Spooky Pumpkin Soup

This pumpkin soup is really healthy, yummy and filling. I love making this all year round but around Halloween the pumpkins are in season and really delicious so it is just perfect to celebrate Halloween with. This is a recipe I created myself and I find by adding ham and curry powder to a traditional soup it takes it to another level and creates an amazing flavor combination! The curry powder naturally enhances the pumpkin flavour and makes it irresistible!!

I love making food look cute (in this case attempting to be spooky) and this is a great recipe to get creative and decorative with!

I hope you love making and eating it!!!

You will need

- 1kg of chopped butternut pumpkin

- 1 Brown onion (diced)

- 3 small sticks of celery (finely chopped)

- 1 small clove of garlic (crushed)

- 500mL of chicken or vegetable stock

-(Optional) 1 slice of ham (rind removed, finely diced)

- (Optional) 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder

- salt and pepper to taste

- Thickened cream and toast to serve.

- olive oil for frying

For the soup you will need

- Large saucepan

- Knife

- Large spoon

- Chopping board

- Stove

- Food blender/ stick blender

- Bowls for serving

First you should put your pot on medium high heat and add about 1 tablespoon of oil. Allow this to heat before adding any vegetables (but be careful not to burn it, if you see light smoke then it is burnt avoid this).

Then add your chopped onion and celery to the pot and stir on medium high heat until golden brown (the more brown the better flavor you get!).

Add your garlic and ham (if you choose to add it) and cook for one minute. By adding the ham and garlic last they don't get a chance to burn (burnt garlic gets really bitter and can ruin your dish!)

Now add the pumpkin, curry powder, salt and pepper and liquid stock to the pan. Be sure to stir the ingredients so that all the pumpkin is well coated.

Then bring the soup to a rolling boil on high heat (this is when lots of large bubbles are seen), turn it down to a simmer on low heat (these will have smaller bubbles appearing less frequently) and then place the lid on the pot and allow to cook for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes take the lid off and allow the soup to simmer for an additional 15 minutes. (This allows any excess water to evaporate and gives a thicker soup).

Before you blend the soup make sure all the pumpkin is cooked through and is soft by taking the largest chunk of pumpkin and stick a fork through it. If the fork squished the pumpkin easily then it is ready.

Then with your stick blender (or pour the chunky vegetables and stock into a blender), blend the soup until your desired consistency (I like my soup extremely creamy and smooth so I blended it for about 2-3 minutes). Be careful as the hot liquid may spit out at you so keep the blender deep in the pot while it is on.

Lastly season your soup with salt, pepper or extra curry powder to your preferred taste then let the soup stay on the heat for 5 minutes before serving.

Scoop the soup into warmed bowls (by placing the soup into warm bowls the soup stays warmer for longer).

Then with a spoon take your thickened cream and place in a small zip-lock bag, cut the end off of the corner of the bag to make a quick 'icing' bag. And draw a design on your soup to decorate it. (I made my cream into a ghost for Halloween!)

I didn't really know how to draw ghosts so I went for the Pac-Man ghost shape. I still think they are cute and scary (maybe not too scary but you get the picture)

When serving the soup I suggest having some crusty bread or even cutting out some Halloween shaped toast like you can see in the picture above. I hope you enjoy the soup and please let me know if you liked it.