Panang Pumpkin Soup
Panang Pumpkin Soup is lightly sweet, spicy and coconut creamy! Brilliantly colored, it is cooled by the addition of more coconut milk as a garnish along with toasty crunchy hazelnuts. This is truly one of our family favorites.
This soup could take a few days to make if you processed a pumpkin from the garden and made your own chicken stock but I've simplified this recipe so we can have it whenever we like and it only takes 30 minutes!
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The first shortcut is a great chicken soup base. I use Minor's or Better Than Bouillon Brand. They are both very good.
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My favorite part is having frozen home grown and baked pumpkin in the freezer. If you don't have any, canned pumpkin will do.
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BAKE YOUR PUMPKIN:
Purchase a small pie pumpkin at the market and bake it whole
(yes stem and all) for one hour at 375 degrees. You can very easily cut it in half, remove the seeds and scrape out the lovely pumpkin flesh right into the soup.
I love having extra pumpkin like this in my freezer. It really comes in handy for soups and sauces. Check out my recipe for Bacon Pumpkin Lasagna.
Another shortcut is to have toasted Hazelnuts on hand in the cupboard. It's surprisingly fast and easy to do.
Living in Oregon, we have some of the best hazelnuts in the world so I keep a bag in the freezer most of the time. I take out 1 cup or so at a time and toast them up for soups and salad toppings click to learn How to Toast Hazelnuts.
The best time saver in this recipe is, without a doubt, Mae Ploy's Panang curry paste. It's wonderful tasty stuff! It also comes in Green, Yellow and Red varieties.
The paste is inexpensive and found at most Asian markets and a fabulous store we have here in Oregon called Cash & Carry. It's like Costco for restaurants. I love this store.
Panang Pumpkin Soup is so warming and beautiful you can serve this at your most upscale dinner or holiday party but so simple you might want to make some tonight.
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Cheers!
~Melisa
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Parsnip Potato Bake with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
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How to Toast Hazelnuts
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Zucchini Pea Soup
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Turkey Meatballs with Summer Squash
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Black pepper Zucchini Beef
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Panang Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
28 oz fresh or frozen mashed pumpkin or 28 oz canned pumpkin puree
2 cups chicken stock
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 sweet onion, sliced
2-3 tablespoons Mae Ploy Panang Curry Paste
3 tablespoons grape seed or canola oil
14 oz canned coconut milk or coconut cream
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts for garnish
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Method
Slice half a sweet onion and mince 3 cloves of garlic, prepare 28 oz cooked pumpkin and 2 cups chicken stock. I use Minor's or Better Than Bouillon brand for this soup if I don't have any home made stock on hand.
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Saute the onions and garlic in 1 tablespoon grape seed or canola oil and 1 tablespoon butter. When the onion has softened add 2-3 tablespoons of Mae Ploy Panang curry paste.
Mash the curry paste into the onions and garlic and stir-fry until golden and fragrant.
Stir in the pumpkin and chicken stock then bring to a boil for 10 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to your liking.
Give the soup a whiz using an immersion blender or blend in three batches in a blender and return it to the pot.
Stir in 1/4 cup coconut milk.
To serve, ladle some soup into a bowl, drizzle with 2 tablespoons coconut milk and top with 2 tablespoons of chopped toasted hazelnuts.