Description
Learn how to make a hearty and healthy pumpkin soup recipe with lentils and sweet potato. This creamy and delicious soup is an excellent healthy and comforting autumnal meal.
Ingredients
Scale
- ½ medium-sized oven-baked pumpkin (450g, 15.9oz flesh)
- 70g (2.5oz) dry red lentils, soak
- 1 medium onion (100g, 3.5oz with skin)
- 3 garlic cloves
- 5g (0.2oz) piece of fresh ginger
- 1 tsp. turmeric
- 1 medium carrot
- ½ of a large sweet potato (325g, 11.5oz)
- 1 tbsp. dried sage
- 1 large or 2 smaller bay leaves
- 800g (28.2oz) water
- ¼ cup coconut milk
- Himalayan salt to taste (max ¼ tsp. for Plantricious version)
- Black pepper to taste
To garnish:
- Chili flakes or cayenne pepper
- More dried sage
- Grated nutmeg
- Pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Start with putting red lentils to soak for at least two hours. Then, drain and rinse.
- Next, take a medium-sized pumpkin and cut it in half. Now, scoop out the seeds and place the halves, face down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the pumpkin at 200°C (390°F) for 30 minutes until soft. Alternatively, bake only one half and keep the other in the fridge for another recipe or meal.
- While the pumpkin is baking, sauté chopped onion and ginger with two tablespoons of water for a few minutes until the onion becomes translucent. Add water one tablespoon at a time, if necessary.
- Next, add soaked, drained, and rinsed red lentils, cubed carrot and sweet potato, dried sage, and turmeric. Stir and throw in bay leaves as well.
- Now, pour hot water into the soup pot, stir, and bring to boil. Then, reduce heat and let simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Separate pumpkin flesh from the peel and add it to the soup. In case you’re using a pumpkin with soft and edible peel, keep it on. For example, you can use the peel of Hokkaido pumpkin.
- Next, pour in coconut milk and, using a regular or an immersion blender, process the soup until smooth. It’s up to you whether you decide to leave it a bit chunky or blend it very smooth.
- Let the soup cool down a bit before adding salt and pepper. It’s because the flavours will be enhanced once the soup is cooler.
- Finally, should you decide to add nutmeg and chili flakes to the whole batch, mix them in as well.
Notes
You may choose any preferred pumpkin variety e.g., butternut squash, calabaza, delicata squash, hubbard squash, kabocha squash, regular pumpkin, or Hokkaido pumpkin aka pie pumpkin.
Should you avoid saturated fat, replace coconut milk it with any nut or seed butter. For example, tahini, cashew butter, peanut butter, or almond butter. Alternatively, for an even leaner result, blend some silken tofu into you soup.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30+10 minutes
- Method: Stovetop
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ of the recipe
- Calories: 207 kcal
- Sodium: 205mg
- Fat: 3.25g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5g
- Carbohydrates: 32.6g
- Fiber: 7g
- Protein: 7.2g
