I had roasted a whole pumpkin the other day and put portions of it in the freezer. For a while they were a very good price. Most people buy them to carve into Jack o lanterns.
I took advantage of getting one for the purpose of cooking. This is the first time I purchase one of these orange Halloween pumpkins. Usually this time of year I just get a butternut or acorn squash.
I do like pumpkin sweets, however I wanted something savory so with the weather being cold rainy and miserable here in Montreal and the work hours cut right down to a scary amount, due to the new no dining laws, I had time to make a pot of one of my favorite comfort foods, Chili.
I feel that pumpkin and black beans somehow go together so I did a black bean pumpkin chili instead of the usual red bean chili that I often do.
The base of the soup was made with around 3 cups of pumpkin puree, 5 diced Roma tomatoes, 2 cups of previously made tomato sauce that was frozen, one diced onion, 4 cloves garlic minced , 1 jalapeno pepper and spices. The spices were ground cumin and coriander which was toasted first in seed form, 2 tablespoons Mexican chili powder, 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, 1 cup of vegetable soup broth, juice of half a lime, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon black pepper, and salt.
First saute onion then add garlic and jalapeno. I don't have big enough pots so I transferred the onion, garlic, jalapeno to a pot adding the tomatoes, tomato sauce, pumpkin and at the last minute I decided to crumble up a brick of tofu in it as well.
I added two cans of black beans and 2 cups of frozen peaches and cream corn. Fresh corn would be the best but I didn't feel like running down the street to get it.
I garnished it with pumpkin seeds and fresh coriander.
It was accompanied it with toasted gluten free quinoa bread.
It would also be nice with some homemade corn bread. I will have to do that on another day.
Thanks for stopping by!