Pumpkin Soup with Cumin, Red Pepper Flakes and Yoghurt; Balkabagi Corbasi
This easy, delicious pumpkin soup flavored with spices and yoghurt, is a real winter warmer. Balkabagi, pumpkin, is sold in street stalls and farmers markets, Pazar, at home, either as a whole or in huge, deseeded chunks and we love its natural sweetness. We then turn this luscious, nutritious pumpkin either into a delicious soup, or make our popular Candied Pumpkin dessert, Kabak Tatlisi or simply roast in olive oil and seasoning.
Delicious and easy to make pumpkin soup, flavored with spices and yoghurt
I mildly flavored our pumpkin soup, Balkabagi Corbasi, with ground cumin and red pepper flakes. Warming, pungent cumin and a delicious spicy kick from red pepper flakes or chili flakes work well with the sweetness of the pumpkin. Adding plain yoghurt at the end gives a lovely creamy texture and a bit of tartness, really delicious and wholesome. When pumpkin is not in season, you can try this soup with butternut squash.
Candied pumpkin dessert with walnuts, Turkish style; Kabak Tatlisi
I hope you enjoy this nutritious, easy pumpkin soup, packed with flavor. If you also fancy making an easy Turkish style pumpkin dessert, here’s my Candied Pumpkin dessert with walnuts recipe. Pumpkin is baked here in its very own juice with sugar and the result is an exquisite dessert with the full flavor of pumpkin, also fancy enough to share with family and friends. And if you’d like to get a signed copy of my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, packed with delicious, healthy, authentic Turkish recipes, you can order at this link, it is delivered worldwide.
Afiyet Olsun,
Ozlem
- 800 gr / 1.75 lb. deseeded pumpkin flesh, cut in small chunks
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 small carrots, cut in small cubes
- 15 ml/ 1 tbsp. ground cumin
- 15 ml / 1 tbsp. red pepper flakes or chili flakes (you can use more or less depending on your taste)
- 1 lt / 1 ¾ pints/ 4 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock if preferred)
- 30 ml / 2 tbsp. olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 60 ml / 4 tbsp. plain natural yoghurt to serve
- Roasted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds to serve (optional)
- Extra virgin olive oil to serve (optional)
- Clean, peel and deseed the pumpkin and cut in small chunks.
- Put the pumpkin chunks, onions and cubed carrots into a heavy pan. Pour in the stock and olive oil. Then bring the pan to the boil.
- Reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer for about 25 minutes, or until all the vegetables are cooked.
- Puree the soup in a blender and return to the pan.
- Over a low heat, season with salt, freshly ground black pepper, ground cumin and red pepper flakes or chili flakes. Combine well and turn the heat off.
- Pour the soup into serving bowls. Swirl a tablespoonful of plain yoghurt over. Sprinkle a few sunflower seeds or roasted pumpkin seeds, as well as little red pepper flakes and ground cumin, if you like. I also like to drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the soup before serving.
- Serve hot; afiyet olsun.