While I’ve already gone on about the benefits of being part of a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) collective, there are sometimes drawbacks to the requirement that you have to take whatever gets harvested that week, and you wind up doubling up on the same items the following week and you don’t get to using them up fast enough. Last month we had too many potatoes; this week it’s pumpkins and squash. But then, that’s just part of being in a co-op relationship with the CSA farmers: sometimes you just wind up with a lot of gourds.
Luckily, root vegetables and gourds will keep for a long time in a cool dry place. Even better, there are tons of great things to do with squash and pumpkin — everything from a simple roasting (hack it in half, scoop out the seeds and toss it in the oven with some olive oil) to baked treats (pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting, anyone?) This week, with the weather finally getting all October on us and the first official cold virus of the season coming on, it was the perfect time to use up my pie pumpkin in a smooth, spicy, velvety soup spiked with classic Thai flavours of lemongrass, chiles and coconut milk.
Those who have dabbled in making their own Thai curry paste know that it’s not very hard — but getting your hands on all the right ingredients on short notice can be difficult unless you live close to Chinatown. Luckily, most grocery stores have an Asian food aisle that usually carries commercial curry pastes that are pretty good, at least for imparting the right flavour profile to your dish when, say, you just can’t get to the lemongrass store after work.
I used the Thai Kitchen brand red curry paste in this soup, boosting the flavour a bit by frying it up with some fresh chiles and a mix of minced shallots, cilantro stems, and garlic and ginger to serve as the base for the soup. If you’d like to make your own paste from scratch, I’ve included a recipe below — just substitute 2-3 tablespoons of your own paste for the commercial paste and omit the ginger, shallots, garlic, cilantro and chiles from the recipe below. This soup freezes well and you can always add some protein by adding tofu or poaching some shrimp in the soup before serving. It would be equally delicious with squash.
Spicy Thai Pumpkin Soup
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp red curry paste
1 inch piece ginger
3 shallots
2 cloves garlic
small handful cilantro, leaves and stems separated
2-3 small Thai red chiles, split lengthwise
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 19 oz can coconut milk
4 cups pumpkin or squash, peeled and cut into 2 inch cubes
2 tsp fish sauce or soy sauce
1.5 tbsp brown sugar
Juice of 1 lime, or to taste
Salt to taste
1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil and butter together on medium low heat.
2. In a food processor or by hand, mince together ginger, shallots, garlic and cilantro stems. Add mixture to pot, along with curry paste and chiles. Stir and cook gently for a few minutes until fragrant.
3. Add stock, coconut milk, and pumpkin pieces. Add fish sauce and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, then keep at a medium simmer until pumpkin is tender (about 20 minutes). Remove whole chiles first, then blend soup until smooth. Thin out the soup with additional stock if it is too thick.
4. Add lime juice and salt to taste. Garnish with sour cream or plain yogurt and chopped cilantro leaves.
For Homemade Red Curry Paste
Pulse together the following in a food processor until a smooth paste:
2 small shallots
2 thai red chiles
1 1-inch piece ginger or galangal
2 cloves garlic
small handful cilantro stems
1 tsp shrimp paste
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp fresh lemongrass stalks (bottom parts only)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
Sara Chan is a Toronto-based entertainment lawyer, food enthusiast, unprofessional home chef and even less professional food photographer. Her favourite food group is pork. Sara’s column appears every other Tuesday here on lawandstyle.ca.