What you’ll need:
1 tablespoon olive oil
Chilli flakes (dealers’ choice on how much!)
1 large brown onion, chopped
750g peeled, chopped pumpkin
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
Salt
Black pepper
Ground nutmeg
A few bunches of coriander, cashew nuts and sour cream to serve.
What to do:
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and chilli flakes (leave them out if you don’t want the extra kick) and cook until soft. Add pumpkin, potato and carrot and give a quick mix. Add the stock, cover and bring to the boil. Cook until the vegetables are soft. Cutting the vegetables to uniform sizes will help them cook evenly.
Using a stick blender, puree until silky smooth. If you don’t have a stick blender, mash up as best you can and pass through a sieve. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Garnish with a few coriander leaves and crushed cashew nuts. Add sour cream for extra richness. Serves four with leftovers.
Tip:
To make it extra tasty – bake the pumpkin in the oven first with a splash of olive oil and generous helping of salt flakes. You can’t beat that roasted flavour.
You can even bake the pumpkin whole, skin on, the works. You will know it’s cooked when the knife slides in easily. Then simply remove the skin and the pips and you’re left with roasted pumpkin goodness.