Curried Kurbis Soup

I've been moving and that has been very stressful, especially considering I am finally consolidating all of my stuff that was in storage units and my son's apartment for the last year. And it's cold outside - really cold. So, I need soup and I have been making it every night. Some of the soup recipes I have already posted, but here's one I made last night that I think you will really like. Now, there are many versions of Squash or Pumpkin Soup - Kurbis is the German name for pumpkin and I was inspired by a carrot soup that one of my friends made there. Thai versions of pumpkin soup are really good too. But, this one is my favorite. The pumpkin gets roasted first to make it more flavorful and then it is added to chicken broth (you can use vegetable broth if you want to make it vegetarian) and some celery and carrots. That's pureed all together, but not too much as the bits of carrot and celery are so pretty and then the onions are cooked in butter until caramelized with curry powder then added in. It's important to cook the curry powder a bit to bring out the depth of flavor. The onions give the soup a wonderful texture that makes you not miss having any meat. And the curry powder lifts up the flavor of the pumpkin and makes it taste exciting. This soup is really fast to make as long as you cook the pumpkin ahead of time. it's creamy and soothing and delicious!

Curried Kurbis Soup

1 small pumpkin or squash - cooked flesh to equal 1 - 1 1/2 cups

1 onion minced finely

1 carrot, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

4 cups of chicken broth

2 teaspoons curry powder

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds. Place in oven and cook for 45 minutes or until soft when pierced with a fork. Remove and scoop out cooked flesh when cool. In a medium saucepan, heat chicken broth and add in carrots, celery and squash. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile cook onions in a frying pan with the butter until light browned. Add in the curry powder and cook for a minute until the powder darkens. Remove from heat and reserve. Using a stick blender, puree the soup until the carrots and celery are only little fragments. Add in the onion and curry powder, season with salt and pepper and cook for an additional five minutes.

Five Element Analysis

Soup is always part of the Water Element so that element is covered, whereas pumpkin and all squashes belong to the Earth Element and the caramelized onion adds even ore. Chicken broth contributes the Wood Element and the curry powder makes sure that the Metal Element is present. Only the Fire Element needs some support, so to round out the meal, make a salad to serve with it.