Sunday's Soup

Savory Moroccan Inspired Stew In A Pumpkin Shell

I'm not really sure why, but this is by far, my favorite soup to make and eat. I love the taste, I love the presentation, I love how it smells and I love how warm the house feels when I make this soup. My version is vegan, but I'll explain how you can easily add meat. 

The ingredients;
1 large pumpkin, make sure it will fit in your stove!
2 large onions
2 large red peppers, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
1 pound of carrots, quartered and sliced
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped, if you love garlic, add 3 if not so much use only 1 clove.
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 10 oz. package of firm tofu,
1 14 oz. can of cannellini beans
1/2 teaspoon of saffron strands
2 14oz. cans of Light Coconut Milk
1 large cube of Knorr Vegetable Bouillon
1 cinnamon stick
cayenne pepper, just a pinch, you want flavour, not the heat
salt and black pepper to taste
 

Begin by preheating your oven to 375 degrees. Wash your pumpkin well and then pierce with a skewer all around the top. Bake for about an hour or until the flesh feels tender.
While the pumpkin is cooking, heat oil in a large pan. Chop onions and saute until tender. I like to allow mine to brown just a bit. Add the chopped red pepper, zucchini carrots and garlic. Saute vegetables for about 5 minutes.
The tofu I buy has already been sauteed. I buy it from an Asian market. If you are unable to find sauteed tofu, you will need to brown your tofu at this point. Or, if you would rather use chicken, saute it in a separate skillet and add to your vegetable mixture once it is cooked. A nice sausage would work well in this soup as well.

Add the beans. I like to use cannellini beans as they break down a bit in the cooking process and thicken the soup. If you like, you can substitute chick peas or add them as well.

Add the coconut milk. If the soup is not soupy enough, add one can of water. I usually do. Add the bouillon at this point as well as the saffron threads and the stick of cinnamon. Do not break up the cinnamon, we are looking for a hint of flavour not an over powering taste.

Saffron is expensive, but I think it is well worth the expense. The flavour it adds to the soup is so lovely and it turns the soup a beautiful golden color.

Once the pumpkin is tender, cut open the top. Be careful as steam will escape when the lid is removed. Scrape out the strings and the seeds and discard.

Ladle the soup into the pumpkin. I like to make this soup early in the day and then allow it to sit for a few hours. Later this afternoon, I will heat the oven to 300 degrees and put the pumpkin(with the lid on top) back in the oven for about an hour. This allows the flavours to really mingle. Once warm, remove the cinnamon stick.

When you serve the soup, ladle out the soup and then scoop a good chunk of the pumpkin from the wall of the pumpkin and place in soup bowl. I can't wait until supper!!!
To store, remove the soup from the shell of the pumpkin and remove the flesh from inside and store together. This soup makes great leftovers.
Enjoy!