Gypsy Food: Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Five more days to go & I am ready to take off for Australia. YAY! But despite organizing a family farewell party and packing my stuff, there is one little obligation left: Allhallows or All Saints' Day alias "Let's gather all family members together at the family grave, observe all the families around you (grave neighbours for decades!) and gossip afterwards." No other holiday reminds me more of my Bavarian and Roman Catholic background and this year I just cannot escape from it. However, I take Allhallows as a cause to post my favourite pumpkin soup recipe because

a) I gonna spice up this day by cooking it
b) I was begged for doing so

c) due to Halloween (thank you commercialized imperialism), we are surrounded by huge but uneatable pumpkins, so...instead of carving something out of them, let's cook!

Ingredients (serves 6-8 people):

1 Hokkaido pumpkin, chopped (you don’t have to peel this sort of pumpkin!)
½ sweet potato, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3-5 garlic pieces, chopped
a handful of chopped ginger
a handful of sultanas
1 tablespoon tomato mark
1 can of coconut milk
1 glass of juice (mango, orange, apple or whatever you’ve got)
spicy curry powder and/or mild curry powder (whatever you can handle)
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
parsley, thyme, sage (whatever you’ve got)
prize cinnamon
pepper, salt

Put the garlic, ginger, sweet potato, carrots and pumpkin into a big pot and fry everything in 3-4 tablespoon of olive oil. Stir occasionally. When it starts to stick to the pot, add a glass of water, cover it and let it simmer until everything is starting to get mushy.  Reduce heat to minimum and add the sultanas, tomato purée, coconut milk, curry powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. Stir and blend.

Turn off the heat and add juice, herbs, pepper and salt according to your taste.
And if you really want to kick ass: serve with pumpkinseeds and a tablespoon of “Balsamico” (grape) vinegar on top.

Amen,

Jenny