Pumpkin and Lentil Soup

I might have mentioned before how much I love pumpkins, especially during these cold weather months. So to keep the pumpkin frenzy going today I'm sharing another pumpkin soup recipe with you.

This is not your typical pumpkin soup. We are adding lentils as well, another ingredient that we love and that has an incredible amount of benefits for us. We also have pumpkin seeds and a bunch of spices that make this soup very special. 

I had to add a few different flavours to this soup because I think I went a little overboard with pumpkin this year! No one in my family was really looking forward to another serving of this delicious veggie.  

Every year, I go out to a pumpkin patch to get a big beautiful pumpkin. You can find all different varieties year round but going to an actual pumpkin patch is such a novelty that we all enjoy as a family. And personally, I get into holiday mode as soon as I put a foot in there. 

I usually get a reasonable size pumpkin but this time I have to confess that I went a little bit crazy. I got a massive one, almost as heavy as my son! Well, maybe not that big but it was big. 

I don't like wasting food, so I figured I could make a few different recipes. We had Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes one day, then I made a Creamy Carrot and Pumpkin Soup which is more like your typical pumpkin soup. And lastly, a Linguine with Pumpkin, Rocket and Roasted Walnuts, a dish I know everyone loves. 

That's a lot of pumpkin for any human being! Therefore, if I wanted to serve another pumpkin soup it had to be different. This recipe has more of an Indian taste to it, I used a few spices that are absolute staples of Indian cuisine. 

Since it was an Indian inspired dish it only made sense to serve it with some sort of Indian bread. My first choice is always naan bread, it's so hard to resist! I figured it would go really well with this recipe. 

I had a bag of naan bread that I bought at the store but sadly, I didn't read the fine print. When I was already home ready to heat it up and stuff my face I realised it wasn't vegan. It was a bit heartbreaking!

Fortunately, I found frozen roti so we wouldn't go without bread. And, I guess it was for the better. Health wise, roti is a better option than naan bread. You can cook roti in a pan unlike naan bread, which needs to be baked. Using a pan is a bit more convenient than having to deal with the oven. It is also a perfect option when you just don't have an oven. 

You can serve this pumpkin soup as an entree or as an actual meal. Is quite filling, nourishing and heartwarming. The perfect soup for this cold weather days!