When I was a child, my Grampie would often bring the most delicious pumpkins home from his little farm. I thought it was so cool that he would barter with his farmer friends, so he would come home with a smashing variety of organic fruit and veg. My Ma  would often cook the pumpkin into a  pumpkin talkerie (a kind of pumpkin side dish sautéed with onion, garlic and spices like cumin) and eaten with roti for breakfast or dinner.

It still remains one of my favourite ways to prepare and eat pumpkin, but it wasn’t until I got older and moved away from home that I discovered the versatility of this fantastic fruit. I know, it feels weird saying it but the pumpkin is botanically classified as a fruit because of how it grows, from a flower and containing seeds.

Every pumpkin season I look forward to going to pumpkin farms in the UK with friends, so I can admire the fields of  orange, and carefully select my treasures for cooking and carving.

Some of it I use to make different kinds of pumpkin soups, and other  dishes, and the rest I cut in large chunks and freeze for later use. 

Here’s how I made a comforting, creamy pumpkin soup that’s perfect for colder evenings, or if you simply need something warm and satisfying to lift a low mood.

Super easy and quick to make :)

Ingredients

A small pumpkin, peeled, de-seeded and cut into chunks (Don’t throw away the seeds or skin, you can roast the seeds to snack on, and or save  the skin and inner bits to make a vegetable broth later) 

• A medium sized onion, peeled and chopped
• Two pegs of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 spring onion, chopped 
• A small handful of parsley
• Four sprigs of thyme
• 250ml of Oatly cream or another plant based cream (you can use real cream if you prefer)
• A dash of turmeric powder
• Black pepper
• Salt to taste
• Oil
• A few slices of scotch bonnet pepper (optional)
• A spoon of fresh green seasoning (optional) 
• A spoon of home made hot sauce (optional)

Method

• Spread out chunks of pumpkin on a lined baking tray, and spray with olive oil. Roast for 40 minutes.
• Once pumpkin is finished roasting, heat a pan with a splash of rapeseed or another cooking oil
• Once oil is hot, toss in chopped onions, garlic and spring onions and stir
• Add in parsley, thyme and scotch bonnet pieces, stir.
• Add roasted pumpkin pieces
• Add in Oatly cream or your choice of cream. Depending on how large your pumpkin is, you should now add between 1 to 2 cups of boiling water
• Add turmeric and let simmer on a medium heat
• Add salt to taste, black pepper, green seasoning and hot sauce.
• Soup should thicken up quickly. After about 10 to 15 minutes, use a spoon to remove sprigs of thyme, then use a hand blender to blend into a smooth soup with a few pieces of pumpkin. Taste and adjust seasoning.
• Enjoy!