Roast Pumpkin Soup

For Gluten Free – use gluten-free bread

Roasting the Pumpkin

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Cut the pumpkin into pieces and arrange it on a baking tray. Top with fresh rosemary (optional) and season with a little salt and pepper. Bake until soft and golden (about 40mins).

Making the Soup

• Gently heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.
• Add mustard seeds and curry powder and stir with a wooden spoon until sizzling.
• Add celery and cooked chickpeas straight away, stirring to coat with the curry mix.
• Add one litre of water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and leave to cook while the pumpkin finishes roasting in the oven.
• When the pumpkin is ready, remove it from the oven. Discard rosemary sprigs.
• Add roast pumpkin and coconut cream to the chickpeas. Add enough water to almost cover the ingredients in the pot.
• Reheat and simmer for a minute or so.
• Use a stick blender to puree in the pot or wait till cooled a bit and blender in a blender.
• Once all the soup is blended, add back to the saucepan and heat gently before serving.

Cooking the Chickpeas

Cook a large batch of chickpeas ahead of time. Once cooked they can be frozen in portion sizes ready to reheat with a meal.

Add a packet (375g) of dry chickpeas to a large bowl and cover with plenty of water (they will double in size). Soak overnight or at least a few hours. Next, drain and discard the soak water. Rinse and add the chickpeas to a large pot or pressure cooker. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam and discard. Reduce to a simmer, cover with a lid and continue to cook until chickpeas are soft. They will squish when squeezed.

Once cooked transfer to containers to store in the fridge or freezer.