Roast Pumpkin Soup with Lemongrass

- Serves 4

Everyone loves a piping, hot bowl of roast pumpkin soup in the fall, but have you ever tried this creamy concoction with Thai herbs and coconut milk. In hot and humid Singapore, we don’t have the luxury of seasons which means I never really crave soup like I used to during the long winters in China. Every bowl of pumpkin soup and toasted bread would end with the phrase, “I could live on this”. Here, I make soup only when we have homemade stock sitting in our refrigerator, be it seafood stock quickly made with leftover prawn heads or chicken stock from leftover carcasses. I simply combine the stock with what is seasonal (but “not so local”) since most of our produce is imported from our neighbors. Here we have it - my roast pumpkin soup made with ripe Japanese pumpkin, fragrant Thai herbs and a touch of fresh coconut milk from Malaysia.

Ingredients for Roast Pumpkin Soup with Lemongrass

1kg sweet, ripe pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 small (100g) red onion, whole
4 large cloves garlic, whole
salt and freshly ground pepper, for sprinkling
2-3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for garnish
1 L quality chicken or seafood or vegetable stock, preferably home-made
2 lemongrass stalks, lower bottom half bruised with a mallet
1 inch piece galangal, peeled and sliced
6 kaffir lime leaves, torn
salt & black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup thick coconut milk
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish
sliced whole-grain sourdough loaf, toasted - for serving

Recipe

Pre-heat your oven to 220ºC. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or foil and place pumpkin chunks on it along with whole onion and garlic. Sprinkle salt and pepper and pour olive oil all over pumpkin - toss well to coat. Roast for 30-40 minutes until pumpkin is very soft and slightly charred on top. Set aside to cool, then peel and discard onion and garlic skins.
Pour 1L good-quality chicken stock in a saucepan. Throw in lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves; bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Fish out the herbs and discard.
Next, add roast pumpkin, onion and garlic into flavored stock. Using a stick blender, blend until very smooth. Add a little water or chicken stock to thin out the soup as per your liking, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Heat up the soup, then add coconut milk and stir well.
Serve hot garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of quality extra-virgin olive oil. Some toasted whole-grain sourdough is a great way to turn this soup into a complete meal.