Ingredients

2 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp chopped onion
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger (or 1/2 tsp ground dried ginger)
1/2 tsp curry powder
2 cups pureed pumpkin or squash (hopefully from your garden, see below)
2 cups chicken or veggie stock
1 cups coconut milk
Salt to season

Other optional veggies to add:

  • 1 stalk chopped celery
  • 1/4 cup chopped leek
  • 1/4 cup chopped peppers

Directions:

Saute butter, onion, garlic and ginger in pot, on low heat. Stir in flour. Add pumpkin, cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Gradually add stock and coconut  milk. Stir in curry powder. Add optional veggies if desired. Simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt. You can puree soup in the bender if you want to have a smooth texture or enjoy it as is.

How to cook pumpkin or squash:

Every year I am pleased to find some volunteer pumpkins in the garden. I love to cook them up and freeze them for pies, bread and soup all winter long.

To prepare your pumpkin:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut off stem. With a sharp knife poke some holes in the pumpkin like you would a potato. Place whole pumpkin in oven on cooking sheet. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. Depending on the size of the pumpkin, small pumpkin should take 40 minutes, larger pumpkins maybe up to one hour. For a really big pumpkin that will not fit in the oven; cut pumpkin in half and bake one side at a time.  After 30 to 40 minutes, poke with knife to test doneness. When the pumpkin feels soft in the middle it is done. Remove from oven and let cool for one hour. When pumpkin is cool enough to handle, cut it in half. Do this over a plate in case of moisture. Scoop out the seeds and the stringy stuff with a large spoon. Set aside seeds for roasting later. Add rind and stringy stuff to compost. (Always save a few seeds for compost and next year’s pumpkins!) Now scoop out the tender meat of the pumpkin and place into a blender or Cuisinart. Blend until smooth, if the pumpkin meat is not blending add a little bit of water(1 ounce at a time). Transfer the puree into a bowl. Now your pumpkin puree is ready to cook or bake with. Take the two cups you will need for your recipe and set aside the rest. I usually prepare my pumpkin for pies at Thanksgiving and freeze the rest for pies, bread and soup.

To freeze puree: Let cool completely. I use a wide-mouth mug and place a zip lock bag inside, overlapping the bag over the rim of the mug. Now spoon it into the zip lock bag You can use a spoon and eyeball two cups or measure it first. Most recipes for soup and pies call for two cups of pumpkin so that is the amount I freeze in each bag.