Pumpkin Soup With Garlic and Chillies

I couldn't let this time of year pass by without a pumpkin soup recipe, and as we are going to carve our pumpkin today (and I had a spare hour to fill) I decided to make some this morning. I love pumpkin soup but it can be a little bit bland so I have spiced mine up with garlic, chillies and cumin. Just right for warming up on a cold night after trick and treating or watching fireworks on Bonfire Night. Be warned though the chili does add quite a kick so you may want to reduce the amount you put in if you are serving it to the kids. Or alternatively if you are very brave you could add some more but I won't be responsible for the consequences!

Ingredients:

2 small pumpkins (make sure these are the edible ones as some of the larger ones are grown for size rather than flavour)

1 diced onion

700 ml veg stock

2 cloves of garlic - crushed

half a teaspoon of dried chilliesa pinch of cumin

120 ml double cream

Last year when I made pumpkin soup I found the dicing and peeling really time consuming but I was given a handy tip this year which was to cut the pumpkins in half and roast them in the oven with a bit of olive oil first. Then you can just scoop out the flesh - this made life a lot easier.

Whilst the pumpkins are roasting you can brown off the onion in some olive oil and as the onion is getting translucent add the garlic in too.

Then add the scooped out pumpkin to the onion, add the chillies and cumin and pour the stock in. Then bring to the boil, reduce and simmer for about 15-20 mins until the pumpkin is really soft.

Add the double cream and blend and the soup is ready. You can decorate it with a few roasted pumpkin seeds and a swirl of cream.