IP Pumpkin soup

My colleague gave me a quarter of a kent pumpkin from her mom's veg patch and I put it to good use. With the cool weather of autumn starting, it was a great time to detox with a good veg soup! The magic ingredient is galangal!

Ingredients

¼ pumpkin, skinned

4 medium carrots, sliced

2 medium potatoes, cubed

1 can butter beans, drained

¼ C barley

1 packet store bought chicken soup (or use veg soup to keep it vegetarian)

Water

2 slices of galangal

2 slices of ginger

4 cloves garlic

2 spring onions, sliced

2 tsp white pepper

200ml double cream

chives, chopped (for garnish)

Method

1. Prepare the vegetables. 

2. Toast the white peppercorns and then crush with pestle and mortar.

3. Saute the garlic, ginger, galangal, and spring onions. Add the chopped veg and briefly saute.

4. Pour in the stock, add the crushed white peppercorns (i use a disposable tea bag).

5. Set on soup for 20 minutes. Naturally depressurise.

6. Using the Saute function, pour on the cream and bring back to the boil. Reduce if required.

7. Run through either with an immersion blender or I just used a potato masher to leave it more rustic.

8. Garnish with chopped chives and serve immediate.

Lamb osso bucco with pumpkin

I have never seen or known that lamb had osso bucco too but then I saw it at the supermarket ladt week.

Ingredients
500 to 600g lamb osso bucco
2 to 3 cups of water
2 tbsp onion chopped onion
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp rosemary leaves
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried sage
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp worchester sauce
½ pumpkin, cubed
2 medium potatoes, cubed

Methods

1) Brown the osso bucco on all sides. Add the onions, ginger and garlic and fry till fragrant.

2) Add all the herbs and sauces, and the water. Bring to a boil and skim off any scum. Turn down and simmer for 3 hours. The water should just cover the meat.

3) In the 4th hour, add the pumpkin and potatoed. Top up with water is required.

4) Serve with crust bread or over rice.

Red Curry with Chicken and Pumpkin

I managed to get the Thai recipes my other cols learnt at Sunrice. Here they are.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Red curry paste
4 red bird eye chillies
5 dried red chillies
6 small shallots
8 cloves of garlic
pinch ground cumin
pinch gound coriander
2 cm galangal
2 stalks lemongrass
1 kaffir lime, rind only

Chicken and pumpkin
400g boneless chicken leg, cut into 1" cubes
2 tbsp cooking oil
4 tbsp red curry paste
2 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp palm sugar
4 kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced
150g pumpkin, diced, steamed till cooked but firm
20g thai sweet basic leaves
1 red chilli, thinly sliced

Method
1) Prepare the red curry paste ahead of time. Pound all the ingredients together (starting with lemon grass and galangal) to form a fine paste. To make it easier, you may want to chop up the ingredients first. Set aside.
2) Place the oil into a wok and fry the red curry paste for 5 mins over moderate heat until the fragrance emerges. Be careful not to burn the paste, adding a little oil or water if necessary.
3) Add coconut milk. Simmer for 5 minutes then add the fish sauce, palm sugar and kaffir lime leaves.
4) Stir in the pumpkin and cook for 2 mins. Garnish.

Chef's tip:
Carefully remove the flesh from the pumpkin and reserve the skin for use as a serving bowl.