Crema de Ahuyama (Colombian Creamy Pumpkin Soup)

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Pumpkin, potato and carrot cooked together in a pressure cooker with onion, garlic and tomato, then blended with some of the cooking liquid. Forty minutes, four servings.

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Total Time40

Course: Soups

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: creamy pumpkin soup

Servings:

Calories: 143kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

3 cups pumpkin ahuyama, the pulp only, cut into small pieces
2 cups potatoes chopped
2 cups carrot chopped into small pieces
1 tomato finely chopped
½ onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
½ bouillon cube
Achiote or annatto colouring 'color' in Colombia, to taste
Salt to taste

Instructions

In a pressure cooker, put the pumpkin, the potato, the carrot, the bouillon cube, the onion, the tomato, the garlic, the achiote colouring and salt to taste, with enough water to cover.
Put it over medium heat for half an hour. In a slow cooker it needs longer, about 45 minutes, or until everything is soft.
Release the pressure carefully, then drain, keeping a couple of cups of the cooking liquid.
Take everything to the blender. If it does not all fit, blend it in batches. Blend for a minute, until it is completely smooth.
If the cream is thicker than you want, loosen it with some of the cooking liquid you kept.
Serve it hot.

Notes

Keep the cooking liquid. It is the only thing you have to adjust the consistency with, and once it goes down the sink the choice is gone: water dilutes the flavour and milk changes the soup into something else. Two cups is plenty and what is left over can go into the pot anyway. Release the pressure slowly, by lifting the valve with a spoon or by waiting for it to fall on its own. Never run a pressure cooker under cold water. Blend in batches if you need to. Overfilling a blender with hot soup is how lids come off, so half a jug at a time with the lid held down under a cloth. What Colombians call color is a powdered achiote or annatto colouring sold in sachets. It turns the soup a deeper orange and adds very little flavour. A pinch of turmeric or sweet paprika does the same.

Nutrition