Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Soup is the easiest, healthy, and delicious dish of the all the bridal shower food. You can incorporate 2-3 types of vegetable soups in the menu. Think about pumpkin soup as it has many health benefits as well as is very delicious in taste. You might agree with this point after reading the recipe of pumpkin soup and its health benefits. After reading this information, you will definitely decide to incorporate it in your bridal shower food menu.

Time to cook: 1 and ½ hour

Difficulty Level: Easy

Category: Non-vegetarian

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin 1 small
• Olive oil 2 tablespoon
• Onion 1 medium
• Turnips 1 cup
• Cream ½ cup
• Butter 6 tablespoon
• Chicken broth 6 cups
• Parsnip 1 large
• Pepper powder 1 tablespoon
• Salt

Preparation:

• Cut the pumpkin (use vegetable peeler for it), discard its seeds and fibers and chop in large pieces.
• Now, peel turnip and chop it.
• Chop the onion and parsnip finely.
• You can take large quantity of each ingredient to increase the quantity of the pumpkin soup as it should be enough to all your guests. Therefore consider the number of your guests for the bash.

Procedure:

Heat a large pan, put butter in it and let it melt. Once the butter melts, add chopped onion in the pan and sauté it until it becomes tender. Now, add pieces of turnips, pumpkin and parsnip in the pan. Sauté it for few seconds then, add chicken broth. Let it boil over high flame. Once it starts boiling, let it simmer on low flame for one hour. After one hour, turn off the flame and let it cool down at least for 15 minutes. Now, remove the broth in another pot and blend the vegetables in food processor till to make a puree. Now, pour this puree in pan again and mix it well with the broth. Now, turn on the flame and let it cook for few minutes. Keep stirring it to avoid sticking and burning at the bottom. Now, add cream, salt, and pepper powder in it and let it cook for few minutes more. Now, your pumpkin soup is ready to eat. Serve it in bowls and garnish with pepper powder and cream (optional).

Variations:

You can make some variations in pumpkin soup, like:

• Instead of chicken broth you can add crab broth or meat broth. If you want to make it pure vegetarian dish then use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
• You can add other vegetables in this soup, while cooking. These vegetables could be carrot, beetroot, or potato.
• You can garnish this soup with some herbs like oregano, paprika, red chili flames, green or black olives, or basil leaves.
• If there are some kids among your guests then you can garnish this soup with butter or grated cheese.

There are many health benefits of pumpkin. It is low calorie vegetable, with low saturated fats (cholesterol). Pumpkin is rich in anti-oxidants, vitamins like vitamin A, C, and E, minerals, and natural fibers. Vitamin A is good for skin. Some research study of natural foods, suggested that pumpkin protects us from oral cavity and lung cancer. It is also rich in vitamins like B-complex, vitamin B-6, pantothenic acid, cooper, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and thiamin. Pumpkin seeds are also very nutritious and it boosts the levels of amino acid called tryptophan in our body, which converts in GABA level in our brain.

All these health benefits of pumpkin motivate us to have pumpkin soup at least once in a week. Your bridal shower party is the best way to convey these health benefits to all your guests including the bride and groom. You can keep a recipe and health benefits in written, near the serving bowl of the pumpkin soup. Your guests will read and know about these. This will definitely increase their intake of pumpkin soup. Be sure, you will get appreciation from health conscious guests for incorporating this soup in your bridal shower food.