Pumpkin Soup with Orange and Coconut

Have you already got used to the autumn weather? Even though I love the sun, I admit that sometimes I really miss autumn flavors. Pumpkins, plums, apples, pears, and dishes with warming spices are really delicious and extremely nutritious. And when it gets colder outside, the appetite for a flavorful cream soup increases significantly 🙂

Preparation

I peeled and cubed the pumpkin, put it in a pot and poured enough water to cover it. I chopped the onion, and fried it with pressed garlic in hot oil. Then I added the onion and garlic to the pot with the pumpkin. I cooked it over low heat until the pumpkin was soft. Then I added orange juice, coconut drink, spices and blended everything until smooth. Before serving, I topped the soup with thick coconut milk.

Use as little water as the pumpkin needs

“Enough water to cover it” is the instruction that decides how this soup turns out. Pumpkin releases its own liquid as it softens, so a pot generously filled with water gives you a thin soup that no amount of blending will thicken, and the only remedy afterwards is boiling it down, which costs the fresh taste.

Barely covering the cubes is right, and if the soup still comes out thicker than you want, the orange juice and the coconut drink at the end are there to loosen it. It is much easier to thin a soup than to rescue a watery one.

Orange juice at the end, and why it is not boiled

The juice goes in after the pumpkin is soft and just before blending, off the heat. Boiled orange juice loses the fresh, sharp note that makes this version different from every other pumpkin soup, and what is left behind is a faint bitterness from the heated acid.

Squeeze it fresh if you can. Cartons work, but they are sweeter and usually need a pinch more salt to keep the soup from tipping into dessert territory. Turmeric goes in at the same time, off the strongest heat, for the same reason as any ground spice: long boiling makes it dusty.

The coconut milk on top, and keeping it

The thick coconut milk spooned over each bowl is not just decoration. It is the fat that carries the flavour and smooths the acidity of the juice, and it sits on the surface only if the soup is thick enough to hold it. Take it from the solid layer at the top of a chilled tin rather than shaking the tin first.

The soup keeps three days in the fridge and thickens there; loosen it with water or coconut drink when reheating. It also freezes well, but freeze it before the coconut milk goes on top. If you would rather have autumn dinners planned into the week with a shopping list, that is what the Diet & Training by Ann app does.

Anna Lewandowska

Pumpkin soup with orange and coconut

Pumpkin cooked in just enough water with fried onion and garlic, blended with orange juice, coconut drink and turmeric and topped with thick coconut milk.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Servings: 2 servings

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Polish

Calories: 180

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 150 g pumpkin
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 garlic clove
• 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup coconut drink
• salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 tablespoon thick coconut milk

Method

 

1. Peel and cube the pumpkin, put it in a pot and pour in just enough water to cover it.
   
2. Chop the onion and fry it with the pressed garlic in hot coconut oil.
   
3. Add the onion and garlic to the pot and cook over low heat until the pumpkin is soft.
   
4. Take the pot off the heat, add the orange juice, coconut drink and spices and blend until smooth.
   
5. Serve topped with thick coconut milk.
   

Notes

Ingredient quantities are taken from the recipe box as published. Calories and the number of servings are approximate.

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