Tomato Pumpkin Soup / Cream of Tomato Soup

I was all set to make tomato soup but my husband doesn’t like it very sour so I added a little pumpkin to cut the sourness of the tomato, to my surprise it tasted so similar to the cream of tomato soup that you get back in India. It was and is a big hit at our dinner table.

INGREDIENTS

• Butternut Pumpkin – 1 small or quantity – you can use Jap pumpkin too but I prefer the butternut one because it has more flesh
• Garlic – 2 to 3 cloves (optional)
• Tomato can – 1
• Fresh tomato – 1 or 2 (optional)
• Vegetable stock – cubes 3 or powder 2 tbsp or combination or liquid stock
• Water
• Sour cream / cream/ coconut cream/ butter/ coriander / bread crumbs – for garnish 

METHOD

• Cut the pumpkin into cubes and let it cook in the water for a few mins till they are almost cooked. If you add the tomato while cooking the pumpkin they sometime don’t cook fast.
• If you are using liquid stock then use very little water when cooking the pumpkin or cook the pumpkin in stock itself.
• Add the garlic, tomatoes and the stock and let it cook till the raw smell for the tomato disappears.
• Blend the chunky soup with a hand blender. If you are using a mixie or a jug blender make sure it cools down a little before or you are going to land up feeding the soup to your kitchen.
• Add more water if necessary depending in how thick or thin you like your soup.
• Taste and add salt if necessary. The stock generally has salt so don’t add salt in the beginning unless you are using salt reduced stock.
• Heat it before serving and top it with your favourite garnish.
• Serve with some Garlic & Herb Bread

VARIATIONS

• If you like it spicy then you can add dried chilly while cooking the pumpkin
• You could add milk / cream to the soup but do it only after blending. There is a chance that the milk will curdle due to the sourness of tomato
• If you like the taste of basil you could saute basil and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil in the beginning, add the cubed pumpkin to that and saute for a minute then follow the other steps as above.