Curried Coconut Pumpkin Soup with Cumin Yogurt Sauce and Chili Cran-Apple Relish

Delicious and healthy, this soup is rather simple to prepare and is hearty enough to serve as a meal. It would also make an excellent start to your next Thanksgiving dinner. Enjoy.

Pumpkin Soup:

1 tablespoon unrefined coconut oil

2 tablespoons pasture butter

1 bay leaf

3 stalks celery, chopped 

1 yellow onion, chopped

Sea salt and pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried sage

2 tablespoons yellow curry powder, or more to taste

2 teaspoons Louisiana hot sauce, or more to taste

6 cups chicken stock (use vegetable stock for a vegetarian version)

2 (15-ounce) cans cooked pumpkin puree

1 can coconut milk

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Cumin Yogurt Sauce:

1/2 cup whole milk yogurt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt, to taste

Relish:

1/2 crisp apple (I used Honeycrisp, my favorite), chopped

1/4 red onion, finely diced

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries, chopped

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon agave nectar (or honey)

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Dash of sea salt

 Directions:

Heat a medium soup pot over medium to medium high heat. Add the coconut oil and melt the butter. Add bay leaf, celery, and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 6 or 7 minutes, until tender. Add thyme, sage, curry powder, and hot sauce, to taste, then cook a minute. Add chicken stock and bring liquid to a bubble. Stir in the pumpkin puree and coconut milk. Simmer soup 10 minutes to thicken a bit. Remove the bay leaf. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup to desired smoothness (can also use a blender and blend the soup in small batches).  Reduce heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve. 

While soup cooks, assemble the relish by combining all ingredients in a small bowl.  Do the same for the yogurt sauce. 

Adjust seasonings in soup to your liking and serve soup in shallow bowls with a drizzle of yogurt sauce and few spoonfuls of relish. 

Adapted from: Rachel Ray's Pumpkin Soup Recipe