I'm Making Sweet Pumpkin Soup tomorrow!

Its raining in Mysore in November! The reason - depression over the Bay of Bengal. The weather conditions on the eastern coast of India suffers gusty winds and storms, uprooting trees and disrupting life. The most recently affected areas were Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and according to weather reports, the depression has eased out a bit. All of South India is receiving rain showers that will continue throughout the month of November. I love to watch the rain with a big bowl of steaming soup! Yes, its going to be Sweet Pumpkin Soup at the buffet table tomorrow!

For those of you who would love to make their own soup on a cold day, here's my recipe.

Sweet Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

For the Base
Sweet Pumpkin diced with skin          1 cup
Onion diced                                       1 medium
Garlic                                                 3-4 pods
Ginger grated or finely chopped          1/2 tsp
Tomatoes diced                                  1/2 cup
Water                                                 3 cups or more if necessary

For the Garnish
Carrot very finely diced or minced       2 Tbs
Green/red/yellow bell peppers minced 2 Tbs
Green string beens sliced very fine       2 Tbs
Ajwain* seeds/thyme/oregano               1/4 Tsp
Ground Pepper                                   5-6 corns
Salt                                                     3/4 Tsp or as per taste

Method

• Boil or pressure cook sweet pumpkin, onion, ginger, garlic and tomatoes with water until soft
• Smash or puree this mixture after cooling it in a blender (juicer will work too)
• Add more water to bring about the consistency of your choice and bring it to the boil
• Add salt, pepper, ajwain seeds or thyme/oregano and turn off the flame
• Add the very finely diced raw vegetables to the hot soup and keep covered for 5 minutes
• Serve hot on a cold afternoon or as dinner with the bread of your choice

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachyspermum_ammi

I hope it will be a cool afternoon tomorrow!