Pumpkin Soup with Ginger and Creamed Coconut
Kaddu ka Soup
Mamta Gupta
We had this soup in a nice hotel in Papua New Guinea in August 2007. We had a discussion on our table about how to make it. I tried it when I got home. This is the result.
Serves 4-6.
Edited July 2023
Ingredients
750 gm. pumpkin (You can use butternut or other squashes instead)
1 large onion, about 200 gm., peeled and chopped
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated or chopped finely
2 tbsp. cooking oil or butter (I used oil)
350 ml. water
2 vegetable stock cubes or any good bouillon powder
400 ml. tinned coconut cream or half of a 200 gm. cream coconut block + 250 ml. of boiling hot water
1 tbsp. tomato puree for colour and taste
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. sugar (optional)
A good sprinkle of freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Peel and chop the pumpkin flesh into small pieces. There should be about 500-600 gm. of flesh.
Heat oil in a large pan and fry onions lightly, until transparent.
Add pumpkin pieces and ginger, continue frying for another 5 minutes or so.
Add water, bring to boil. Add stock cubes and continue to cook until pumpkin is soft. Turn heat off.
Puree with a hand blender, avoiding any splashing of hot soup on your hand.
Heat again and add coconut cream and tomato puree. If too thick, add a little more water.
Taste and if needed add some lemon juice and sugar. This depends on how sweet your pumpkin is. Taste has to be adjusted as needed. You may need to add more salt
Season with freshly ground black pepper.
Serve hot. If you like, you can make a twirl of a little coconut cream on top of each bowl.