Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin soup is the most common pureed soup of autumn and winter, and it is also one of the clearest examples that “vegetable soup” and “low-calorie soup” are not the same thing. The pumpkin itself is about 40 calories per 100 grams; what happens to it on the way to the bowl — oil, coconut milk or cream — is what decides whether the bowl comes to 130 calories or to 300.

In Israel the soup is usually made from chestnut pumpkin (a kabocha-type squash) or from butternut squash, and sometimes combined with sweet potato. The recipe here is built on roasting rather than boiling, and that is the single big difference between a decent pumpkin soup and an excellent one.

Prep time: 20 minutes · Roasting and cooking time: 50 minutes · Total: about an hour and a quarter · Yield: 6 servings · Difficulty: easy

Roasting vs. boiling: the biggest difference in the recipe

Pumpkin cooked in water loses sugars into the liquid and never reaches the temperature at which caramelization happens — water does not rise above 100°C (212°F). Pumpkin roasted at 200°C (392°F) loses water, concentrates its sugars, and browns at the edges. The result is much sweeter and deeper, without a single gram of sugar added.

That difference in flavor is also a calorie decision: soup from roasted pumpkin hardly needs cream to taste rich, whereas soup from boiled pumpkin “demands” it — and every 100 ml of heavy cream is about 350 calories going into the pot.

Ingredients (for 6 servings)

For roasting:

• 1.2 kg regular pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and seeded, in large cubes
• 1 medium sweet potato (about 200 grams), cubed — optional, adds sweetness and body
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 4 whole garlic cloves in their skins
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and black pepper

For the soup:

• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 2 cm fresh ginger, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, a pinch of nutmeg
• 800 ml vegetable stock or water
• 200 ml canned coconut milk (full fat)
• Salt, and the juice of half a lemon at the end

For serving: toasted pumpkin seeds, a drizzle of olive oil, a little freshly ground black pepper.

Choosing ingredients and substitutes

Regular pumpkin sold in pieces or butternut squash both work; you need 1.2 kg after peeling and removing the seeds. For coconut milk, choose a cooking product in a can or small carton, not a thin coconut drink. A dairy alternative is 200 ml of 15% cooking cream, added with gentle heating at the end in place of the coconut milk.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (392°F). Spread the cubes of pumpkin, sweet potato, onion and the garlic on a baking tray, and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
2. Roast for 30-35 minutes, until the edges are truly browned. This is the step that decides the result — pumpkin that is “soft but pale” gives a flat soup. Spread it in a single layer: an overcrowded tray makes the vegetables steam instead of browning.
3. Make the base. While roasting, heat a little olive oil in a pot, fry the carrot for 5 minutes, add the ginger and spices and stir for half a minute until fragrant.
4. Combine. Put all the roasted vegetables into the pot (squeeze the garlic out of its skin), add the stock and bring to a gentle boil. Cook for 15 minutes.
5. Blend. Puree with an immersion blender until completely smooth. For full velvetiness, transfer to a countertop blender and blend for 60 seconds — a difference you notice immediately.
6. Add the coconut milk and return to low heat for 3-4 minutes without boiling.
7. Adjust at the end. Salt, and lemon juice — that is what keeps the soup from tasting too sweet. Serve with toasted pumpkin seeds.

Nutrition facts and calorie estimate

The recommended serving is a bowl of about 300 ml, a sixth of the pot.

The breakdown reveals the real structure of the dish: all the vegetables — 1.2 kg of pumpkin, sweet potato, onion and carrot — come to about 130 calories per bowl. The two tablespoons of olive oil and 200 ml of coconut milk are about 105 more calories. In other words, almost half of this soup is the fat added to it, and the same is true of the versions with heavy cream.

This is not necessarily a downside. The carotenoids that give pumpkin its color — beta-carotene, from which the body makes vitamin A — are fat-soluble, and their absorption from a fat-free soup is much lower. One bowl easily provides more than the daily reference intake of vitamin A.

What you add in the bowl:

Variations and tips

• Light version (about 170 calories): skip the coconut milk and make do with a tablespoon of olive oil. Roasting provides enough depth that the soup won’t taste lacking.
• Protein version: half a cup of red lentils cooked with the pumpkin adds about 60 calories and 4 grams of protein per serving, and is barely noticeable in the taste. It solves this soup’s main weakness.
• Pumpkin vs. butternut: butternut squash is sweeter and less watery, so it gives a thicker soup. Chestnut pumpkin is slightly lower in calories. Both work.
• A spice that changes the soup completely: a teaspoon of curry powder or a teaspoon of harissa instead of the cumin and turmeric — a complete change of direction without a single extra calorie.
• Making ahead: 4 days in the fridge, 3 months in the freezer. Pumpkin soup freezes especially well, as long as the coconut milk is added after thawing and not before freezing.

Summary

Pumpkin soup rests on one technical decision — roast, don’t boil — which doubles the depth of flavor and makes much of the cream unnecessary. About 235 calories per bowl in the version with coconut milk, about 170 without it, and a full daily dose of vitamin A in both versions. For more soups see Soups, and for the nutritional values of the vegetable itself — pumpkin.