Pumpkin Lentil Soup or Prosperity Soup is a treat for lunch, dinner or when you want to impress guests. This soup came about on New Year’s Eve, when the Italian tradition dictates that you need to eat lentils to ensure prosperity for the New Year. Health is Wealth!
Pumpkin Lentil Soup: Health Boosting Goodness
This is an easy recipe for success with its gentle warming spices and health boosting ingredients. You stay satisfyingly full for hours, yet the actual soup is surprisingly lean.
Complex carbohydrates with its lentils, fibre filled pumpkin, and spices that keep infections away (or at bay). What more could you want?
- 500 gram Pumpkin
- 180 gram Lentil
- 2 Table Spoons Olive oil
- 1 chopped Onion
- 1 sliced Leek
- 2 Celery stalks
- 2 Carrots chopped
- 1 crushed Garlic clove
- 1 chopped Ginger (approx 3-4 cm piece)
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon Harissa
- 1 pinch Saffron
- 1 Litre vegetable stock
- Salt and Peppar to taste
- Roasted Onion and Pumpkin Seeds to sprinkle
- 1 Table Spoon Greek Yoghurt (natural) if desired for each soup bowl.
- Set the oven to 200 degrees celcius.
- Roughly chop up your pumpkin and pour 1 table spoon of olive oil on top.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the pumpkin and spread on an oven tray.
- Chop the onion, leek, carrots and celery and set aside.
- Prepare your vegetable stock.
- Roast your pumpkin mix for approx 20 minutes in the over until soft.
- In a frying pan, gently fry your onion, carrots, celery, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes until they are soft and translucent.
- Add the saffron, 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of Harissa.
- Now - add the pumpkins and throughly turn to incorporate the flavours.
- Add 1/2 of the vegetable stock and boil until it starts to bubble.
- Take a handheld food processor and mix until desired soup consistency.
- Add the lentils to your pumpkin soup.
- Incorporate the rest of the vegetable stock little by little until you get your preferred thickness (max 1/2 litre should do it).
- Serve your soup in bowl with roasted onion and pumpkin seeds on top. You can also add yoghurt for effect, and a gentler taste.
- Enjoy the soup with some whole grain crusty bread!
- This is a soup that can be varied in quantity and if you need to convert from metic try this site: Cooking Ingredients Conversion (http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking/).
What a great recipe! A delicious, nourishing and fun soup! And so good to learn that it is also part of the Italian New Year’s tradition. You need humility to earn prosperity which lentils symbolise well. I will make this recipe soon!