Pumpkin soup has always been one of my favorite fall and winter dishes. If you find it hard to believe that a simple pumpkin can become one of the most comforting and delicious dishes of winter, don’t miss this recipe. With a few simple tricks, I’ll explain how to turn this humble ingredient into an explosion of flavors. With simple ingredients that everyone has at home and a few tricks that I’m going to share with you, you’ll take this recipe to another level.
You’re going to enjoy a pumpkin soup with a super creamy texture and the characteristic flavor of pumpkin, enhanced with curry and irresistible toppings. Would you like to try this delicacy? If you follow this recipe to the letter until the end, I guarantee you’ll taste the most delicious pumpkin soup of your life.
Curried pumpkin cream soup
Very easy 15 minutes 45 minutes 4
- One kilogram of peanut squash
- Two cloves of garlic
- A purple onion from Zalla
- A glass of txakoli or white wine
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 80 grams of butter
- 600 ml of water
- 150 ml whole milk
- 12 king prawns
- Pumpkin seeds
- Shichimi togarashi
Peel the pumpkin and cut it into cubes of roughly the same size. It is important that they are similar in size so that they cook evenly. If you have pieces of pumpkin the size of a walnut and others the size of a tangerine, when you finish cooking there will be some pieces that are raw and others that are mushy. We are going to use a peanut squash, which is the easiest to find in any supermarket or greengrocer’s. You will need a sharp chef’s knife and a flat surface so that the squash does not move when you cut it. Keep your knuckles at a 45-degree angle to protect your fingers from possible cuts.
Cut into slices and make cuts around the outside of the pumpkin, from top to bottom, to remove the skin easily. Once peeled, cut into cubes about three fingers wide; we don’t want the pieces to be too small. To remove the seeds, use a tablespoon and scrape lengthwise to remove them, along with the fiber that surrounds them. Set the seeds aside and toast them in the oven; they are very tasty when toasted. Once you have peeled and chopped the pumpkin, move on to the next crucial step.
Here’s a trick that changes everything: place the pumpkin cubes on a baking sheet, season them well with salt and pepper, and bake them in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 30 minutes. Many people make cream by boiling the pumpkin directly in water, and the result is a flavorless cream. Roasted pumpkin is something else entirely. The sugars concentrate, caramelize, and undergo a transformation due to the Maillard reaction, gaining depth of flavor. It’s the first thing you notice when you taste this cream: you know that something has happened here that has taken the recipe to a whole new level.
While the pumpkin is roasting in the oven, we can move on to preparing the rest of the ingredients. Julienne the red onion from Zalla, peel and slice the two garlic cloves, which will form part of the first layer of flavor in this pumpkin cream. This layer of flavor will also be important when you take a spoonful, as it will accentuate the caramelized flavor of the pumpkin.
Heat a pan over medium heat with a dash of extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic. Leave it for a minute, just long enough to infuse the oil with its aroma without burning it. If you burn it, you’ll have to start over because it will make everything taste bitter. Now it’s time to add the red onion from Zalla, or whichever onion you have on hand, but I recommend using a red one.
This is where something interesting happens: cook the beans over medium heat for five or six minutes. As they cook, they lose water and the sugars come out, and the color changes. Don’t rush. This step is also crucial to the final result. When they are golden brown and caramelized, move on to the next step. The onion will lose water and take on a nice golden color, which is what we’re looking for. To recover all the flavor that may have remained at the bottom of the pan, we’re going to deglaze with a glass of txakoli. You can use any white wine you have on hand, but remember the saying… “never cook with wine you wouldn’t drink.”
Pour the glass of txakoli and the wine boils instantly. What you see is the alcohol evaporating. Wait until the liquid has reduced almost completely. At this point, what remains in the pan is the pure flavor of Bizkaia txakoli. The wine is no longer wine, it is part of the base, another layer of flavor. After 30 minutes of baking, remove the pumpkin from the oven. The pumpkin cubes have caramelized on the outside and have a color that promises to be delicious.
Add the baked pumpkin cubes to the casserole dish and sauté for five minutes with the onion and garlic, flavored with txakoli. The pumpkin blends with the other ingredients, absorbing the flavors of the sauté. While this is happening, the whole casserole dish smells like something you know will be worth trying. Pour 600 ml of hot water into the casserole dish, add a dash of ground black pepper and a generous pinch of Añana salt. We’ve done almost all the work, now we just have to wait for the pumpkin to finish cooking. Cover the casserole dish and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.
The pumpkin breaks down, the water turns into broth, and the broth thickens. After 20 minutes, when you uncover it, there is no soup in the pot. You have something denser, more concentrated, with an incredible aroma. The pumpkin is so tender that it falls apart at the touch. Add 150 milliliters of warm whole milk.
Stir well and let it blend with the pumpkin for a couple of minutes over medium heat. We’re going to add more creaminess and a special flavor to the pumpkin with two tablespoons of cream cheese. Stir so that it is distributed throughout all the pumpkin pieces.
And a tablespoon of curry powder. This touch is very special. The curry flavors the squash, adding its taste and aroma. I used regular curry powder, without spice. But if you like spicy food, you can easily use other, more potent varieties.
When the curry is blended in, add 80 grams of diced butter to the pan. As it melts, the cream begins to shine. Literally. The butter gives it that special silky appearance.
Now it’s time to blend all the ingredients. Put the blender into the pot and blend all the ingredients until there are no solids left. We’re not looking for a textured pumpkin soup. This is a smooth, well-emulsified cream. When you blend the cream with the blender on full power, the butter will help it emulsify.
This is what we’ve been looking for from the start. Keep the emulsified cream warm in the saucepan over low heat while we prepare the cream toppings. Cream without toppings is second-rate.
Peel the prawns, reserving the heads and shells for another recipe. Freeze them and wait for the right moment in the freezer. While the cream is resting, heat a frying pan over high heat with a dash of olive oil. Season the prawns and place them in the hot pan. This goes very quickly. Thirty seconds on each side, maximum. An overcooked prawn is a waste. We want it to be golden and seductive on the outside, but juicy and tender on the inside.
Serve in a deep dish. Give yourself a generous helping of cream, because you’re hungry and this is really, really tasty. Place three grilled prawns on top of the pumpkin cream for each serving. This is a cream with class, no skimping here. Next, garnish the dish with some toasted pumpkin seeds. This adds flavor and a crunchy texture to the cream. And finally, the Shichimi togarashi. That delicious Japanese spice blend. Pepper, orange, sesame, cinnamon, and other things. It makes it something different. A special touch. And that’s how delicious this pumpkin curry cream with prawns is. Now it’s your turn to make it at home. If you can’t find any of these ingredients, I have a small shop on Amazon. There you can find the ingredients and utensils I usually use. This isn’t a sneaky advertisement, I just want you to have what works and what I use myself.
- The flavor that baking gives to pumpkin due to the Maillard reaction.
- Build layers of flavors that can then be enjoyed in every spoonful of the cream.
- Emulsify the cream well before serving.
- The final toppings, which add other textures and flavors. They are a perfect complement to the cream.
Speed of light – Pain on a chain
Speed of Light is a very young band from Santa Monica formed by three brothers, Riley, Tyler, and Cameron Christensen, who exude grunge energy and alternative rock at its best. “Pain on a Chain” is a three-minute blast, with sharp guitars, a devastating rhythm section, and dark lyrics about taming your inner demons. If you feel like cooking with an extra shot of adrenaline and well-understood badassery, press play and turn up the volume.
