Pumpkin Carrot Soup

“Pumpkin Everythang”

Welcome to the third year of Octobers Pumpkin month. In 2013 you got the very delicious sophisticated and refined pumpkin leek soup, followed by the rich, flavorful and hearty Jamaican pumpkin chicken soup in 2014. Today I have stepped it up a notch. The most delicious vegan soup you will ever have!  I mean layer, after layer of flavor. One of the most delicious creamy style pumpkin soups I have ever made inspired by the most delicious soup I ever had at a whole foods market…did I say delicious enough?

It is MY personal experience that the soups at whole foods market in NY are lack luster.  I have never purchased soup at a whole foods in NY (whether the city or Westchester) that was full of flavor, perfectly seasoned, just right; NO! I always read the descriptions, get excited, purchase a cup only to take two sips and throw it right out. And don’t think I haven’t tried them all, from tomato to lentil to carrot, whatever. The funny thing is, I never stop trying, they smell so amazing and I always get tricked into taking a cup. However on our recent trip to Texas my mother and I found a Whole foods nearby in a town called Highland Village and my luck seemed to change. 

As per the usual I mosey on over to the soup section to take a gander at what they had to offer. I opened the canister labeled “Thai carrot soup” and the smell that hit me was out of this world. I had to try it. Long story short, best soup I possibly ever had in my life! No jokes, I almost licked the cup clean. If we had not driven off I would have went back in and purchased another one. The very next day we went right back, but unfortunately the soup was finished. Our stay in Texas was over and back to NY we went. All I had left were the memories of the flavor ingrained on my palette and a long since deleted snap showing my friends the empty cup. 

This soup is a recreation of the memory of that “Thai carrot soup”.  I was so mad that I didn’t snap a picture of the ingredients, and I searched the internet hoping someone else did, to no avail. The only ingredient I remember was the curry and coconut milk. The success of this soup rested upon the ever fading memory of my taste buds and sense of smell. One thing I knew, I had to pull out the big guns on this one. Lemon grass, ginger, roasted red peppers, jalapeno, curry, carrots, pumpkin, cumin, I went for it all. And it turned out amazingly. What shocked me most of all was how much my boyfriend loved it, I mean LOVED IT! He single-handedly drank the entire pot, and he shuns at the very appearance of healthy food. My younger cousin thought it was too spicy, my mother thought it a bit salty; I and everyone else had no issues with spice or salt. So those elements should be tweaked to your liking 

That “Thai carrot soup” restored my hope in the Whole foods market soup section. I did go right back to that section when I got back to NY praying that the Thai carrot soup was not a regional recipe. My hopes were thwarted, no Thai carrot soup. But they did have some very delicious smelling options, I tried two…disgusting. Fool me once shame on you, fool me five thousand seven hundred and sixty three times, safe to say, shame on me!

Ingredients(printable ingredient list)

Makes 12 cups of soup Serves 6-8

4 tablespoon pumpkin seed oil

3 shallots

4 garlic cloves

1 ounce sliced ginger

1 stalk lemongrass sliced

1 ½ tablespoon curry powder

2 cups coconut milk powder

7 ½ cups water

2 cups chopped carrots

2 ½ cups chopped pumpkin

1 roasted red pepper

1 roasted jalapeno

2 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro

2 tablespoon sugar

1 ½  tablespoon sea salt (more or less to taste)

1 tablespoon cumin

1 ½ tablespoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon ground coriander

Greedy tips:

• If like the Smokey flavor the peppers add you may use 2-3 roasted red peppers I only had one so I used one.
• If you rather eliminate the spice don’t use the jalapenos
• In regards to the salt, add in 1 teaspoon increments while tasting until you have reached your desired salt level. 
• If you don't have coconut milk powder and have the liquid coconut milk. Use 3.5 cups coconut milk to 4 cups water to get the 7.5  cups of liquid total 

Xoxo Greedygirl