Thai Pumpkin Soup

Name: Thai Pumpkin Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 tsp avocado oil; ½ medium onion; 2 garlic cloves (, minced); 3 cups filtered water; 1 14oz can of full fat coconut milk; 3 stalks of lemongrass (, cut into 1 cm pieces and bruised); 1 3 cm piece of galangal (, sliced); 5 leaves of Thai basil; 2 slices of jalapeño; 3 packed cups cups roasted pumpkin flesh ((about one medium pumpkin)); ½-1 tsp sea salt (, or to taste); 1 tsp maple syrup; 2 tbsp nutritional yeast; Juice of half a lime; 2 ½ cups chickpeas (, rinsed); 2 handfuls of spinach; Pepitas; Roasted pumpkin seeds; Thai basil (, finely chopped)

Print recipe

Fall, Winter, Inspired by Travels, Soups

GF NF RSF

45 mins Prep: 15 mins Cook: 30 mins

Serves 4

Beautifully fragrant, slightly spicy and with hints of sweetness, this soup makes for a satisfying meal on even the coldest of fall days.

Ingredients

1 tsp avocado oil
½ medium onion
2 garlic cloves , minced
3 cups filtered water
1 14oz can of full fat coconut milk
3 stalks of lemongrass , cut into 1 cm pieces and bruised
1 3 cm piece of galangal , sliced
5 leaves of Thai basil
2 slices of jalapeño
3 packed cups cups roasted pumpkin flesh (about one medium pumpkin)
½-1 tsp sea salt , or to taste
1 tsp maple syrup
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Juice of half a lime
2 ½ cups chickpeas , rinsed
2 handfuls of spinach

Garnishes

Pepitas
Roasted pumpkin seeds
Thai basil , finely chopped

Recipe

Step 1
Heat a large saucepan. Once hot, add oil and onion. Cook until translucent.
Step 2
Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
Step 3
Transfer into a high speed blender. Set aside.
Step 4
To the same saucepan, add water and coconut milk. Bring to a boil.
Step 5
Once boiling, add lemongrass, galangal, basil and jalapeño slices. Continue to boil all together for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 6
Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes.
Step 7
Strain the mixture into your blender. Add pumpkin flesh, salt, maple syrup, nutritional yeast and lime juice.
Step 8
Blend until smooth. Adjust salt to your liking and add lime juice if desired.
Step 9
Return soup to your pan and bring to a boil.
Step 10
Once, boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and add in chickpeas and spinach, stir.
Step 11
Cook until chickpeas are warm and the spinach has wilted.
Step 12
Serve topped with pepitas, roasted pumpkin seeds and Thai basil. Enjoy!

Common Questions & Swaps

To roast pumpkin, cut in half, remove seeds, season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven at 400ºF face down on a baking sheet until fork tender.

Make your own roasted pumpkin seeds by rinsing pumpkin seeds after removing them from your pumpkin. Dry and add to a bowl along with a touch of avocado oil, salt, pepper and a bit of lime juice. Spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes at 400ºF or until browned and crispy.

Swap out the galangal with fresh ginger. The flavour of the soup will be a little spicier rather than sweet.
You could probably swap out the lemongrass stalks with 3 tablespoon of lemongrass paste and use it in the recipe the same way as you would the lemongrass stalks. I have not tried this method therefore I cannot guarantee its results.
If you love spicy foods, swap out the slices of jalapeno with 2-3 slices of red chili.
No spinach on hand?
Use lacinato kale instead, but be sure to leave it in the soup a little longer to soften.
Garnishes are totally optional; if you don’t have any of the ones I recommend on hand, leave them out or garnish the soup with something else like fresh coriander and a little bit of lime juice.

Thai Pumpkin Soup in a blue and white bowl garnished with pumpkin seeds

Hands holding a bowl of pumpkin thai soup

Closeup of pumpkin thai soup in a bowl garnished with pumpkin seeds and fresh herbs

Pumpkin thai soup in a bowl garnished with pumpkin seeds and fresh herbs

I am BACK! After two months of absence on the blog, I am officially back and I have to say, I am quite excited about it.

The past months have been crazy! Between my big trip to New Zealand and client work, I barely had down time to recipe test and shoot. When I did, I frankly just wanted to put on the Office and watch a few episodes with a kombucha in one hand and some cookies in the other…

However, after taking 3 FULL days off (we are talking not touching work related things for 3 days, which is reaaaally unusual for me), I felt renewed and ready to jump back into content creation, photography and blogging.

So I am back with a soup that is very close to my heart. I know at first glance, it sounds quite generic – there must be at least a dozen pumpkin Thai soups on the internet. Regardless, I wanted to share my variation with you guys.

The reason why this soup is very special is because it is inspired by a soup Sam and I ate during our trip to New Zealand. You may or may not know this, but we travelled through the country by van, so our cooking gear and cooking possibilities were rather limited compared to back home. However, we still managed to eat some delicious foods including a super tasty Thai pumpkin soup.

Obviously we did not make it from scratch, we actually found this premade All Natural Pumpkin Thai Soup, from a company called Hansells. It was all vegan, gluten free and contained no preservatives. All you had to do is squeeze it out of its pouch into a saucepan and warm it up.

Because we wanted our soup to be a little more filling and nutrient packed, we would also add in a can of chickpeas, wild rice and fresh spinach. I remember the very first time we had this soup. It was at a holiday park in Te Anau. We both ate a big spoonful and looked at each other with big eyes thinking, “What is this?!” It was love at first bite.

From that moment on, we had this soup at least 5 times, every time thinking, we need to remake something like this back at home. Well… our wishes came into reality.

This soup is:

Deliciously creamy
Nuanced in flavour
Slightly spicy
Protein packed
Incredibly fragrant

… aka it is a real dream!

Well that’s it guys, I really really hope you try this recipe, I know I will be making it over and over again in the future as it truly brings back very happy memories for me.

If you guys end up making this recipe, be sure to let me know in the comments below or on Instagram (@muriellebanackissa)!

Happy Monday!