Spicy Vegan Pumpkin Soup

A friend shared this recipe on Facebook, original is available here. I tweaked the instructions so I could use my immersion blender (instead of a regular blender). I also doubled the recipe, so we could have leftovers and share with Justin's parents. The soup was a total hit. I served it with artisan Cranberry Walnut Bread.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 jalapeño, diced, with seeds
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 2 large carrot, sliced
• 1 head of cauliflower florets, pre roasted
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 15 oz. can light coconut milk
• 32 oz. vegetable broth
• 2 baked sweet potatos
• 1 29 oz. can puréed pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• 1teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon tamari (or low-sodium soy sauce)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and pepper, or more to taste

Directions

1. First you need baked sweet potatoes - they roughly took 1 hour 15 minutes in 350*. It's good to get them baked and ready to go. You can prep all of your other ingredients while the potato is baking. This is also a good time to roast the cauliflower. The original recipe calls for you to just sauté the cauliflower, but I wanted to roast it before sautéing it, to bring out the nutty flavor.
2. Heat coconut oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Sauté onion and jalapeño until translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in garlic, carrots, roasted cauliflower and zucchini. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper, then cover with a lid. Cook for 7-8 minutes, or until veggies are soft.
3. Transfer all of the vegetables into a large bowl. Don't worry about getting it all out of the pot.
4. In your mostly empty large pot, add coconut milk, vegetable broth, baked sweet potato, pumpkin, spices, maple syrup and tamari. Turn heat on very low. Slowly use immersion blender to pulse and puree everything in the pot. Take breaks to use a spatula to scrape the sides, then use blender again. Keep doing this until the pumpkin mixture reaches your desired consistency.
5. Add 3/4 of the cooked vegetable mixture to the pot, leaving some behind for a topping on the soup. Use immersion blender again, same as above, pulsing and pureeing until desired consistency. We blended it until it was "smooth and velvety".
6. Once soup is pureed, heat until hot, about 5 minutes. Be careful not to heat too high, as the soup can splatter all over the stove (yes, that happened).
7. Serve in bowls and top with some of the remaining vegetables.

Pictures (with comments)

The ingredients. List is above.


Sautéd onion and jalapeño.


Sautéd vegetables.


Sautéd vegetables dumped into large bowl.


Pureed coconut milk, vegetable broth, baked sweet potato, pumpkin, spices, maple syrup and tamari.


Pureed pumpkin mixture, along with pureed vegetables. Look how thick it is.


Dinner is served!