It’s fall, and that means it’s time again for me to cook pumpkins. Because, as we all know, I love the orange beasties. Plus, it’s just before Halloween, and this is a great party recipe: it’s delicious, easy to make in quantity, and goes well with both booze and candy. I was inspired by a Thai pumpkin soup (Tom Jieufak, I think) I had recently, and so the primary flavors in this dish are Thai, but I modified it for my current veganism (more on that in a later series), and since this was made on the fly the proportions are a bit random and you should adjust to your own tastes. Also, you might like it less spicy than I do, so adjust accordingly. Here’s what I did:

Photo by Muffet

Ingredients:
o 4″ shoot of lemon grass, sliced
o 2 tsp fresh ginger
o Health handful of fresh basil leaves
o 1 green bell pepper, chopped
o Juice of 1 lime
o 4 oz water
o 1 tbs peanut oil
o 2 garlic cloves, chopped
o 5 shallots, thinly sliced
o Half a vidalia onion, thinly sliced
o 1 tsp crushed dried red chili flakes
o 3 Thai chillies, chopped
o 22 oz vegetable stock
o A handful of green beans, chopped
o 2 tbs soy sauce
o 2 tbs vegan Worcestershire sauce (or fish sauce)
o Cubed peeled meat of 2 small pie pumpkins
o 1.5 t sugar
o 1.5 tsp fresh ground white pepper
o 2 tbs organic creamy peanut butter
o 3 tsp curry powder (I used Madras, but if you have Thai it might be better)
o 8 oz coconut milk
o Splash of rice vinegar
o Sriracha
o Turmeric
o 2 tsp arrowroot powder

To facilitate cutting up the pumpkin, I microwaved them for about 4 minutes each…while that’s happening, chop everything else. Puree the ginger, 1 garlic clove, lemongrass, green pepper, lime juice, curry powder and water a blender, and drain off excess liquid. In a large saucepan (I actually used a Dutch oven) over high heat, fry the chilies, the other garlic clove, and shallots over high heat till they get a little crispy, then add the onion and let them get a bit translucent.

Now add your pumpkin, beans, soy/Worcestershire sauce, all but a couple ounces of the stock, and the puree, reducing heat to medium. Stir for about a minute, and stir in the peanut butter, sugar, and white pepper, then simmer. While that’s happening, dissolve your arrowroot in the remaining stock. When the pumpkin is very nearly done, crank up the heat to high, add the coconut milk, and bring to a rolling boil for a minute or two. Drop the heat back to medium-low, and adjust flavor with Sriracha, vinegar, and turmeric. Finally, stir in your arrowroot mixture to thicken (you could probably also just cook it longer to reduce, but I am lazy).

I served this over French bread, but rice noodles would be good too.

-MAW