A sublime combination of seasonal sweet pumpkin, immune boosting garlic and ginger, and finished off with creamy coconut milk. This recipe can easily be substituted with any seasonal squash, butternut or root vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes.

Creamy pumpkin Soup

Serves 4

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 whole cloves garlic, peeled

1 stick celery, sliced

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger

1.4kg pumpkin, peeled, seeded and diced (about 8 cups of diced)

2 cups water or vegetable stock

1 cup coconut milk

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Toasted pumpkin seeds (topping)

1. In a large pot, sauté onion, garlic, celery, carrot and ginger in olive oil until they start to soften.  2. Add pumpkin and water or stock and seasoning.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the pumpkin is cooked.

3. Remove from heat, add the coconut milk and check seasoning to taste.  Purée the soup with a hand blender.  If it’s too thick add a little water. 

4. To toast the pumpkin seeds, simply throw in a few seeds into a dry non-stick pan and toss on medium heat for a few minutes until the seeds start to change colour and you can smell the aroma of toasted seeds.  Do not over cook. Serve warm bowls of pumpkin soup sprinkled with toasted pumpkin seeds.