Cookery School: Pumpkin Soup

I had first sampled pumpkin soup at Le Plaisir, the cosy little cafe on Pune's Bhandarkar Road. It was so yummy, that I resolved making my own version some day.

I got all the ingredients (that I had thought would go into the soup) the day before I was to leave for Pune (for a good long break from work) thinking I'd try my hand at some culinary experimentation while at Pune.

As luck would have it, I had lunch at Le Plaisir the first day of my Pune sojourn, and ended up getting the recipe from the chef himself. So I was saved from having to figure out the recipe and possibly from having to gulp down failure!

So here is Siddharth's recipe for pumpkin soup:

Ingredients:
Pumpkin (nice red/orange one)
Olive oil
Cream
Fresh (not dried!) oregano leaves
Cumin seeds
Garlic
Salt and pepper
(There aren't any measures, because they can all be varied according to taste!)

Method: 
Peel and dice the pumpkin in 1-2 inch dice.

Lay them out on a baking tray (in a single layer), drizzle on some oil and scatter with oregano leaves, cumin seeds and garlic. (I skipped the garlic because I didnt have any at hand, and added fresh basil leaves (torn) because I DID have them) Smoosh everything together by hand till its all mixed well.

Roast in an oven for 20-30 minutes, till the pumpkin is almost cooked.

In a saucepan/wok/kadhai, heat the cream (I didn't have the guts to use cream or even half-cream-half-milk, so I went with whole milk with a touch of cream added). There should be enough liquid to cover the pumpkin pieces. Once the milk comes to the boil, add the pumpkin (with the herbs, garlic etc)



Let the mixture come simmer on the lowest heat till the pumpkin is fully cooked (a spoon should easily slide through the pumpkin piece). Take the saucepan off the heat and let it cool down to room temperature.

Whiz it through the blender till really fine and smooth.

Put it back in the sauce pan, and put it on low heat. Add salt and pepper to taste, and milk to adjust the consistency (if you think its too thick)



You can use garlic salt instead of plain salt (especially if you skipped the garlic earlier as I did). Another little deviation that I made from Siddharth's recipe was to add half a cube of Maggi seasoning (use less salt if you use seasoning since that is very salty itself) to the soup as it simmered.

Serve in a large bowl, garnished with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and fresh oregano leaves. Enjoy with warm crusty, toasted bread.