Pumpkin Capsicum soup

          She started with the preparation in her kitchen counter. She peeled the onions and garlic and threw the peels in the dustbin. Then went on and diced the onions and the garlic and kept it aside.

          The capsicums were bright and green. She wanted to use the red ones for their colour and the taste. But the green ones will do for now. She carefully slit her capsicum to half and taking one of the half, she diced it as well. The onions and garlic were happy for the capsicum to join the party.

          The pumpkins were a different league. Big and magnanimous. Though they are tender and soft once cooked, everyone thought the pumpkins to be the tough guy. But he was the softest at heart. It was a half kilo pumpkin; a big pumpkin sliced to half. She steadily started peeling the thick skin which seemed quite a task for her. She swayed in rhythms as she took each swing to move the peeler from one end to the other of the pumpkin. After the skin was removed, she removed the seeds and the insides of the pumpkin. She started slicing the pumpkin into four long sections and then began to cut them into smaller chunks.

          They were lying on a cutter, neatly separately yet seemingly closer waiting to be in the same pot - infusing all their instinct characters into one final result - The Pumpkin Capsicum Soup.

Pumpkin as a vegetable made it's entry into my kitchen much later than expected. Although it was late, it had to stay for its unassuming nature. The pumpkin's I get here are not small, though I can get them cut into half a piece. I prefer the full pumpkin and to finish the whole pumpkin makes it difficult. You have to use the whole Pumpkin and think of cooking it in a different way rather than repeating it in the same dish. Oh ho! So, obviously I start looking out for recipes I have never tried before and not sure if me or the family will like it (when if I happen to try it). The usual pumpkin which went into the sambar in the beginning, started to modify itself to mingle in a soup or a pasta sauce. Very adjusting!

Being a soup lover, I decided to make a soup out of this pumpkin along with capsicum. Since I usually have red or green capsicum, you use either of them in this soup. My first preference is red because the final colour is amazing, however, green also is a good choice. The soup has minimal ingredients and is a great starter for your menu on any day.

This recipe calls for pumpkin, capsicum, onion and garlic as the base ingredients. The spice powders added are just turmeric and pepper powder and give a wonderful boost to the flavours of the soup.

Serves: 3-4 

Ingredients:

Pumpkin - 1 cup (half small size pumpkin)

Capsicum - 1/2

garlic - 2

onion - 1 small

turmeric powder - 2 tsp

pepper powder - 1 tsp (or more if you like the spiciness)

salt - as per taste

butter - 1-2 tbsp (add more when you eat if you like)

water - required amount

Recipe:

Heat a pan and add a tbsp of butter. Add the chopped onions and garlic. Saute it for a minute. Next add the chopped capsicum. Here, I have added green capsicum because that's what I had. But if you have red capsicum, use it. Following that, add the turmeric powder and pepper powder; give it a mix.  

Once they are mixed well, add the pumpkin. Pour the required amount of water and add salt. Allow it to boil and once the pumpkins turn soft, switch off the heat. Let it cool. Once cooled, proceed to blend it into a smooth puree. Add it back into the pan and add water if required to adjust the consistency. Let it simmer for 3-4 minutes and switch off heat. 

Garnish the soup with butter and serve hot.

That's my story of Pumpkin Soup.