Roasted Pumpkin and Chickpea Soup
Posted by kathryn in Vegetables, Legumes, Recipes, Soups and Autumn
There is something special about roasted pumpkin. In the oven the flesh softens, the flavour intensifies and sweetens, and it comes out tasting completely different from pumpkin that has been boiled or steamed.
I had never eaten pumpkin until I came to live in Australia, but in the twenty-something years I’ve lived here I have come to absolutely love it. However, while I’m happy to eat pumpkin in any form, Richard is not a fan. Until I started making this soup. This soup is something else entirely. Hearty, warm, satisfying and filling – perfect for the cold days we’re having.
Plus it’s easy to make. You are using only five ingredients, yet producing a fabulous flavour. There’s practically no chopping involved and while there’s some cooking in the oven you hardly have to do anything.
Roasted Pumpkin & Chickpea Soup
Enough for about three – four meal sized servings. It’s worthwhile making lots as it freezes beautifully.
- About 1kg pumpkin – I tend to use Kent, but I don’t think you need to be too fussy about this
- 2 onions
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon N. African spice mix – I use this one but you could also use Chermoula or Ras el Hanout
- 1 × 400g tin chickpeas, drained (about 250g cooked)
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Roast the pumpkin: Give the skin of the pumpkin a good scrub and cut off any bits that look too hard, knobbly or dirty. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon and then cut the big piece of pumpkin in half. Place these on a baking tray. Peel the onions and place them on the baking tray as well – so you have two big chunks of pumpkin and two whole onions. Drizzle over the olive oil and then sprinkle over the spice mix. Place this in the oven and cook for about 40 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and starting to brown around the edges. You will need to turn everything over about half way through, to ensure even cooking.
Make the soup: Place the cooked pumpkin and onions into a high sided bowl. Add in the tin of chickpeas and about 750ml of water. Blend together – I just use a stick blender for this – until the soup is thoroughly combined. You may need to add a bit more water if your soup is looking too thick. If you want to eat straight away the soup will need to be heated slightly – which you can do on the stovetop or in the microwave.
That’s it.
11 May, 2011
Comments
looks fantastic – and I imagine is easily adaptable to many other flavours – am thinking I could use the bush spice mix in it that I have been using lately – or the dukkah which is sorely neglected in my pantry.
Do you cut away the skin when the pumpkin is cooked or does it puree up with the rest of the veg?
i’ve met very lovely english folk who think that pumpkin is food for the pigs! glad you’ve converted him.
and boy, is it the weather for soup, or what??!!
Hi there Johanna, yes this is very adaptable. I reckon your bush spice mix would be lovely. I’ve also made this with a Cajun spice blend and that was marvellous. Plus I’ve used lima beans, on the odd occasion we don’t have chickpeas in the house. And yes, I do leave the skin on and just puree that into the soup as well.
Lucy, it is most definitely soup weather. I’ve been stockpiling soups in my freezer over the last few weeks, using up various vegetables. So glad they’re cooked and ready to go this week.
I have found I can successfully replicate roasted pumpkin bycooking it slowly in the cast iron frypan with a lid, on the stovetop. Turning regularly. Which saves me lighting the oven just for pumpkin.
Delicious! I make something really similar (usually with ras el hanout) but keep it chunky like a stew and serve with cous cous. I love your idea of chucking most of the ingredients into the oven together instead and souping it all up.
(p.s I have the opposite problem with my boy – he’s highly suspicious of chickpeas)
Tracy that’s a good idea, which would definitely produce the same effect. It’s interesting to read your comment with the idea of making things easy in mind. For me it’s so much easier to bung everything in the oven and just leave it to cook itself, but then my oven is electric and I’m assuming from your comment that yours is wood fired – or something that needs ‘lighting’ anyway?
Sophie, R used to be suspicious of chickpeas and couscous, but he’s converted over to loving them. However the pumpkin conversion has only been partially successful so far. And yes, the basic idea as a stew would be lovely.
Oh, this recipe sounds wonderful. I wish pumpkins were in season here right now (the weather feels like it should be) and I could make a huge batch of this soup.
Roasting pumpkin is one of the best smells ever. I’ve been hoping my Food Connect box would have pumpkin in it soon and this week I was in luck with a perfect 1kg chunk nestled in there :D So now I’m smelling pumpkin and onion roasting.
I love roasted pumpkin soup, but I have never tried it with chickpeas before. I have a pumpkin sitting on my countertop right now, I think I’ll have to try out this recipe.
Cheers,
Nicole
Just thought I’d let you know that I made the soup using cumin, corriander, tumeric and garam masala and stirred through some leftover frozen chopped spinach that had been thawed for a bit of extra colour and veginess. Delish! Will definately make again.
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