Thai Red Curry Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Tofu

Thai red curry and roasted pumpkin are a match made in heaven. Warm spices compliment sweet fresh pumpkin for a hearty, comforting vegan soup.

This soup is a fun twist on the common puréed pumpkin soups you'll find. Don't get me wrong, I love a creamy pumpkin soup as much as the next soup sipper. But we wanted to do something different for this plant based recipe.

First, we decided to use a coconut milk base. And that got us thinking about curries and other dishes that typically feature coconut. Eventually, we decided to combine these delicous dishes into curried pumpkin soup.

And while we love the soup itself, we agreed that the puréed base could use a little crunch. That's were the crispy tofu topper came on the scene. Cubes of perfectly crispy, well seasoned tofu are like little gluten free and vegan croutons on top of this thai curry soup.

However, if you're not vegan or vegetarian, or just not a tofu fan, you've got other protein options. This thai curry pumpkin soup makes a delicious base to shredded chicken, a soft boiled egg, or crispy roasted chickpeas.

Honestly, though, even our meat-eating family members enjoyed the crispy tofu. Maybe you can get everyone on board for a meatless Monday! For a heartier meal, you can also serve with white rice or rice noodles.

Using Fresh Pumpkin for Soup

Fresh roasted pumpkin is the star of this soup. It's such much more flavorful than store-bought pumpkin purée and it's easy to prepare.

Here's how to work with a whole fresh pumpkin:

1. Remove the stem.
2. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a large spoon. You can reserve the seeds and roast them for a yummy snack that reduces food waste.
3. Drizzle each half of pumpkin with a bit of olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Roast in a 375°F oven for about 30 minutes, until you can easily pierce the pumpkin with a fork.
5. Remove them from the oven and let the pumpkins cool a bit.

For this soup recipe, we tranfer the cooked pumpkin to a blender to purée. It's best to do this in batches, as hot food can explode in the blender!

If you don't have a blender, you can easily mash the pumpkin in a large bowl until smooth. Or, if an immersion blender is more your thing, go for it!

You can freeze any leftover pumpkin purée for future use in a reusable silicone bag.

Making Puréed Red Curry Pumpkin Soup

Once the cooked pumpkin in nice and smooth, it's time to build this soup.

First, soften up your onion, garlic, ginger, chile peppers and Thai red curry paste. Be aware that many other brands include fish sauce in their curry pastes, if you're a strict vegan or vegetarian.

All of those Thai flavors get mixed with the pumpkin, coconut milk, vegetable stock and lime juice for a soupy consistency. Be sure to choose full fat coconut milk for this thai red curry pumpkin soup. The lite stuff doesn't have nearly as much body and taste.

The final flavor must-haves for this Thai red curry pumpkin soup might come as a surprise.

First: peanut butter. Creamy peanut butter provides body, flavor and protein to this hearty vegan soup recipe.

Cayenne pepper adds an extra hit of spice. If you're not a fan of spice, feel free to leave this out. And either way, be sure to taste the soup before adding spice, as your red curry paste may be hotter than ours.

And finally, fresh lemongrass stalks compliment the Thai flavors in this soup. Lemongrass is tart, bright and refreshing. Remember to remove the stalks before serving! And if you can't find fresh lemongrass near you, look for lemongrass paste. You can use a couple teaspoons to replace the fresh stalks.

How to Make Crispy Tofu

To top this creamy Thai red curry pumpkin soup, make some crispy tofu cubes. This recipe is only four ingredients, including salt and pepper.

And really, the only key is to get your tofu as dry as possible. If you have time, maybe while the soup is simmering, press the tofu between sheets of paper towels.

To do this, gently wrap the tofu in several layers of paper towels. Place it on a plate or cutting board with a weight on top. This can be a heavy cast iron skillet, or another plate with something heavy on top. The goal is to press out as much moisture from the tofu as possible. You can let this sit for a while, up to 30 minutes.

Then, simply cut your tofu into bite-sized cubes. Dust them in a bit of gluten free flour for extra crispiness. And finally, cook them up in a hot (emphasis on hot!) pan. To test that the oil in your pan is hot enough, add a small piece of tofu. If it's not sizzling right away, it needs a little more time.

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