Posted October 7, 2014
By Natural Vitality Living
We loved the Raspberry & Honey Chocolate Torte recipe in Irena Macri's Eat Drink Paleo Cookbook so much that we decided to give a savory soup recipe a try as well.
This soup smelled so enticing as we prepared it in the Natural Vitality test kitchen that staff from around the office kept heading in for tastes. The verdict: delicious.
The lemongrass in the soup gives it a light flavor, making it ideal for any season. One taster said she would even like it cold. The lime was a surprising addition but added a refreshing taste.
We had to make a trip to our local Asian grocery store to find long red chili, galangal root pieces, turmeric pieces, kaffir lime leaves and fish sauce. If you want this to be 100 percent veggie, we think swapping out the fish sauce for tamari would work fine.
There seemed to be a lot of liquid, so we had to blend up the soup in three batches, as there was too much liquid to fit into one blender; this was not mentioned in the instructions and would have been helpful. Also, if you choose to use the kaffir lime leaves, be sure to remove them prior to pureeing the soup (this isn't mentioned in the recipe).
This is a wonderful warming and healthy fall soup with an Asian twist — think tom kha gai with pumpkin.
Read the full review of Macri's Eat Drink Paleo Cookbook.
Lemongrass Pumpkin Soup
Serves 2
This is one of the best pumpkin soups I've ever had. No kidding! It is really tasty and really easy to make as long as you have most ingredients on hand.
Ingredients
1 brown onion, diced
1 lemongrass stalk, cut in thirds
1 long red chili, diced and deseeded
2 tablespoons diced fresh coriander (cilantro) stalks
3/4-inch fresh galangal piece
3/4-inch turmeric piece
4 kaffir lime leaves, optional
2 teaspoons coconut oil
3 cups peeled and cubed pumpkin
1 large garlic clove, diced
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 quart vegetable stock
Peel from half of fresh lime
1/2 cup coconut cream (100 ml or 3 1/2 fl oz), plus extra to serve
2 tablespoons lime juice
Coriander leaves to serve
Instructions
1. Saute onion, lemongrass, chili, coriander stalks, galangal, turmeric and kaffir lime leaves in coconut oil, on medium heat, for 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add pumpkin, garlic, vegetable stock, lime peel, fish sauce and vegetable stock and bring to boil.
3. Turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes, until pumpkin is soft when poked with a knife.
4. Remove turmeric, galangal, lime peel and lemongrass from the soup and transfer the rest to a food processor or a blender.
5. Puree until smooth, then add coconut cream and lime juice.
6. Whiz a couple more times to incorporate.
7. Serve with a ripple of coconut cream and fresh coriander leaves on top.
© 2014 Natural Vitality Living