Hello Pumpkin!

Tis the season .... for Pumpkins.  Happy Halloween to you all.  Now Im sure youve carved your lanterns ready for this weekend trick or treating, sure youve got the costume sorted for the party and have stacks of sweet treats for the kiddies!  Well we have a couple treats for you too - using the humble pumpkin we have come up with a soup and a latte recipe that you can try with the leftovers from the carving this weekend.

 

Taking a twist on the traditional pumpkin soup, we’ve made a wonderful Thai spicy version to warm you up after the trick or treat adventures (be warned, it took a few attempts to get the spice right on this one – please feel free to experiment yourself, however we advise you go easy on the red Thai curry paste if you haven’t used it before!)

THAI SPICED PUMPKIN SOUP

INGREDIENTS:

Approx 2kgs PUMPKIN – you can also use butternut squash (which is actually a lot cheaper) or even sweet potato if you prefer

ONION  - white onion – about half a medium sized one

GINGER  - fresh, peeled – no more than about an inch

GARLIC– 2-3 cloves

RED CHILLI – we used 1 fresh and quite large one, with seeds

COCONUT MILK – Just one can – you can use the light or half fat ones too if you prefer

RED THAI CURRY PASTE  – paste not sauce, add a little (like half a teaspoon) and taste - you can always add more spice easier than diluting, or calming it down if its too hot!

VEGETABLE STOCK – 1 cube, ½ pint of boiling water

LIME JIUCE – we squeezed half a lime over each portion – straight onto the bowl when served, not added during cooking

METHOD:

• Chop the ginger, garlic, chilli, onion and add to a little oil in a pan 
• Chop the pumpkin (after de-seeding) – the seeds can be left to dry then you can toast them off and use over avocado on toast! 
• Add the pumpkin to the spice mixture in the pan and cook off for about 10mins until it starts to go soft 
• Add 1 can of coconut milk and ½ pint of veg stock, bring to the boil and then let it simmer for another 10-15mins 
• At this point you can add the their red curry paste too, plus some salt and pepper to taste 
• Keep tasting while its simmering and add more paste, salt, pepper as required 
• Let it cool after about 10-15mins, then transfer the mix to your blender and blend up for approx. 30secs, or until creamy and smooth 
• Portion into bowls, squeezing the juice of half a fresh lime on top

We also added a little roasted veg and cray fish to our bowl to bulk it up as a hearty dinner!  Another serving suggestion would be to add beansprouts, gently fried – pile up in the middle of the bowl and add the soup over the top.  OR fry off some king prawns in chilli oil and place on top.  OR you can leave some softened pumpkin pieces unblended and add them back into the soup along with some of the seeds toasted off in a dry frying pan - should give extra bulk and texture.

If you prefer, you can of course just go for a heart-warming traditional pumpkin soup.  

TRADITIONAL PUMPKIN SOUP:

To make the base we would gently sauté garlic / onion/ leek / celery together in a little butter.  Add dried mixed herbs then the diced pumpkin.  Again cook off for 10 mins or so until the pumpkin is soft, then add a pint of vegetable stock.  Add salt and pepper to taste, bring to the boil then simmer down until all the vegetables are really soft and mushy.  At this point you can leave to cool and then blend, or you can add some single or double cream before blending to ensure your soup gets that smooth, creamy and shiny texture.

Another pumpkin tradition this time of year, is of course the pumpkin spice latte –we know this and begrudgingly we may have treated ourselves from the local coffee chain already….BUT you can make them up yourself for an indulgent treat this weekend.  It takes a little more effort than I would usually like for a coffee to be honest, but if you want to try it – this is the way we found works best:

PUMPKIN SPICED LATTE:

INGREDIENTS:

PUMPKIN PUREE  – 2 large tablespoons

BROWN SUGAR – 2 teaspoons

MILK – about half a cup

VANILLA ESSENCE – 2 teaspoons

CINNAMON & NUTMEG – ground (add to taste – a lot or a little depending on how sweet or how much flavour you want coming through)

WHIPPING CREAM - again add to taste, we used about ¾ of a cup whipped up then 2 tablespoons floated on top

BLACK PEPPER – a large pinch

METHOD:

• Heat the milk and vanilla essence in one pan 
• Heat the pumpkin puree and brown sugar in another – this should be stirred continuously until it starts to caramelize 
• Once the pumpkin and sugar has blended together, slowly add the milk and vanilla mix, stirring all the time so keep it lump free, smooth and silky (it all goes brown and looks like gravy when its done) 
• While adding the milk, add the cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper too – tasting as you go and adding more as required 
• Brew up one shot of espresso and add to the mug first 
• When the mix is smooth and runny, add this to your coffee 
• In the meantime whip up the cream until its stiff 
• On top of the coffee and pumpkin / milk etc mix spoon on the whipped cream so it floats on top, then sprinkle over a little more cinnamon

There are ways you can make this healthier.  You can make your own pumpkin puree (we used a can in this recipe). You can make it dairy free.  You can make it caffeine free.  Honestly though - no nonsense - this is supposed to be an indulgent treat!  I don’t have a particularly sweet tooth and would prefer the soups any day, but if you want to go for it and try it yourself, making this pumpkin spice latte at home is probably still better for you than buying any coffee shop versions.  Not by much mind you, so we’d suggest you make sure it’s a seasonal indulgence and not a drink you should order every morning on the way to work! Enjoy for now though and have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!

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**Please remember this is nutritional advice ONLY (as is all other information contained in this blog, the website and social media related to it) None of the info or advice is intended to override any recommendation from your GP or health professional**

no nonsense chicken soup

I know it’s the middle of summer and we have been enjoying some wonderful bright, sunny, hot days BUT at this time of year in the UK when an unexpected gloomy , damp, chilly day pops up I feel I need a little comfort food.  Instead of turning to roast dinner (the ultimate comfort food for me!) I used my leftovers again and whipped up a really easy and – for the little effort it took – a surprisingly tasty chicken soup.  I know everyone probably has a different chicken soup recipe, perhaps passed down through the generations, but I’m rubbish at following recipes and my mother is a rubbish cook so I tend to use what I have, use one pot for cooking and for soups, rely heavily on the trusty blender.  This method uses the leftovers, the one pot and the blender, plus its simple, cheap and satisfying so I thought I’d share:

I used:

CHICKEN: I had a pre roasted supermarket (small) chicken.  I had already used it for 3 meals so for this, I literally picked the remaining meat from the bones.  I didn’t boil the bones for the stock – this is a good idea if you have the time, but I made the soup for lunch and in all honesty couldn’t be bothered. 

There was probably about 100g of meat.

QUINOA: I know, I know – I never thought I’d say it or use it either, but I have to be honest again and tell you that although it tastes rubbish (or rather tastes of nothing at all) it does fill me up and when added to other things, or when flavours are added to it, it can make a great, filling and protein packed alternative to pasta, rice, cous cous etc…..anyway I had a packet of Tesco branded “red and white quinoa with bulgur wheat”. 

I had used this 3 times already and the remainder was approx. 65g.

VEGGIES:  I included 1 x medium carrot and 2 x sticks of celery – simply chopped and cooked in a little oil in the pan with 2 x cloves of garlic

STOCK: 1 x vegetable stock cube with 1.5 pints of water.

MIXED HERBS: Approx 1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs.

SPINACH: I added a large handful of raw baby spinach leaves to the bowl when done – as the soup was hot these wilted in

CROUTONS: I added a few shop bought croutons to the bowl too – you could of course toast them yourself, or eat the soup with some bread/toast /crackers on the side.

BUDGET

This soup is stupidly cheap:

• The CHICKEN was bought pre-roasted at the supermarket for £3.  This was the 4^th (and final) dish from that making it 75p worth for this recipe.  
• The QUINOA was £1.99 and again this was the 4^th serving, meaning less than 50p if it was in this soup. 
• CARROTS were 35p for 4 so just 8p for each one, the CELERY 88p for the bunch (of approx. 9 stalks), using 2 = 19p.  A garlic bulb is approx. 50p, using 2 x cloves is approx. 8pence.   
• The STOCK cube again was from a budget pack = only a few pence and the pinch of herbs again were only a matter of pence.
• And finally the SPINACH was a £2 bag of fresh that I only used a handful from = approx 10-20pence worth

TOTAL COST of ingredients = £3.20 (and this serves 2/2 portions) so £1.60 each.

METHOD

1)   Chop the veg and cook in the pan in a little oil while you get the last bits of chicken off the carcass.

2)   Add the meat and quinoa mix to the pan

3)   Add one pint of stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes

4)   Add the other half pint of stock, plus the mixed herbs and maybe a pinch of pepper then simmer for a further 10-15 minutes

5)   Blend for about 30 – 40 seconds

6)   Pour into your bowls (divide into 2 or save half for later) and add a handful of fresh raw baby spinach leaves (and some croutons if you like)

NUTRITIONAL INFO

Of course this isn’t just simple and cheap – at no nonsense we focus on nutrition too:

If you’re counting:  Chicken per 100g is approx. 176calories / 1 x carrot is 25cals / 2 x celery sticks is approx. 13cals / and 2 x garlic cloves = about 9cals.  The quinoa and bulgur wheat mix holds 130 cals for 65g and the addition of the spinach at the end was just another 10cals.

TOTAL CALORIES = 363 for 2 servings so just 182 CALORIES per bowl!

The greatest nutritional benefit of chicken is its protein content and as per www.myfitnesspal.com we can see 100g of the meat holds 20g of protein.

In the UK our RDA of protein is 50g.  As this meal feeds 2 or holds 2 portions, we are getting 20% of our daily protein requirement from just one bowl of soup here and that’s only including the chicken!  In the UK protein is not something we tend to lack in our diets, but for athletes for example, it’s a major nutrient required to regenerate cells and muscles so something high on the nutrient list of priorities to keep you full and fuel the right muscles when training.

The vegetables in this soup – the carrots and celery both hold a good amount of vitamin A too, along with vit C, calcium and trace amounts of iron.  The benefits of vitamin A include its immune boosting qualities (especially perhaps when combined with vitamin C as we all know helps boost the immune system too).  Plus vitamin A is skin kind (it’s also known as retinal which I’m sure recognise from skin cream ads!)

You can find more info on vitamin A here if interested: www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-minerals/Pages/Vitamin-A.aspx

More about vitamin C here:  http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-minerals/Pages/Vitamin-C.aspx 

And BUPA offer a great guide to proteins here: www.bupa.co.uk/health-information/Directory/D/diet-proteins

On the note of protein, as mentioned earlier the quinoa mix is a great source of protein too – the grain also contains a good amount of vitamin C, calcium and a high amount of iron.  Iron is great a fantastic mineral for boosting your energy, its an essential mineral (that we cannot produce ourselves) and deficiencies can lead to anemia.  Adding the spinach adds a good amount of iron to this soup too, so if you do have some fresh add it at the end to give a little extra flavour, texture, colour and minerals!

You can find more about iron and iron deficiency again from the nhs here: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-minerals/Pages/Iron.aspx

So here you go – the finished product: 2 portions of no nonsensene chicken soup for a chilly summer day

Let me know your own chicken soup recipes or share your pics if you try this one.  You can email info@nitakothari.com, tweet us @nononsensenitaor like us and share your recipes and pics on facebook

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**If you are of ill health, pregnant or a child under 16yrs, please be advised this recipe does have a high salt and vitamin A content so may not be appropriate**

**Please remember this is nutritional advice ONLY (as is all other information and advice contained in this blog and the websites and social media related to it) – none of the info or advice is intended to override any recommendation from your GP or health professional**