Roasted Pumpkin Soup

          When we were living in the US, during the pumpkin season, you can see so many dishes made from this vegetable, starting from soups, cakes, muffins, pancakes, pies and ice creams. I have always stayed away from these, the only dishes that I made with it were some Indian pachadis and curries. Only once, I was tempted to try a pumpkin flavored ice cream, I saw people around me having 2 or 3 ice creams but I didn't like it at all, so thereafter, no pumpkin flavors in anything. Now, then why am I trying this Roasted Pumpkin Soup, well, for one reason, the roasted part was tempting me and also, I had a whole pumpkin with me, I had made a curry with it, used it in bisi bele bhath, but still had more than half of the pumpkin. But, for whatever reasons I tried it, I am glad that I tried it, the soup came out good, the roasting part gives a nice flavor along with the coconut milk that I have added, and the most important thing, both the husband and daughter liked it very much..

Need To Have

• Pumpkin Pieces with Skin - 1" - 11/2" pieces, 4 cups
• Onion - 1 medium, diced into big pieces
• Garlic - 6 cloves
• Grated Ginger - 1" piece
• Sundried Tomatoes - 2 tablespoon, chopped
• Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Cumin Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Vegetable Broth - 3 cups
• Coconut Milk - 1 cup from 1/2 cup grated coconut
• Salt And Pepper to taste

Method

          Arrange the pumpkin pieces, onion and the garlic ( with skin ) on a baking sheet ( lined with aluminium foil ), bake it for about 45 minutes at 200 C, check the onions and garlic and remove them after 15 or 20 minutes, otherwise they'll get burnt. Once it's cool enough to handle, peel the pumpkin pieces, and remove the garlic from the skin, once baked the pumpkin pieces comes to about 3 cups.

          Heat some olive oil, add the grated ginger and the sundried tomatoes and saute for a minute, then add the pumpkin pieces, coriander and cumin powders and mix for another minute.

          Cool the mixture a little and make a puree with the mixture along with half a cup of water.

         Then take it in a pan, add about 3 cups of the stock, salt and pepper and bring it to a slow boil. Add the coconut milk ( blend 1/2 cup grated coconut with 1 cup lukewarm water, strain and keep the milk ), warm it up and switch off. Strain the soup and serve it warm, drizzle some coconut milk and if needed, add more salt and pepper.

Note
I have used homemade vegetable broth, you can make your own or used the canned ones.
Fresh coconut milk is much lighter than the canned ones.
I have strained the soup since I felt that it would be like a thin paste otherwise, but if you want, you can add more stock and have the soup as such without straining.
The soup will have a slight sweetish taste from the pumpkin, but the roasted garlic and pumpkin gives a nice earthy flavor.