By Chef Thuy Pham of Mama Dut

Porange Pumpkin Ginger Soup (V)

Inspired by AF Porange

Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. It's harvest season. Pumpkin patches are open for tours and produce aisles and farmers markets are rich in vegetables and fruit. I love walking through the markets and exploring all the various types of pumpkins with different shapes, color, sizes and textures. After a few weeks, Halloween comes and goes and the pumpkins continue to sit on display, quietly approaching their expiration. Of course one of my many toxic traits is to wait till the very last minute to find a use for them. By this time, my options are pretty limited because they are usually past their prime. This is why I LOVE this soup recipe. Not only does it allow me to use up all the pumpkins I over bought for Halloween but, it also freezes up to 3 months. You can reheat from the frozen state and it tastes as if you made it fresh!

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 4-6 people 

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 60 mins

• 4 tablespoons of avocado oil
• 1- pie pumpkin (in produce section in the fall)
• ½ onion chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 thumb size pieces of peeled whole ginger (adjust this amount for your ginger preference)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ ground nutmeg
• ½ ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon MSG (you can substitute for mushroom seasoning if MSG is not available)
• ½ tablespoon soy sauce
• 4 cups (32 ounces) vegetable broth
• 1 can (16 oz) coconut cream (cream. Not milk)

FOR GARNISH (optional)

• Vegan sour cream to garnish
• Chili oil garnish
• Chopped scallions to garnish
• Vegan bacon (cooked and cooled)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Line a sheet pan with foil and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Set aside. Cut pie pumpkin in half and remove seeds. Set cut pumpkin on sheet pan. Drizzle with ½ tablespoon of avocado oil and season with a pinch of salt. Put in the oven and roast for 40 mins. Pumpkin is ready when it is fork tender. In same oven, wrap whole ginger in foil and roast for 15 mins. Remove ginger and set aside after roasting. 

While the pumpkin is roasting, chop onions, mince your garlic and chop your roasted     ginger. Once the pumpkin is done roasting, remove from the oven and remove pumpkin flesh from the skin. Discard or compost pumpkin skin. Set pumpkin flesh in a medium bowl and add garlic powder, msg, paprika, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, sugar, soy sauce and black pepper. Mix cooked pumpkin and spices well and set aside. 

In a dutch oven (you can use a heavy bottom stock pot if dutch oven is not available.), heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Add chopped onions and garlic. Sweat until onions & garlic are slightly translucent and aromatic. Add in chopped ginger and stir to mix for about 1 min. Add in pumpkin and spices mixture and stir to mix well and add in vegetable broth. Stir to mix well and simmer for 20 mins. Stirring occasionally. After 20 mins, add 1 can of coconut cream and stir well. 

Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 5-10 mins. Just enough to get it into a blender. Slowly transfer pumpkin soup into a blender, being careful not to overfill the max line. Blend until the soup is creamy. Do this in batches if you need to. Transfer blended soup back into dutch oven and bring back to a slow simmer. 

*If you have an immersion blender, you can use it to blend the soup directly in the dutch oven. 

Taste soup for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Serve with a spoon of your favorite vegan sour cream, a drop of your go to chili oil, chopped scallions and crumbled vegan bacon! A comforting fall meal alongside french bread or dinner rolls.

Poison Apple Cinnamon Crumble

Inspired by AF Poison

I can always tell when fall is right around the corner. The evenings get a bit cooler, ice coffees become hot ones. Vanilla lovers move to pumpkin spice. BUT for me, nothing feels more “Fall” than seeing the APPLE harvest fill our grocery stores and farmers markets. The many varieties of fresh apples that we get in the PNW always makes me crave apple desserts. This easy & delicious apple cinnamon crumble recipe is simple and always hits the spot.  Which makes for a great week night pick me up on a chilly fall evening!

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 4-6 people 

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

APPLE FILLING:

• 2 - granny smith apples: peeled and chopped into small ½ inch cubes
• 2 - fuji apples: peeled and chopped into small ½ inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch of sea salt

CRUMBLE TOPPING:

• 4 tablespoons of cold vegan butter (cut into small chunks)
• ½ cup All purpose flour
• ¾ cups brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• Pinch sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl combine and stir ingredients for apple filling together until well mixed. Transfer into an oven safe baking dish. 

In a separate mixing bowl, combine ingredients for crumble topping. Using a fork or pastry blender, cut the butter chunks into the spices and flour mixture. Be careful not to over mix. You do NOT want the butter to melt. Sprinkle topping onto the apple mixture and bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes. Remove from the oven when done and allow the topping to cool to the touch. Serve with your favorite vegan ice cream!

Happy Eating! 

Love & hugs, 

Thuy