Carrot & Pumpkin Soup

One day I was running out of my usual stuff for a meal and at the same time I hardly had anything at home to make a soup or meal of. But looking around I found about 200 gms of pumpkin and a few carrots and just one red bell pepper. Quite pathetic stuff on their own and not enuf as I said, so I thot why not a soup - that always is filling. I always love to have soups for dinner :)... as a meal so you will see the amount of water I am putting for the stock as one litre, that should feed about 3-4 people easily to their heart's content. Now coming back to my experiment, thankfully I had the bones of mutton to save the day. And best of all I had bought sweet basil plant just 2-3 days ago which promised to make my soup yummy. So off I went to my testing laboratory and I was so delighted with the outcome that I have decided to add it to my treasure chest. :) and for the first time I have decided to add the pictures too. Actually I have been meaning to do that for a while but never got around to it. Anyways they say better late than never so here we go..... Enjoy.

For the stock:

Mutton bones - about 200 gms

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon pwd - 1/2 tsp

Rock Salt or any other salt you prefer - to taste

Sweet Basil leaves - about 20 of them or more if you like

Dry Mint - 1/2 tsp

Water - 1 liter

For the main body :

Pumpkin - 250 gms ( it has to be ripe one- as ripe as you can find) cut as small and thin as you can

Carrot - 3 nos. - perferably sweet kind otherwise you could add a dash of sugar - cut in thin rounds (these carrots look pale and pathetic courtesy my nokia 71 but actually are a bright shade of orange. :)

Red Bell Pepper - 1 no. cut in lengths

Basil - 5-10 again depends on your taste

Dry mint - 1/2 tsp

Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp

For the garnish:-

Crouton - you could cube 2-3 slices of bread and fry them or bake them as per your taste

Basil leaf

Process:-

If you are in a hurry as I was put all the ingredients for the stock into pressure cooker and give 6-7 whistles. After the first whistle though reduce the flame.

Once the pressure is gone drain the stock and you can keep aside the bone and the meat on them. And in this stock put all the ingredients for the main body and cook till the pumpkin is cooked well (the rest would be most definitely cooked since pumpkin takes the most time). Switch off the gas and let it cool a bit

Now put the whole thing in a blender if you have the big blender otherwise do two to three times and blend the whole thing into a smooth paste, like you can see in the picture. Pour it back to the soup pot and adjust the seasoning if the need be. You can add pepper to this at this time either crushed or pwd as you please.

Finally when you are ready to eat you can reheat and serve garnished with croutons and basil or without the choice is yours