Thai-Inspired Coconut And Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Made with spicy Thai red curry, rich coconut milk, and sweet pumpkin puree, this warming recipe is a delightful pot of comfort that will transport you to the bustling markets of Bangkok even in the depths of winter. Finished with a touch of lime and a sprinkle of brown sugar, it is a balanced, hearty, and perfect for any occasion.

Making a soup with layers of flavor does not have to mean spending the entire day in the kitchen. In this recipe, developer A.J. Forget makes use of pantry products — including curry paste, canned pumpkin, coconut milk, and chicken broth — to quickly and easily create a soup with a rich medley of flavors. Adding scallions and basil at the end of the cook completes the soup with an aromatic flourish that will keep you coming back for more. Whether you are looking for a meal to warm you from the inside out or seeking a more dynamic take on mild pumpkin soup, this dish has you covered.

For this recipe, you will need vegetable oil, yellow onion, ginger, garlic, pumpkin puree, red curry paste, coconut milk, chicken or vegetable broth, scallions, fresh basil, brown sugar, and lime juice. Once you have these ingredients together, you only need to chop a few things before you are ready to start cooking.

Bring a large pot to high heat and add vegetable oil.

Add onion, garlic, and ginger and cook for 5 minutes, until ingredients begin to brown around the edges.

Stir in the pumpkin puree and cook for 5 more minutes until lightly caramelized.

Add curry paste, coconut milk, and broth and mix well to combine.

Bring soup to a simmer, reduce heat to medium, and let cook for 5 minutes.

Remove soup from heat and stir in the scallions, basil, sugar, and lime juice.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup.

Garnish with chiles, a swirl of coconut milk, and additional basil and scallions, if desired, before serving.

In Thai cuisine, fish sauce is often used rather than salt. Traditionally, salt was much more expensive and seen as a luxury, while fish sauce was the salt of the people. As a result, most Thai food (as well as other cuisines of the region) relies on fish sauce as a primary flavoring ingredient. Though this creamy soup does not contain fish sauce, the curry paste could be tricky for vegetarians and vegans.

Thai red curry paste is typically made with shrimp paste, a pungent, salty, brownish-purple ingredient that is one of the traditional backbones of Thai red curry paste. If you are vegetarian or vegan, there are fortunately several vegan red curry pastes that can be found at many grocery stores and Asian markets — just be sure to read the labels closely. Other than that, this soup recipe is completely vegan.

Making a pot of soup is a wonderful experience. It fills the house with delicious aromas while it's cooking, and it fills your belly with wonderful flavors when it is finished. But a pot of soup is a lot of food (8 servings in the case of this recipe), and there are often leftovers after the meal.

Proper storage of leftovers is important for both food safety and the flavors of the dish. Fortunately, soup is one of the easier dishes to both store and reheat. After the meal, simply wait for the soup to cool to room temperature, then transfer any leftovers to an airtight container and place them in the refrigerator. Stored properly, leftover soup will keep for 3-4 days. During that time, the soup can be easily reheated in a small pot on the stove or in a covered bowl in the microwave.

If you wish to store leftover soup for longer than 4 days, it should be frozen. Soup can be frozen in any airtight container, but to maximize space in the freezer and reduce freezer burn, it is a good practice to ladle cool soup into a zip-top bag and lay it flat. To freeze soup in single servings, you can use a muffin tin. Stored properly, frozen soup will last as long as 3 months. To reheat, simply allow the soup to thaw in the refrigerator and then reheat on the stove or in a covered bowl in the microwave.