Curried Pumpkin & Red Lentil Soup in a Toasted Bread Bowl 🍂

Curried Pumpkin & Red Lentil Soup in a Toasted Bread Bowl 🍂

Recipe and photo by Cat Pinegar

It has been ridiculously hot in Texas this year, and honestly, I was ready for fall long before Texas had any intention of participating.

We don’t really get four distinct seasons here anyway. While other parts of the country are watching leaves change, pulling out sweaters, and waking up to crisp mornings, Texas finally drops into the high 80s and we’re like, IT’S FALL! 😂

But fall is one of my favorite seasons, and I wasn’t waiting anymore.

So this week, I decided to make a menu that feels like fall is in the air—even if the actual air is still suspiciously warm.

First up was this Curried Pumpkin & Red Lentil Soup, served in a toasted bread bowl with Greek yogurt, fresh cilantro, toasted pepitas, and lime.

It’s creamy and warm without being heavy, with pumpkin and coconut milk, plenty of curry and ginger, a little heat from Kashmiri chili, and lime at the end to brighten the whole thing up.

And eating it out of a giant toasted bread bowl?

That’s close enough to fall for me. 🍂

Curried Pumpkin & Red Lentil Soup

Makes: About 4 generous servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry red lentils, rinsed

• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin purée

• 1 can (13–14 oz) full-fat coconut milk

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated

• 1 tablespoon olive oil or ghee

• 1½ tablespoons curry powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• ½ teaspoon ground coriander

• ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder

• 4 cups vegetable broth

• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

• Plenty of freshly ground black pepper

• 1 lime

• Fresh cilantro

• Greek yogurt

• Pepitas

• 4 small round bread boules, if serving in bread bowls

Make the soup

Heat the olive oil or ghee in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook for 5–7 minutes, until soft and beginning to turn golden.

Add the garlic and fresh ginger and cook for another minute.

Add the curry powder, cumin, coriander, and Kashmiri chili powder. Stir constantly for 30–45 seconds, just until the spices become really fragrant.

Stir in the rinsed red lentils and let them get coated in all those spices.

Pour in the vegetable broth, pumpkin purée, and coconut milk. Stir everything together until the pumpkin and coconut milk are completely incorporated.

Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for about 15–25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the lentils are completely tender and the soup is thick and creamy, it’s ready. There’s no need to keep cooking it just because the timer says so.

Season with salt and plenty of black pepper.

Toast the bread bowls

Cut the tops from the boules and hollow out the centers, leaving enough bread around the sides and bottom to hold the soup. Save all that good bread you pulled out for dipping.

I toasted mine in the air fryer at 350°F for about 5–7 minutes, until the inside was crisp and the edges were beautifully toasted.

Finish it

When you’re ready to serve, stir the juice of half a lime into the hot soup. Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, lime, or Kashmiri chili until it tastes right to you.

Ladle the soup into the toasted bread bowls.

Top each one with a generous spoonful of Greek yogurt, plenty of fresh cilantro, a scattering of toasted pepitas, and another little squeeze of lime.

Then start tearing pieces off your bowl as you eat, because obviously that’s half the reason for putting soup in bread in the first place. 🍂