If you were following my tweets yesterday, you already know some of what I was doing. Since my experimentation succeeded, here is a rough guide to making Chicken-Pumpkin-Curry Soup.
I had the rough idea for this recipe in my head, thinking the three flavors would go well together. Plus we had them and I do need to get some of these pumpkins used. So I went googling on recipes for reassurance, but I didn't like parts of anything I found. So I just made it up as I went along. Note that I had this cooking much of the day, but I will include some tips for shortcuts along the way.
Making the Base Stock
I wanted chicken pieces for the soup and a good flavorful base, so my first step was actually to cook a "stock" that I strained. You can skip this step and use premade stock or bullion cubes dissolved in water and add leftover chicken pieces or browned cut-up chicken breasts or whatever works for you in the end step.
Rough ingredients (vary to suit your preferences and supplies):
- two whole chicken legs with backs--skin on and bones in (or more if feeding a crowd)
- black and white peppercorns
- sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme, sage, and curry
- several blades (or whatever they're called) of fresh chives
- a couple handfuls of pumpkin guts (strings and seeds)
- greens off a leek
- salt
- water to cover
Throw it all in a pot and let it cook on low heat until the meat is falling off the bone. Strain it, putting the liquid aside for later.
Once cool enough to handle, pick the meat off the bone and break into small chunks. Save for adding to the soup later.
Prepping the Pumpkin
The recipes I found reading online either used canned pumpkin or baked the pumpkin in halves and made puree that way. Part of my goal with making this soup was to use one of the fresh pumpkins, so canned or my ready-made puree weren't ideal for this round. I certainly didn't want to waste my energy or electricity on the puree process when I planned to have a soup pot simmering on the gas all day (sure wish we had a wood stove I could do this on).
What I did instead was to cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the stringy guts and seeds. A couple handfuls of that went straight into the stock pot already started.
Then DH helped me out and we cut the pumpkin into huge chunks that were easy to handle. We peeled the tough skin off with potato peelers then cut into smaller chunks that would fit in the soup pot better. We put these aside in a clean dishpan for when I needed them later. Shortly before putting them into the pot, I put water into the dishpan to rinse them off.
Making the Pumpkin-Curry Base Soup
If you are like me and using a fresh pumpkin, you may end up with far more of this than you need for your meal. It is easier to freeze and store at the end of this stage instead of once the final soup is assembled (takes up less space).
Ingredients
- Curry powder (how much depends on your taste, the curry's strength, and how much pumpkin you have)
- A couple onions chopped or sliced coarsely
- A little butter, margarine, or oil for starting the onions and curry
- Garlic
- Pumpkin prepared as above (or puree or canned if you haven't the fresh to use up or are lazy)
- The base stock prepared as above or the alternative ready-made stock or bullion (how much depends on how much pumpkin you have and how wet you want your soup... it is easier to add more later than to cook it off, but more will help the pumpkin cook faster)
- A few apples, peeled and cored (I used six small ones but it was a lot of pumpkin)
- Some carrots, peeled (they help with the color if your pumpkin is a little pale and add more nutrients. could be skipped)
- Make sure you start with a pot large enough for all the stuff you plan to put into it.
- Melt the butter or margarine or heat the oil in the bottom of the pot.
- Throw in the onions and let soften a little.
- Add the garlic.
- Put in the curry powder, stirring and watching the heat to avoid burning. Doing this with the curry powder releases the flavor. You can add more later, but it won't be as good if it hasn't had this step.
- Pour in a little of the stock to keep the paste from burning.
- Throw in some of the pumpkin chunks and stir them around in the paste. Not sure how important this step is, but it's what I did.
- Add the stock and the rest of the pumpkin chunks. Do not worry if the stock doesn't cover all the pumpkin. I would worry more if it did ebcause it would be awfully wet. Mine was maybe halfway up initially and had to cook it down for a while.
- If there is room in the pot (there wasn't for me), add the carrots and apples.
- Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally. Add left out ingredients, if any, when the pumpkin has collapsed enough for it to fit.
- When everything has softened enough to stir easily and be somewhat mushable with your spoon, consider the moisture amount. If it is really wet, you might want to remove the lid and let it cook down for a while. It will splatter less and be less likely to burn if you cook down before completing the next step.
- Blend everything until creamy. I used my staff blender directly in the pot. I did have to take it off the stove because my cord wasn't long enough. If you aren't lucky enough to have one of these heat-tolerant pot-safe blender sticks, you'll need to transfer it to a regular blender or food processor or mash by hand and have chunky soup.
Note that I ended up with something like 8 liters of soup base. But I did use a whole pumpkin of a very meaty type.
Assembling the Final Soup
- Pumpkin-Curry base soup
- A can or so of coconut milk or a creamy alternative like cream or soy-cream substitute. Coconut milk is really a great choice because the flavor complements the rest of the soup well
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Your chunks of chicken resulting from the first step or a time-saving alternative
Take enough of your soup base for the number of people you want to feed. Heat slowly and mix in the coconut milk. If you have any issues with the creaminess, you may want to blend again, but that wasn't necessary for me. The coconut milk mixed in fine once it was heated up.
When satisfied no blending will be needed, add the chicken. (Not that blending the chicken would really hurt anything.. just seems odd to me)
Season to taste.
Vegan or Vegetarian Alternative
Obviously you won't want to use chicken and chicken stock if preparing for vegans or vegetarians. The alternative is quite simple. Use a vegetable stock base instead of chicken stock--either vegetarian bullion or a homemade stock. It would also be an option to just skip to the pumpkin stage and just use a little water and add more other vegetables for flavor, such as celery, leeks, parsnips, or whatever you want. Those vegetables would then just be blended along with the pumpkin to give the final creamy result.
The soup will be delicious even without chunks of chicken or something in it. We add that because DH is a very hardworking man and it helps him feel fuller. You could use chunks of tofu or something if you wanted.
Serving Suggestions
As you probably noticed from the picture, I served with a spoonful of sour cream on each portion and bits of fresh chives. We had some coarse bread on the side.
Although I liked the combination of the soup with sour cream, DH did not. Some whipped cream (NOT sweetened or with vanilla in it!) would be another choice if you like the looks but not the flavor.
Of course you can also just serve it plain, with or without the bread.
Vær's'god (sorta means "Enjoy the meal" in this context although the literal is "be so good")
