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Cumin-spiced Pumpkin Soup with Honey

My Grandma Felicidad who is 87 years old (and will be turning 88 this September) had been a very good cook during her prime. She never lets us eat in fastfood chains if she could help it. We were always served with home-cooked meals- even exotic dishes that I wasn't able to cook yet (ginataang kuhol/snails, sinampalukang talangka/ little crabs, adobong salagubang/beetle). My favorites though were her "tinumis/dinuguan" and her "palarusdos/bilo-bilo". I was an avid fan, that's why (I guess) I studied the art of cooking myself.

It is sad to say that now she can no longer remember whatever dishes she had prepared for us before. She can only say "ang galing na magluto ng apo ko". As gratitude for her love for me, I now am taking advantage of the opportunity to cook for her.

She can't eat as much (loss of appetite) nor chew hard food, so I make it a point whenever I cook for her that I only give her what she wants (mostly veggies) in the form she can actually manage (soft food). She especially likes pumpkins and so I've decided to make a pumpkin soup for dinner today.

Ingredients:

Butter, Onion (1 pc), Garlic (1 clove), Carrots (1 pc), Celery( 3 sticks), Pumpkin (1 small), White wine (a bit), Chicken stock (enough to cover vegetables), Cumin (2 pinch), Honey (to taste), Salt and pepper (to taste), Milk (just to adjust consistency).


  • Wash, peel, chop all ingredients. 
  • Heat up butter.
  • Saute onions, then add garlic. Saute.
  • Add carrots and celery. Saute.
  • Add pumpkin, saute.
  • Pour a bit of white wine. Reduce until the wine smell is gone.
  • Add stock and cumin. Simmer until the vegetables are soft. Stir once in a while.
  • Puree in a blender or use hand mixer.
  • Season to taste with salt and pepper. 
  • Reduce to right consistency or add more liquid if needed, in this case I added milk to make it thinner.
  • Drizzle with honey before serving.


Vegetables

A bit of white wine

Cumin-spiced pumpkin soup drizzled with honey
 and served with wholewheat biscuit



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