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Healthy Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Pumpkin Soup Recipe – A Taste Of Autumn

We’re embracing seasonal eating again with this recipe. Pumpkin soup is a true taste of autumn.

Jump to Recipe

In some countries, this time of year marks Hallowe’en and the pumpkin (balkabağı – honey squash) is synonymous with this festival. Well it is seasonal.

For us in Fethiye, autumn is the time when the local pumpkins appear and we set to work making delicious recipes from it.

Our pumpkin soup recipe (balkabağı çorbası) is a favourite!

Easy Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Most people know about the Fethiye market that happens every Tuesday; Salı Pazarı. But, there are also other, lower key markets around the area selling their seasonal goods.

We’re regulars at the Çalış Sunday Market and also the Friday Village Market and it’s these two where you can often find little unexpected treats.

Pumpkin At Fethiye Market
We’re always thankful to see pumpkin segments

Sweet Tooth Or Savoury Tooth?

In the season that is the gold of autumn (sonbahar), all markets will be selling pumpkin. Turks generally use it to make a pumpkin dessert; kabak tatlısı.

But, fortunately, they also love a good balkabağı çorbası (pumpkin soup recipe). If you know us, you’ll know we’re savoury people. Give us a pumpkin soup over a dessert any day!

Thanks For The Slices

A stack of huge, golden pumpkins for sale always looks more than impressive but we like to try and keep things simple in our house.

We haven’t got kids. We don’t need to buy a whole pumpkin and painstakingly carve out the centre before making scary faces in it.

No; this is our food. We want tasty and we want easy.

Over the years, the stall holders on the markets have realised that people are busy and really haven’t got the time or the patience (and death wish) to take a knife and hack away at a pumpkin just to make a meal.

We are eternally grateful to those stall holders who cut their pumpkins into segments for novices like us.

We’re even more grateful when, on a rare occasion, we see a stall selling bite-sized chunks of peeled pumpkin already bagged up. Wonderful!

Let’s Make Pumpkin Soup

So, if you’ve got lots of leftover pumpkin from making Hallowe’en lanterns or you’re like us and you just love to buy pumpkin for its edible delights, let’s make a simple pumpkin soup.

Toasting Spices For Pumpkin Soup
Toasting your spices makes all the difference

We’re going to be using spices, of course. Toasted spices that are going to make this an aromatic pumpkin soup. They’re so important to the flavour.

If you’re thinking cream, well that’s not going to happen. We’ve got enough vices in our life without adding cream to a soup.

No, we’re relatively fat free on this one. But this pumpkin soup recipe is definitely in the comfort food zone and most definitely full of punch.

Here goes: Balkabağı çorbasi – a healthy recipe for pumpkin soup.

Balkabağı Çorbası (Pumpkin Soup)
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Spicy Pumpkin Soup Recipe - A Taste Of Autumn

This spicy, healthy pumpkin soup recipe makes you feel cosy and warm as autumn descends. Eat pumpkin soup as a main meal or as a snack.
Course Soup
Cuisine Turkish
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 165kcal
Author Turkey's For Life

Ingredients

  • 1 kilo pumpkin or butternut squash flesh, cubed
  • 1 medium-sized potato peeled & cubed
  • 1 onion peeled & roughly chopped
  • 1 small handful of red lentils

For The Toasted Spices

  • 2 cardamom pods
  • 2 fennel seeds
  • ½ tsp black peppercorns
  • ½ tsp cumin seeds

Instructions

  • First of all, grind all your spices together in a pestle and mortar.
  • Discard the cases of the cardamom pods, leaving the seeds behind.
  • Add the spices to pan and heat on a low light.
  • Stir around for a couple of minutes until you can sense the spicy aroma.
  • Now add a glug of olive oil and your pumpkin, potatoes, lentil and onion.
  • Stir around and then add hot water or stock - enough to cover your ingredients.
  • Stir around and increase the heat to bring your water to a boil.
  • Reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer for around 30 minutes, until your ingredients have softened.
  • Once cooked, remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
  • Blend your pumpkin soup until smooth and serve with chilli flakes on top if required.

Notes

  • It is fine to just add water to your pumpkin soup but vegetable or chicken stock will be extra tasty.
  • Butternut squash makes a good substitute for your pumpkin soup if you can't get pumpkin.
  • As with all our recipes, the calories per serving of pumpkin soup are meant as a general guide.

Time To Serve Your Pumpkin Soup

We’re full of good intentions and make every effort not to overindulge in the supreme Turkish bread.

However, this is autumn. The nights are drawing in and it’s a bit chilly out there.

Balkabağı Çorbası (Pumpkin Soup)
Balkabağı Çorbası (Pumpkin Soup)

What else are you going to do, eh? Ladle that steaming pumpkin soup into your bowl and cut (or tear) yourself a few wedges of that fresh bread.

Sprinkle some chill flakes on top of your soup if so desired and feel the comfort of autumn as you enjoy this wholesome seasonal pumpkin soup.

Afiyet Olsun!

  • Lentils are a common addition to Turkish soups. Give our red lentil soup a try. Green lentil soup is a great winter recipe, too.
  • We’ve got lots of other recipes from Turkey that you can try.

March 13, 2011 by Turkey's For Life 10 Comments

Filed Under: Soups Tagged With: Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Italian Notes

    March 13, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    Sounds so good, I can almost smell it. Thanks. Mette

    Reply
  2. Turkey's For Life

    March 13, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    @ Italian Notes: Unfortunately, we’ve eaten it all. And yes, it was sooo good. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Belinda @zomppa

    March 13, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    This soup looks so good – the flavors…the colors – gorgeous – I wish I had this!

    Reply
  4. Kaya Koyu Walker

    March 13, 2011 at 9:39 pm

    There’s always a big crowd of expats at the Saturday market at Patlangic but it’s well worth the extra effort to go a bit further up the road to the market at Karaculha. It’s far more “Turkish” and there’s far less “Yes please, yes please” and “Cheap as chips” etc.

    Reply
  5. DCAllen

    March 14, 2011 at 1:09 am

    Yum.

    Reply
  6. Turkey's For Life

    March 14, 2011 at 7:52 am

    @ Belinda: It’s really good. The flavours are much better because of the toasted seeds. It makes it extra spicy.

    Reply
  7. Turkey's For Life

    March 14, 2011 at 7:59 am

    @ Kaya Koyu Walker: We don’t have a car so those markets are a bit too far for us just to go and get some shopping. Will definitely try it if we’re ever passing in a hire car.

    @ DC Allen: Yes.

    Reply
  8. Jeremy B

    March 14, 2011 at 9:10 am

    Just had some squash like that last week – although it wasn’t from Turkey! 🙂

    Reply
  9. Jim

    March 14, 2011 at 11:10 am

    Just what I need Julia. I’ve grown 41 pumpkin and squash this season so every night another way of serving it up!
    Your recipe comes just in time.I posted a pic on some here-various varieties.

    http://holesinmysoles.blogspot.com/2011/03/this-moment-friday-ritual-single-photo.html

    Reply
  10. Turkey's For Life

    March 14, 2011 at 11:29 am

    @ Jeremy: Squash is just lovely. So versatile.

    @ Jim: WOW! You’re going to be eating squash and pumpkin for a long time!! 🙂 Not well up with all the varieties so I’ll have a look. I check on Google Images but it’s not always accurate.

    Reply

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