Old-fashioned Soups: Pumpkin Soup with Semolina

With Halloween just a fortnight behind us, there may still be an odd wedge of pumpkin in your fridge. I made a pumpkin risotto recently, and had had a lone half of a orange-fleshed pumpkin waiting in the fridge ever since then. I thought of re-making Johanna's roasted pumpkin and blue cheese quiche again. Or the simple pumpkin soup with vegetable stock. But eventually I decided to make something very unusual (to my international readers), yet typically Estonian. Milk soups - either with various grains (rice, semolina, pearl barley), pasta (macaroni or vermichelli noodles), or even vegetables (just like this beautiful summer soup by Deinin) are all common in Estonia. Granted, with the general increase of living standards and international influences, these humble soups do not enjoy the popularity they once did, but they're still very much part of the culinary heritage.

This milk soup with pumpkin and semolina can be eaten for breakfast, as a dessert or just as a light meal. It's best served warm, with a spoonful of jam, a dollop of butter or a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil (like I did), or even maple syrup (like K. did).

Ka Thredahlia tegi hiljuti kõrvitsa-mannasuppi - retsepti leiate siit. Ja ka Nami-nami blogisse võib kommentaare jätta eesti keeles:)

Milky Pumpkin Soup with Semolina
(Kõrvitsa-piimasupp mannaga)
Serves 4



500 ml milk (~ 2.5%)
300 ml water
350 g pumpkin flesh, coarsely grated
20 g or about 1.5 Tbsp wheat semolina (Cream of Wheat)
0.5 tsp salt
2 Tbsp demerara sugar

Bring milk and water to the boil in a heavy saucepan. Add pumpkin, reduce heat a little and simmer, stirring regularly, for about 15-20 minutes until pumpkin is softened.
Sprinkle in semolina, stirring to avoid lumps. Season with salt and sugar, reduce the heat further and cook for another 5 minutes, until semolina has expanded and softened.
Serve in small bowls.