Spicy Pumpkin Soup

The last couple days have been pretty chilly and rainy. This morning is the first day of sunshine I have seen in a while. I love the cool temperatures and rain though, it's a perfect day to make a hot cup of tea and tasty soup!  I have had a lot of requests for this recipe the last few days, so I decided to post it on my blog for you all to enjoy. This is now my husbands favorite soup, which was a big indicator that this recipe was successful! The instructions are straight forward and the ingredients are easy to find! 

INGREDIENTS

• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• Pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)
• 3 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin or 6 cups of chopped roasted pumpkin
• 5 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
• 2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

* if cooking gluten-free, simply cook with gluten-free broth

METHOD

1 Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.

2 Add pumpkin and 5 cups of chicken broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

3 Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan. (this is optional, if you like a smoother soup follow this step)

4 With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar and mix. Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Add cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. If a little too spicy, add more cream to cool it down. You might want to add a teaspoon of salt.

I made some small changes to the recipe to add a bit more punch to the soup. First, I replaced the milk and cream with a can of coconut milk. Secondly, my husband and I like our soup a bit more on the spicy side so I added a secret ingredient I use in a lot of my cooking: Sambal Oelek. My mom uses this all the time in her tasty Indonesian recipes as well! This will be sure to heat your dish up without compromising the flavors of your recipe. Be sure to add a little at a time and taste often. It can get quite spicy in no time! Lastly, I skipped stepped three, since my husband and I don't mind having some texture in our soup! You can serve this with fresh baked rolls or with some delicious garlic naan bread like we did! 

Hope you enjoy this recipe, let me know how it goes if you decide to try it out!! 

xoxo