Warming pumpkin soup with a twist

The change of seasons bring on a new mindset and new challenges for everyone. Especially when it concerns food. So I bid good bye to all the stone fruits and the delicious red tomatoes that I have enjoyed this past summer and welcome the fall with gusto. Admittedly, we don't feel the cold as severely here as our European and Northern American neighbours do. Nevertheless an extra cotton blanket covers my bed in the evening. So I welcome autumn, or fall with the arrival of this seasons pumpkins. This is also my entry for Ben's challenge where you get to cook something that signifies the change of seasons. There are great prizes up for grabs (tupperware!..yippee!) so get yourself over there and have a go.

Traditionally pumpkin soups are quite boring. (Well I think so anyway!). Sure they're tasty in their own right but I have always believed that they needed an extra lift somewhere. This recipe takes inspiration from Thailand, with the addition of chillies, spices and coconut cream. We don't however want these flavours to dominate. They blend in the background and allow the natural sweetness of the pumpkin to shine through.

Its quite a simple recipe so keeping with the new spirit of casually writing recipes here it is. I diced up a few eschallots, a clove of garlic and a deseeded red chilli. I added these to a pot with some olive oil and fried them till they were fragrant and the eschallots were translucent. Next, I added my chopped up chunks of butternut pumpkin. ( I used half a small pumpkin). I then added a teaspoon each of ground ginger and coriander and seasoned everything with salt and white pepper. I tossed the pumpkin through this mixture making sure it was coated thoroughly. I then added 2 cups of chicken stock and let it come to a boil. I lowered the temperature and let everything simmer for 15 minutes. The pumpkin was nice and tender. I used my trusted hand blender/whizzer and pureed the entire contents of the pot. Once I had my smooth consistency I took the pot of the heat. I squeezed half a lime and added a few splashes of fish sauce. Now, the important part. With a wooden spoon in one hand I poured in some coconut cream, a little at a time until I obtained a lovely golden colour. Be wary of adding too much coconut cream as this can be quite rich and it will dominate the entire dish. Serve immediately garnished with copped red chillies and some fried eschallots (which can be bought at any Asian grocer) and crusty bread.

Tags:recipes vegetables Thai

Thai inspired san choy bau

This is my entry for this months Royal Foodie Joust. Jenn holds this monthly competition where foodie bloggers join in a "cook-off" using three ingredients. The three ingredients are chosen by the previous winner. Heather who won last months joust, chose pork or barley (for our veggie friends), citrus and peppercorns. A great combination and one that had me thinking for a few weeks. So I decided to go "Thai" and make a Chinese favourite utilising Thai ingredients! How's that for cross cultural? By the way, if you want to participate and vote just go here. Join up and get cooking!

San choy bau is a classic Chinese dish that can be found on a lot of menus. Traditionally, its made with chicken or pork mince and uses water chestnuts in the recipe. The cooked meat mixture is then placed in iceberg lettuce cups and rolled up to be enjoyed. Its very flavourful and addictive! I decided to use this recipe by adding a few Thai ingredients to the mix. I have rambled on many times about my love of Thai food. I spend a lot of time in Bangkok and love all the flavours associated with Thai cooking. The food is spicy, sweet, sour and salty all at the same time. Your taste buds are in for an enjoyable time with Thai food. Go ahead and tantalise them!


Some of our ingredients for the paste

RECIPE FOR THAI INSPIRED SAN CHOY BAU

N.B Some of the ingredients can be substituted if you cant find them. You can use brown sugar instead of palm and grated lime zest in place of the kaffir lime leaves.

• 1/2 a bunch of coriander (cilantro) roots, cleaned and scrubbed
• 2 escallots finely chopped
• 2 whole chillies , ends removed
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsps of peppercorns, preferably white
• 1/3 of a cup of tamarind puree
• 2 tbsps of Thai fish sauce
• 3 kaffir lime leaves finely sliced
• 2tbps of grated palm sugar

• Iceberg lettuce
• peanut oil for frying
• 250g of pork mince (not too lean...we want a little flavour here!)
• 1/2 a cup of Thai Basil leaves
• Freshly squeezed limes

Place the above ingredients in a food processor till you achieve a lovely chunky, thick paste. Set it aside once done. Heat a wok up with some peanut oil and get it smokin! Place the paste into the wok and let it fry off. Then add the pork mince to the fried paste mixture and toss through ensuring the mixture is well combined and cooked through. Break up any lumps and continue to cook until there are no more pink bits visible. This should take no more than 10 mins. You need to work fast with a hot wok! Just before removing form the heat throw in your Thai Basil leaves and toss through. Remove from heat and leave it rest for a few moments.

The iceberg lettuce cups or "wrappers" can be prepared in advance. A good tip is to leave the lettuce soak in the kitchen sink filled with water. It becomes easier to remove the leaves without breaking them. Once you have the desired amount of leaves, snip the outer edges to make cute little cups. (all the "snipped" bits can be used for a salad later). Take the pork mixture and place it in the lettuce cups. Squeeze a little lime juice on top and garnish with sliced chillies and coriander leaves.


Enjoy the San Choy Bau

Tags:recipes royal foodie joust Coriander Thai