roasted pumpkin coconut curry soup (vegan & gluten free)

Roasted Pumpkin Coconut Curry Soup

I love this soup. But look, I know that my food photos all really suck, otherwise tastespotting.com, foodgawker.com, pinterest… people would be all over this. It’s not me. It’s not my camera. It’s my kitchen… it has two small windows both shrouded in total bleak, inescapable darkness 24 hours a day. So instead of finding this recipe on some influencer blog, you most likely ended up here by way of a random Google search related to something completely different–like “why do my photos suck?”

Consider yourself blessed by the pumpkin gods.

Also, while you’re here feel free to look around this poor, poor blog website of essays. According to my Google analytics, 86% of my many visitors refuse to read my glorious rantings. Instead, they click off the site in an average of 48 seconds. Maybe my visitors read fast. Or maybe my photos are so depressing people actually just shut off their computer and go outside for a sudden need to see and feel the visible light spectrum.

Here’s the thing…

Most commercial pumpkin flavored things have little to no actual pumpkin. “Pumpkin flavored” has actually just become synonymous with allspice, vanilla, clove, cinnamon and maybe a dash of nutmeg. I don’t know when the pumpkin part disappeared, but it did.

So don’t fuck this up by adding a bunch of pumpkin pie spice. Pumpkin is actually really good all by itself. I promise.

Also! This is vegan and gluten free!

Although every time I write something is vegan and/or gluten free I am assured to get some cranky comment about how coconut milk is actually pollinated by a rare bee that pollinates with gluten stingers.

But, I swear, this is both vegan and gluten free. And it is insanely delicious.

You will need

• 2 pumpkins (1 to roast & 1 to serve from if you want to be fancy)
• 16 oz. vegetable stock
• 2 cans of coconut cream
• 1 large onion
• 4 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp nutmeg & 2 tsp cinnamon (DO NOT OVER-DO IT)
• salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Carve open your pumpkin and remove the guts and seeds. You’ll want to save the seeds to toast and for garnish.

Slice the pumpkin into strips length-wise about 1″ thick and place on a baking sheet. Don’t worry about the outer shell of the pumpkin–in fact leave it on. It will keep the pumpkin from burning and the shell will easily peel off after the pumpkin is roasted.

Drizzle liberally with olive oil and dust with curry, cinnamon and nutmeg (and salt & pepper which I think goes without saying). Seriously, don’t go crazy with the spice. Remember, this is soup, not pie.

Roast until tender and easily pierced with a fork. You will not believe how good this smells.

While the pumpkin is roasting caramelize an onion in a stock pot. Once the onion has caramelized add the vegetable broth and coconut cream. You can always use a light coconut milk, but I really prefer the rich taste of coconut crew in this recipe.

Add the roast pumpkin-minus the outer shell-and let cook at a medium heat for a solid 20-30 minutes. Reduce heat and then break out your blend stick and blend until smooth and creamy. At this point you can adjust the flavors to your liking…. more curry, more spice DON’T YOU DARE ADD MORE PUMPKIN PIE SPICE.

Toasted pumpkin seeds make a really nice complement to this dish. I spread evenly on a baking sheet at 350°F–same deal–drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper. These don’t take long so keep your eye on them and make sure to stir them a bit every few minutes. If you have a ton of time on your hands, it’s also useful to soak the seeds in salt water for a few hours.

And finally serving the soup. Again, if you want to be fancy, clean out a pumpkin and make a notch for the ladle.

And voila… roasted pumpkin coconut curry soup that no one will ever make but me.

Don’t forget to garnish with pumpkin seeds!

I’ll be sure to post my rejection letters from the foodie blogs later today. Daw!

Update from our friends at Foodgawker 10/15/14: