll just have onion chunks to contend with.) Pour your soup back into the original pan.  Add your half-and-half and stir to combine.

I always have half-and-half on hand because I like it in my coffee.  If you don't have half-and-half, you could use whole milk.  Coconut milk would be good too if you want the soup to be vegan or you avoid dairy.  Basically you want to add a touch of creaminess to the soup - it compliments the pumpkin and the spices nicely.  Heat the soup through if the milk-product-of-choice has cooled it significantly.  Ladle into bowls, garnish with parsley:

This recipe makes about 5.5 cups of soup.  I plugged the recipe into Livestrong to figure out calories and such - a 1 and 3/8 cup serving (about 1/4 of the recipe) clocks in at 102 calories.  I had about 1.5 cups in that bowl, which was 111 calories.  It's a little bit higher in fat than I would like (5 grams per serving), which would be a good reason to substitute a lower-fat option for the half-and-half if you're looking to reduce your fat intake.  I worked with what I had on hand, though.  Obviously, 100 calories of soup isn't going to keep you full for very long (though I did get filled up on this one bowl of soup, but I also tend to eat small lunches), so if you're making this for lunch, you might want to add in a small sandwich or salad.  As a starter course, this soup would be great.  

Overall - a warm, spicy soup perfect for fall.  I'll be making it again.