Thai coconut pumpkin soup

Photo: RecipeTin Eats

Red curry paste does all the work: a few spoonfuls fried in the pot, then pumpkin, stock and coconut milk, blended silky. The crispy shallots and a torn-up roti on the side make it dinner.

From Nagi Maehashi at RecipeTin Eats · @recipe_tin

The quickest way to a soup that tastes like it took all day: the curry paste brings garlic, lemongrass, galangal and chili in one spoon.

You need

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste (Maesri is a good one)
• 1.8 kg (3.6 lb) pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 3 cm (1¼ in) chunks (about 1.3 kg / 2.6 lb once trimmed)
• 2½ cups (625 ml) vegetable or chicken stock, low salt
• 1 can (400 ml / 14 oz) full-fat coconut milk
• 1 tbsp fish sauce (or soy sauce)
• To serve: crispy fried shallots, a sliced red chili, fresh coriander leaves, pan-fried flaky roti

How to make it

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes until the onion turns translucent.
2. Add the curry paste and stir it into the oil for 1 to 2 minutes, until it darkens a shade and smells strongly of lemongrass. Don't let it catch.
3. Add the pumpkin, the stock and all but 3 tablespoons of the coconut milk (keep that for the top). The liquid won't quite cover the pumpkin; that's right, so the soup ends up thick.
4. Bring to a boil, then cover, turn down to a steady simmer and cook for 20 minutes, until a piece of pumpkin squashes easily against the side of the pot.
5. Take it off the heat, add the fish sauce and blend until completely smooth, with a stick blender in the pot or in batches in a blender (vent the lid and hold a towel over it).
6. Taste: add a little more fish sauce for salt, or a splash of water if it's thicker than you like. Ladle into bowls, swirl in the saved coconut milk and pile on crispy shallots, chili and coriander. Serve the roti on the side for dunking.

Written in our own words from Nagi Maehashi's recipe, with their quantities. The original: Thai coconut pumpkin soup, RecipeTin Eats.

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