Roast Pumpkin Soup

Preheat the oven to 180C (preferably fan forced).

Place the pumpkin and onions onto two oven trays lined with either non-stick baking paper or silicone baking sheets. Sprinkle over the cumin seeds.

Place the trays in the oven, and roast until the pumpkin is well cooked and onions have caramelised - about 45mins. Take the trays out of the oven every 10-15 minutes and turn the vegetables, so that they get browned on all sides. Swap the trays over when returning them to the oven, so that they get evenly cooked.

While the pumpkin is cooking, peel and chop the garlic. Measure the spices (ground coriander, turmeric powder, black pepper and chilli (if using)) into a small dish. Measure the wine into a large stock pot.

When the pumpkin & onion are nearly done, heat the wine on high until it is boiling, then turn it down to medium. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two. Then add the cooked pumpkin and onion, straight from the oven. Make sure to include all the cooked cumin seeds also. Add the premeasured spices, stock and coconut milk. Stir and cook for 10 minutes.

Blend using a stick blender until a super smooth consistency is achieved. If the soup is too thick, add more vegetable stock.

Serve immediately, or cool and store in the fridge. This soup can also be frozen.

You can split the making of this soup into two stages - roasting the veges, then making the soup. Store the roasted vegetables in the fridge until you are ready to make the soup. Keep in mind that the time needed to cook this soup will be longer to make up for how cold the vegetables will be.

If you don't have enough pumpkin, you can successfully substitute orange kumara.