Spicy pumpkin and coconut soup.

This is one of the best soups I have made in a long time. I made a few adjustments to the recipe which is a universal one and I have included my changes in the recipe below because they definitely enhanced this winning combination!

Spicy pumpkin and coconut soup.

Half a pumpkin chopped into chunks.
1 tin of coconut milk
1 litre of chicken stock
1 large onion
1 tbsp chilli flakes (could use 1 small red chilli instead)
1 stem of lemongrass, soft white inside, sliced
1 tsp ground coriander
2 large gloves of garlic
the juice of a lime
1 large chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1 handful of finely chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp brown sugar (could use palm sugar)
a couple of generous dashes of fish sauce

Put the chilli, ginger, lemongrass, garlic, ground coriander and lime juice into a food processor and process until smooth. Add a few tsp of chicken stock if necessary to allow it to bind. This can be really rough as you are going to blend the soup later anyway.

Gently fry the onion in vegetable oil until translucent and then add the spice paste. Cook until fragrant and soft (a few minutes) and then add the pumpkin and cover with chicken stock. (use more or less until the pumpkin is just covered) Simmer with a lid on until the pumpkin is soft. This took about 30 minutes.

Use a stick blender to process in the pot until the soup is smooth. Add the coconut milk, sugar, fish sauce and coriander and stir until silky and warmed through.

Serve and enjoy and then return for a second bowl and then lick the ladle after you have dished up leftovers!