Pumpkin and red lentil soup - Eat Well Recipe - NZ Herald (2024)

FAQs

How do you make Jamie Oliver pumpkin soup? ›

Pumpkin & ginger soup

Place the pumpkin, shallots, ginger and some oil in a large saucepan and sauté until soft. Add the stock, coconut milk and chilli powder. Season, then bring to the boil and simmer for 40 minutes. Blitz in a food processor then serve with the fresh herbs, lime juice and a splash of coconut milk.

Add flour or cornflour

Put a tablespoon of either into a small bowl and stir in 2-3 tbsp of the soup until you have a smooth mixture. Stir this back into the soup and bring it to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes to allow the starch granules to burst to thicken, and to cook out any flour flavour.

Add a few drops of good sherry vinegar on top of the soup to contrast against the sweetness of the pumpkin and the peppers.

Lentil soup is mentioned in the Bible: In Genesis 25:30-34, Esau is prepared to give up his birthright for a pot of fragrant red lentil soup being cooked by his brother, Jacob. In Jewish tradition, lentil soup has been served at times of mourning; the roundness of the lentil represents a complete cycle of life.

If the fresh pumpkin is overripe, it can start to ferment and develop a sour taste. Another factor to consider is the type of fresh pumpkin you're using.

There are several ways to thicken pumpkin soup. The easiest method is to reduce the soup by cooking off some of the liquid. Alternatively, use a slurry of all-purpose flour or cornstarch and water, add a teaspoon or two of either thickener to a small bowl and stir in 2 to 3 teaspoons of the soup to create a slurry.

This lentil soup should be fairly thick, but if you prefer a thicker soup, mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl.

Add Flour Or Cornstarch

You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute. For the best results, never add flour or cornstarch directly to your soup. If you do, it will clump up on top. Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool.

If it tastes bland, add more salt. The salt definitely brings out all the flavors from that long list of spices. Stir in maple syrup.

“Pumpkin soup is best made with your good, old-fashioned varieties like butternut or Queensland blue — the harder pumpkins,” she says. “Soft fleshed pumpkins can make the soup a little watery. They are a different beast… from your standard greengrocer pumpkin.”

What herbs go well with pumpkin? ›

Cornstarch. Another way to thicken soup is with cornflour or cornstarch. It's a very effective thickener that you should use in runnier dishes that need more volume, like vegetable soup. You only need a little of it to thicken your soup, since adding too much can make it take on the texture of paste or mash.

ESV Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Those look to be radicles (embryonic stems, the part the root grows from) that have separated from the lentils. If you look closely at the less squished lentils in your soup, you'll probably see some with the radicles still attached.

In India, where roughly half of the world's lentils are consumed, cultivation dates back to 2500 B.C. Today, more than 50 different varieties are grown. Nearly every traditional Indian meal includes at least one lentil dish, and they are an important source of nutrients for millions of vegetarians on the subcontinent.

Most canned pumpkin is pureed pumpkin. It's been cooked and canned, but you'd have to cook it anyways to make it soft enough to puree. As long as you get plain canned pumpkin without added seasonings, it's the same as what you would make at home.

Pumpkin soup is a usually 'bound' (thick) soup made from a purée of pumpkin. It is made by combining the meat of a blended pumpkin with broth or stock. It can be served hot or cold, and is a common Thanksgiving dish in the United States.

Canned pumpkin (labeled as "100% pure pumpkin") is a purée of pumpkin that is sometimes mixed with other kinds of winter squash. It is unsweetened and does not contain any added spices. Canned pumpkin and pumpkin puree are the same thing, and you'll often see the terms used interchangeably in recipes and cookbooks.