Curried Pumpkin Soup - with Soda Bread and Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

With Pappa Bear recovering from a nasty virus, and starting to gain an appetite, a big hot soup was in order.  In a little over half an hour we were slurping up sweet and spicy soup and crusty soda bread, perfect for a rainy Autumn afternoon.

Curried Pumpkin Soup

2T Oil
2T Curry Powder
2 Onions, diced
500-700g Pumpkin, 2cm cubes (I used 1/3 or a large Crown Pumpkin)
Salt and Pepper
1-2C Milk

1 Soda Bread - recipe here...

To serve - Spiced pumpkin seeds (see bottom of recipe)

Start off by putting the soda bread in the oven.
In a 4L pot heat oil over a med-low heat.  Add curry powder and onion and cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.  If the curry powder starts to catch just add a splash of water to the pan, no need for more oil.  Add pumpkin, dash of salt and pepper and add enough water to just cover, bring to a simmer.  Cover and continue to simmer for 20 minutes or so till pumpkin is tender.  Remove from heat and mash or whiz with wand blender till smooth.  The soup will be a thick puree at this stage so stir in enough milk to thin down to thick creamy soup.

Serve up with hot crusty soda bread, butter and spiced pumpkin seeds.

Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
For extra HEAT put a tablespoon of oil over medium heat, add a teaspoon of chilli flakes and sizzle for half a minute.  Add in handful pumpkin seeds and cook until they pop - serve seeds and oil on the side to sprinkle over hot soup.