Pumpkin Soup with sweet corn

Getting Inspired is not new to the Hindi film industry but I recently saw a new level of such inspiration when I caught a couple of songs of the yet to be released movie ‘Radio’ starring Himesh Reshammiya. ‘Mann Ka radio’  reminds me of I want You, Savage Garden & the other one ‘Janeman’ seems to be lifted from 'Notting Hill, ‘When you say Nothing at All’, right down to the bench in the park! In fact, if you search for the Hindi songs on Youtube, it mentions the respective English ones in the ‘related videos’ category!I am waiting have a look at the other songs in the movie now!

Coming to the soup now, as I have mentioned earlier, somehow I can not imagine a soup without Tomato in it apart from the sweet corn soup of course. So in that sense this is the first time I have tried some thing other than tomato, it still has sweet corn in it but not in the usual way.

I have vouched for this book earlier, and this soup also comes from the same one. One of the best things about this book are the beautiful pictures which make you want to make them immediately. It also helps that the recipes are quite easy & straight forward. I needed such recipes especially for the soups, since I needed motivation to make it a regular meal in the first place!

 

Pumpkin Soup with Sweet corn

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 3 cups Pumpkin or Butternut Squash, peeled, deseeded & diced
• 1 cup Sweet Corn kernels
• 2 tblsp Butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup Milk
• 1.5 cups vegetable stock (or water)
• Salt & Pepper

Method: Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a deep saucepan. Add the onions and cook till it softens, approx 5-6 min.

Add the diced Pumpkin (or butternut squash) along with half the sweet corn, stir well & season with salt & pepper. Cover and cook for sometime, approx 6-8 min.

Add the milk and stock and give it a good stir and bring it to boil. Then, simmer and cook till the pumpkin has cooked through. Keep an eye on the soup while its cooking as it may boil over because of the milk.

Meanwhile pre heat the grill. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter and mix with the remaining corn. Season with salt & pepper and keep it under the hot grill to toast, approx 6-8 min.moving the sweet corn halfway through.

Once the soup is cooked, blend it to a puree using a hand blender or a food processor.

Serve the soup hot, topped with the toasted sweet corn.

My Notes: The first experience with a tomato less soup was great. We liked the sweet pumpkin & sweet corn combination. The toasted sweet corn was even better! This soup was filling & delicious.

Bhopalyacha Bharit (Pumpkin Salad)

Or Butternut Squash Bharit to be precise. That is what is easily available here and that is what I used to make this classic Pumpkin side, which was almost like the real thing.

I have come across a lot of people who call this by different names, all valid, I should add - Salad, Koshimbir or Bharit. This is my favourite way of having pumpkin. Use the flesh for this Bharit and make chutney out of the peel on the lines of this one.

I cant really think of anything else to say today, so here simply is the recipe.

Bhopalyacha Bharit

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 cup Pumpkin/Butternut Squash cubes
• 1/4 cup Curd
• 1 tblsp Ghee (Clarified Butter) or Oil
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• A pinch of Asafoetida
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 6-8 curry leaves
• 1 Green Chilli, finely chopped

Method:

Boil the pumpkin cubes until soft and set aside to cool.

Once cool enough to handle, mash them coarsely with the back of a fork.

Add the salt and curd and mix well. Adjust the quantity of curd as per your preference.

To prepare the tempering, heat the oil/ghee and once hot add the cumin seeds. As they begin to sizzle add the Asafoetida, turmeric powder and curry leaves.

Add the green chilli, give it a stir, switch off the flame and add the tempering to the above prepared Bharit and mix well.

Serve as a side with Chapati/Roti.

Note: Using Ghee for the tempering gives it a very special & unique taste.