reading time: 3 min
“But when fall comes, kicking summer out (...), it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you.”
- Stephen King
Fall is not only a time for stories and great books, but also for pumpkin soup!! Duh.
This one is the recipe I used for my birthday party last month, and it's super creamy, hearty and slightly sweet with the roasting flavours of pumpkin, squash and sweet potato. Now, roasting the vegetables is the only part of this recipe that takes any length of time. And once it's done, this soup comes together super fast and is practically done within minutes!
So settle into you favourite chair and enjoy a bowl of warm soup :)
Inspired by Grab Your Spork
Preparation time: 60 mins
Main ingredients: pumpkin, squash, sweet potato
difficulty level: easy
serves: 8
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free,
gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, low-fat, low-sodium
Ingredients1 Japanese Hokkaido pumpkin (around 1kg)
1 butternut squash (around 1kg)
400g sweet potatoes
around 1 litre of water
around 1 litre of plant-based milk
2 onions
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil
3-5 tbsp soy cream or oat cream (cuisine) or coconut milk
pepper & salt
a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
dash of cinnamon (optional)
pepitas as garnish
Instructions
Wash your vegetables. Using a sharp knife, cut off the tops of the pumpkin/squash and halve them lengthways. Use a spoon to scrape out all of the guts and seeds *. I always use Hokkaido pumpkin for its sweet, chestnut-like flavour - and because you don't need to peel it because the skin is soft and edible! For the butternut squash: Holding the squash in one hand, use a sharp vegetable peeler in the other hand to peel off the outer layer of the squash.
Preheat oven to 350°F / 176°C.
Chop pumpkin, squash and sweet potatoes in rough slices and bake on a parchment lined baking tray for about 45-60 minutes or until a fork easily pierces the skin.
In the meantime, chop onions and finely mince garlic cloves. Once the vegetables are fully roasted, add the onions to a large saucepan (it should be able to hold 5-7 litres) and glaze. Then add the minced garlic and the roasted vegetables.
Add 1 litre of water and 1 litre of plant-based milk (I'm using soy milk here, but unsweetened almond milk, oat milk or even coconut milk would work great too!). Stir while letting it come to the boil. Add more water if the soup is too thick!
Since the vegetables are already roasted, they are super soft, so you don't need to cook the soup very long, just heat it up. Then use an emulsion blender (or a stand blender) to purée everything into a super smooth and creamy soup.
Lastly, add your spices and a bit of soy cream (or coconut milk, anything creamy works), and season to taste.
Ladle soup into individual bowls. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds over the soup, drizzle with soy cream (or coconut milk) and serve. Let leftover soup cool completely before transferring it to a proper storage container and refrigerating it for up to 4 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months.
Cook once, eat twice
This recipe makes a big pot of soup, and lucky for you the leftovers taste just as amazing. Pack it up in a thermos and take it to work to reheat at lunch time. It does continue to thicken up as it sits so you may need to some vegetable broth, soy milk or water when you reheat.
This vegan and dairy-free pumpkin & sweet potato soup would be a great addition to your holiday table for Thanksgiving. It's pretty easy to make, requires only basic pantry ingredients, and the leftovers taste even richer the next day, so you could certainly make it one day in advance (like I did for my birthday party).
TIPS & NOTES:
- Don't throw away the pumpkin seeds!! They're packed with healthy protein, fats and zinc. You can simply rinse and bake them with a bit of salt in the oven at low temperature to make your own roasted pumpkin seeds! Or use them to grow your own pumpkin on the balcony or in your backyard.
Here are 2 quick ways to incorporate pumpkin seeds into your daily cuisine:
1) snack: Mix
3 cups pumpkin seeds, 1/3 cup maple syrup, 2 tsp ground cinnamon and a
pinch of salt, form that into little heaps, then dehydrate until the
crispy heaps are completely dry and crunchy.
2) drink: Did
you know you can also make dairy-free milk from pumpkin seeds? All you
need is 1 cup pumpkin seeds, soaked for at least 1 hour, 4 cups filtered
water, 4 dates or a bit of stevia for sweetening, 1 teaspoon coconut
oil and perhaps a bit of vanilla bean if you like. Blend everything in
your blender until smooth.
Speaking of Thanksgiving and all, I have to give thanks to Stella Lee of Purfylle for featuring me again over at her linky party! :)
♥
Maisy
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