Soup with a delicious autumnal twist making the most out of seasonal pumpkins which are being carved up for Halloween.
Sadly, over half the pumpkins carved at Halloween are under-utilised. The flesh and seeds of carving pumpkins are all edible, even once they have been carved. Pumpkins are a great source of beta-carotene, the precursor to vitamin A as suggested by the gorgeous golden-orange hue of the flesh and, in most cases, skins. A word of caution, if your pumpkin happens to have green skin your soup will adopt a “chip shop curry sauce” colour. Don’t worry, it will still be equally delicious!
If you don’t have any pumpkins hanging around you can substitute butternut squash or sweet potato as an alternative. These vegetables are still high in beta-carotene, an antioxidant that has previously been shown to help reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 large onions, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- 3 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp dried chilli, or to taste
- 200g red lentils
- 500g pumpkin, skin on and roughly diced
- 200ml coconut milk
- 10g stock powder
- 15g fresh coriander, finely sliced
Method
- Gently fry the onion and oil in a large pan till soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Add the dried spices and cook till fragrant before adding in the remaining ingredients with 1 litre of boiling water.
- Allow to simmer for 20 minutes till the lentils and pumpkin are cooked through and soft.
- Blend till smooth and serve.
Per serving: 447kcal/ 18.6g fat/ 2.3g saturated fat/ 50.7g carbohydrates/ 7.6g fibre/ 16.4g protein