Keeper Recipe: Spicy Coconut Pumpkin Soup

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmh
So I used the full fat coconut milk, which I'm sure makes this way less healthy, but it is fantastic. It's so easy, so delicious, and quite different

Note for next time taken from the comments section:
"We made this soup last night but didn’t feel like eating soup again tonight, so we threw it on top of some jasmine rice and added chickpeas, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower for an instant curry. It was delicious!"





FAILED ATTEMPT ONE BELOW

I more or less made this soup:
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/07/spicy-coconut-pumpkin-soup/

It's kind of a less because I made some desperate changes:

1. I used zesty chicken spice instead of bouillon. Turns out better than bouillion needs to be refrigerated. It smelled and looked fine, but I saw the label on the top after I'd left it out for three weeks. And given the weather has been freakishly warm and they literally sometimes use broth to grow bacteria in labs... it hurt me, but I tossed it. And I refuse to go to the grocery store twice in one week. Can't. make me.

2. Grocery store was out of fresh ginger when I went (see note: can't make me go to the grocery store again), and I know the powdered doesn't taste the same at all.

3. I was trying frozen garlic, but it didn't smell very strong.

4. I was in the middle of doing laundry, so I didn't toast the cumin and red pepper flakes, I just dumped it all in.

5. Didn't have anything else to put the cilantro in, so used the whole bunch. Cause at that point, why not?

I list this all, so that when I say, it didn't turn out quite how I wanted, it's clear that it may not be the recipe's fault. The flavor wasn't right and I think I was expecting more texture (it's totally smooth excpet for the onion)--I'll see what I think of it tomorrow.

That said, this recipe is fast and SO easy and different, so I'd rather give it another go and see if I can fix it rather than just ditching it.


Cost: Cilantro, Coconut milk, and pumpkin are the big expenses. Not bad at all.

Convenience: SOOO easy, fast, and convenient

Delicious: This isn't great yet-- but I'm going to start modifying and/or actually do the recipe correctly. 
Although note, 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes will NOT make this spicy.

Freeze: Dunno, not finding out this time

Uses: SO FAST AND EASY. It's literally chop onions, garlic, ginger and toast those, then dump the rest in the pot and warm it up. If this could be delicious, it would be an incredibly easy recipe.

Notes: Ideas for modification: Follow the recipe!, Plain yogurt, sriracha, pumpkin or yam chunks, pumpkin seeds, coconut milk with more fat, fish sauce/lime/lemongrass/brown sugar? (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/146035/the-best-thai-coconut-soup/ )


Update: This recipe is definitely a keeper. I need to remake it how it's supposed to be made and then see what modifications, but I just made it worth having. I added sriracha, toasted sesame seeds, and tomatoes and it was quite good! Doing this right and with a few extra tweaks, this has real potential. I will continue to update with the modifications and when I redo this recipe properly with any regular modifications, I will redo this whole thing into a keeper recipe.

Modifications Tried
1. Sesame seeds, sriracha, and fresh tomato: mmmmh good, the flavor combo isn't right enough to be delightful, but good.

2. Didn't have any more tomatoes... but I did have some leftover sockarooni tomato sauce from the gnocchi. It was great!! It thickened it up just enough with only like a tablespoon in a bowlful. It did weaken the flavor some,but well worth it for fixing the texture. I'm hoping the bouillon would be able to do this too! I still might want to see about adding more veggies. Maybe one of the stirfry veggie bags in the freezer?