The easiest pumpkin soup ever!

I don’t think I’ve ever tasted pumpkin soup until I made my own. Although pumpkin is available in Malaysia and used in Indian cooking, I can’t recall having pumpkin soup even in Western restaurants – it’s usually cream of mushroom or chicken.

I’ve tried several pumpkin soup recipes – the pumpkin is either steamed or roasted in the oven first. I like this one because the pumpkin goes straight into the pot – this makes it the easiest pumpkin soup recipe I’ve tried. It’s something I’m confident of making the second time around – without referring to the recipe.

Just remember this – simmer the chicken stock, then add onion, carrot and celery. After about 20 minutes, add the pumpkin and simmer for another 20 minutes. Finally, stir in some honey and double cream. I used thickened cream that I had saved in the freezer. You can skip the cream if you don’t have any – it’s wasteful to buy expensive cream and use just a tablespoon. I don’t think this recipe will go wrong even if you don’t follow the measurements to a T. This is one of those recipes where you can agak-agak – a bit of this, a bit of that… Give it a try. It’s delicious and so simple to prepare.

Shopping list: pumpkin, celery, carrot, chicken stock (stock cubes are fine), double cream (optional)

From the pantry: onion, honey

Hardware: big pot

Can I do it?: Of course – it’s the easiest pumpkin soup ever!

Tip: There is no mention of blending the soup in the recipe but I did it anyway. If you don’t have a blender, use a potato masher to squish up the solid bits.

Credit: Sunday Metro, the Star and Neo Tamarind. Full recipe here.

Tomato soup

I’ve always loved tomato soup and juice of the canned variety. Unfortunately, they contain a lot of chemical sounding ingredients that do not grow out of the ground. Canned soup and juice are tasty because of the high salt content and flavour enhancers.

If you’ve ever had tomato soup made from scratch, you’d notice that the taste is nothing like canned soup. It is less intense and tastes closer to fresh tomatoes. Your taste buds might need to be retrained to appreciate fresh flavours, but stick with it and your health will be better in the long run. Don’t kid yourself. Freshness doesn’t come in a can or box. Which is why I find it puzzling that this recipe uses both fresh and canned tomatoes.

Shopping list: celery, carrot canned plum tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, basil, chicken or vegetable broth (it’s okay to use a cube)

From the pantry: onions, garlic, salt, pepper

Hardware: blender

Can I do it?: It’s easy-peasy Jamie’s recipe

Credit: Jamie’s Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver. Full recipe here.

Chicken or Fish?

Sweet-and-Sour Fish Soup - part of my lunch at work! Oops! I forgot to take a picture of the Chicken Noodle Soup. I'm sure you can imagine what soup looks like.

I’ve been cooking a lot of Western soups, where the method is boil and blend. Getting a hold of Bobby Chinn’s Vietnamese Cooking brought me back to my Eastern roots.

Eastern soups are always clear and light, sometimes sour or salty, which you’d rarely find with the Western kind. They also need a lot more ingredients, which can be a hassle.

This time around, I tried the Sweet-and-Sour Fish Soup and Chicken Noodle Soup. Cooking it back to back over two weekends gave me a sense of Vietnamese cooking. Two words – fish sauce. This ingredient is to Vietnamese cooking what oyster sauce is to Chinese. Remember Wok With Yan? “If Yan can cook, so can you!!” He used oyster sauce and Chinese rice wine for almost everything.

Now I have a use for the fish sauce I bought. I’ve only used it once as a marinade for a chicken and onion dish (friend’s mum’s recipe – yummilicious!). Fish sauce is essentially anchovy extract, salt and sugar. Friend’s mum recommends the Squid brand.

Sweet-and-Sour Fish Soup

This is a hearty soup and it packs a pleasant surprise with the addition of okra/lady’s fingers (first time I used it in a soup). For the fish stock, I used the cubed kind. Bobby’s fish stock uses fish bones, celery, leek, onion, parsley, garlic and bay leaves, so you can add these in if you have them lying around.

This recipe calls for barramundi fillets, but I suppose any fish will do. I can’t tell my fishes apart (except for the obvious one like pomfret, eel, catfish and yellow tail), so I just asked my regular fishmonger for ‘fish good for soup’.

The soup also contains pineapple and tomatoes. If you put in a lot, the soup can be a meal on its own.

Shopping list: barramundi fillet, pineapple (ask the seller which type is suitable for soups), okra, red chilli, tomatoes, celery leaves, beansprouts, mint leaves, coriander leaves

From the pantry: tamarind (for tamarind water), sugar

Can I do it?: Easy enough but tedious on cutting up the pineapple.

Credit: Vietnamese Cooking by Bobby Chinn

Tip: If you made too much tamarind juice, freeze in an ice cube tray. Keep the cubes in a Ziploc bag for future use. For the bean sprouts, buy just enough a day or two before your cooking day. They don’t keep well and turn brown and icky easily. Wrap in newspapers! Don’t leave them in the plastic bag because condensation will ruin it fast.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Compared to the fish soup, there doesn’t seem to be a lot going on in this. Besides the shreds of chicken meat, star anise and cinnamon stick, you don’t see much of anything else apart from the garnishing. It’s meant to be enjoyed with noodles, but I prefer it on its own.

The surprise in this is the charred ginger and shallots, which give the soup an interesting layer of taste. If I’m a wine snob, I would write this like a wine review.

For the stock, I used Knorr Chicken Stock (in powder form, for professional use) because making stock from scratch takes too much time. Again, if you have these stock ingredients at hand, just add them to the soup: parsley, garlic, peppercorns, onions, carrots, celery and leek.

And here’s something I learned from Chef James Thong of the Loaf. Chefs don’t waste. If you have any stalks from herbs, don’t throw them away. Save them in Ziploc bags and store in the freezer. I also keep the stalks of leafy vegetables, which I don’t eat anyway. When you’re making stock or any soup, just add the stalks in. Good for extra flavour and additional nutrients.

Of the two soups, I prefer the fish one. The fish sauce, pineapple and tamarind gives it a nice twang.

Shopping list: chicken breast, ginger, and for the garnishing: spring onion, coriander, Thai basil, cili padi, lime

From the pantry: chicken stock (cube, powder, liquid, whatever you fancy), shallots, star anise, cinnamon stick, fish sauce, sugar, rice noodles, black pepper

Can I do it?: Easy lah, soup mah…

Credit: Vietnamese Cooking by Bobby Chinn