Day Five: Spicy Pumpkin

Louisa set out to make pumpkin soup today. She had a packet of creamed coconut, setting a West Indian vibe, so we went down to East Street together to shop for other ingredients and bought the biggest pumpkin we could find, a fifteen pounder. At 60p per pound, we paid nine quid, or an even tenner with the garlic and the ginger. We went to the cheerful lady in the headscarf, a bit further down the lane, for onions, green chillies and coriander and to Iceland on Walworth Road, six tins of chopped tomatoes for £2. And to Oli's, of course, for corek that was still warm.

Back at the Pullens Centre, while I peeled and cubed the pumpkin, Louisa chopped three pounds of onions and started frying them in Flora margarine for about a quarter of an hour while she minced equal quantities of garlic ginger and green chillis (roughly: one head of garlic; a couple of inches of fat fresh root ginger; five plump chillis). As the mirepoix (onion, celery, carrot) is in the West, this mix is the Holy Trinity of Eastern (and West Indian) cuisines. The proportions of spice mix to pumpkin are as shown:

Louisa added the trinity mix to the onions in the pot and continued to cook them for a further five minutes or so before adding the cubed pumpkin. She stirred the contents of the pot for a few minutes before adding the tinned tomatoes, plus enough boiling water to cover all the vegetables, put the lid on and turned up the heat. After the pot came to the boil, she turned down the heat and simmered for about half an hour, until all the pieces of pumpkin softened. Then she liquidised it. Louisa melted the creamed coconut in hot water and added it to the soup, stirring it in with the whizzer. She chopped fresh coriander to garnish the soup and also sprinkled a few pumpkin seeds over each bowl, from a packet we picked up in the market for a quid.

Emma was first to try the Spicier Pumpkin Soup and wrote in the log bok, The soup dragon hissed for more. Linda Brooker brought over a rail of clothes she had hanging around her Peacock Yard Atelier to give away. These garms. are hardly even second hand, but are mostly left over from advertising shoots. I got a perfectly decent pair of Abercrombie khaki kecks, ta very much, and there's still quite a few items left over for next week... Iraxte returned with baby Irene and wrote in the bok the soup was 'really delicious' and her 'favourite so far'. Other comments included, 'Yum, Yum, Police officer's posterior' (whatever THAT means) and, 'Wow great recipe + just right cup of tea. Thanks, I'll be back'.

Soup Maker: Louisa
Soup: Spicey Pumpkin
Other ingredients: Coconut, coriander
No. of bowls served: 22
Expenditure: £15.95
Donations: £27.17
Running balance: +£51.18