Creamy Pumpkin and Carrot Soup
- Savory
- Creamy
- Stovetop
- Oven
Pumpkin, carrot and ginger simmered until tender, then blended with coconut milk into a silky, gently sweet soup. A simple stovetop dinner that tastes rich without any cream.
- Total
- 45 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 30
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Sweating · Simmering
Instructions
-
Peel and deseed the pumpkin, then cut it into 2 cm cubes. Peel the carrot and cut it into 1 cm slices. Peel the onion and chop it finely. Peel the ginger and grate it.
~12 min
-
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the ginger and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant.
~6 min
Sweating the onion gently draws out moisture and sweetness without browning, while the brief ginger stir releases its aroma without scorching it.
Sweating Cook the onion over medium heat without browning until translucent; if it starts to color, the heat is too high and the sweetness will turn bitter.
-
Add the pumpkin and carrot to the pot and stir to coat. Pour in the vegetable stock and add the salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer until the pumpkin and carrot crush easily against the side of the pot, 18 to 20 minutes.
~20 min
A gentle simmer cooks the vegetables evenly to tenderness without breaking them apart, and salting the liquid seasons them all the way through.
Simmering Keep the liquid at a gentle bubble, not a rolling boil, and test the vegetables by pressing them against the pot side; they should crush easily.
-
Take the pot off the heat. Blend the soup in 2 batches with a blender until completely smooth, venting the lid so steam can escape.
~3 min
Blending in batches with the lid vented lets steam escape, preventing pressure from building up and blowing the lid off.
-
Stir the coconut milk into the blended soup and season with the black pepper. Return the pot to low heat and warm gently for 3 minutes without boiling. Taste and add a little more salt if the soup needs it.
~3 min
Coconut milk can split and turn grainy if boiled, so warming it gently below a simmer keeps the soup silky and smooth.
Add the coconut milk only after blending and keep the soup below a boil from then on: boiling it after blending can make the soup look grainy.
If the soup is thicker than you like, loosen it with a splash of vegetable stock rather than water so the flavor stays full.
