Pumpkin soup- Thai Style

While New York was beautiful, relaxing, and full of love and art, today found me exhausted after yesterday's travel disaster...2 hours on public transit to LGA (check.); 3 hours sitting on a delay at LGA (check.); 2.5 hour flight with screaming baby (check.); 1 hour ride on the L to get home (check.); etc...So, when I set out to shop for FRIENDSGIVING, I was feeling a bit less ambitious than usual. So, I decided on soup. This soup. Delicious, spicy, healthy soup. Soup that I could make ahead and then try to focus on papers until the eating begins.



While this soup is magnificent, it is still not quite where I want it to be. I've been trying for years to reverse engineer the thai pumpkin soup we served at Restaurant L while I worked there, and nothing yet matches the simultaneous richness and lightness of that perfect soup. I'm getting so close though, so close... I look forward to hearing what you think!

Step one: Roast some squash (I used 2 small sugar pumpkins and one medium sized acorn squash) in a 425 degree oven. I like to brush with olive oil and dust with sea salt and a little aleppo pepper.

Let the squash cool and then peel and cut into chunks. Set aside.




Step two:

Ingredients
Roasted squash
1 large sweet apple chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
1 can of lite coconut milk
1/2 sweet onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 Fresno chile chopped
2 inches of fresh ginger peeled and diced
4 inches of lemongrass chopped
1/2 red bell pepper diced
6 T canola oil
2 T red curry paste (more or less to taste depending on your brand)
2 T Rice Vingegar
2-3 T brown sugar
1 lime juiced

Directions
Heat the canola oil in a large stainless steel stockpot over low/medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, bell pepper, onion, apple and chile to oil and cook until the onion is transparent.

Add curry paste. Stir to coat.

Add squash. Cook until warmed back through.

Add 4 cups of broth. Stir until squash begins to break down. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer on low for about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and purée with an immersion blender or in a food processor.

Taste and add salt, lime juice, brown sugar and rice vinegar.


Serve garnished with chopped thai basil, red bell pepper, toasted pumpkin seeds and fish sauce for non-vegan eaters. This makes about 3L of soup and it freezes well! Enjoy.




Variations:
Garnish with grilled shrimp/ scallops
Sub 1 cup of veg. broth for seafood broth
Include 1-2 fresh curry leaves and/or chopped thai basil while cooking. (Remove curry leaves before puréeing.)