Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Leek, and Coconut Milk Soup is light and delicious. Perfect for cold autumn evening or chilly spring afternoon. It’s easy to make and healthy. Jump to Recipe
This recipe first appeared on Imagelicious on April 1, 2009 and then second time on December 12, 2012. Current post is an update of both those blog posts.
I wanted to redo the blog post for this Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Leek, and Coconut Milk Soup for a while now but I didn’t want to lose my old content, my thoughts, my ramblings, so I decided to combine my old musings in one place.
“I used to stay away from Coconut Milk. Whenever I saw a recipe with this ingredient I immediately stopped reading it. And right now I can’t even think of a reason why I didn’t like coconut milk so much. Maybe I tried something with it and didn’t like it, or maybe it was just an idea of “milk” made from coconut. But a few months ago I tried a soup that had that ingredient in it and I liked it! Since then I’ve been waiting… Waiting for that perfect recipe to come along where I could explore my new found curiosity about coconut milk. And a couple of weeks ago I got my chance. I was leafing through my first ever cookbook (not even a book, just a tiny little brochure) and there it was – an ideal recipe. How good was it? I made this Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Leek, and Coconut Milk Soup twice in five days and I am planning on making it again and again and again.”
I wrote the above paragraph back in 2009. More than 8 years have passed since then. So many things changed. I met my husband a few short months later that year. I had a daughter 7 years after that post. My photography style has changed a lot (for the better I think… I hope…). Here’s the original picture that I posted back in 2009.
“Yesterday was the last day of November and to me it meant only one thing – Time to Kill my Pumpkin! You see, I am a huge (HUGE) halloween fan. I start thinking about my annual Halloween party some time after New Year, so it’s not a surprise that I have pumpkins in my house all through November. I just don’t have a heart to throw them out. This time I had two pretty decorative pumpkins and one pie pumpkin. This pie pumpkin really needed to be cooked. So, yesterday, I went online in search of anything pumpkin and then I remembered, that I have a wonderful Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Leek, and Coconut Milk Soup on my blog. I looked up that post and imagine my surprise when it turned out that it’s one of my most visited and popular recipes. Woo-hoo! I quickly drove to my local supermarket to purchase some sweet potato, coconut milk and crusty bread and then less than an hour later I had a wonderful, healthy and hearty dinner.”
Above paragraph was written in 2012. I was already married and living in my new house. My photography style improved already but I wasn’t taking photos often nor was I blogging consistently at all. I had a tough year with my grandma dying, me spending a week in the hospital, house renovations. That was the fourth time I picked up my camera that year for food photography.
I have made Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Leek, and Coconut Milk Soup many times in the last many years. It’s easy, delicious, sweet, cozy, and comforting. I don’t always follow the precise measuring of the ingredients. Sometimes I use more sweet potato or more pumpkin. More often than not I don’t use leeks because I simply forget to buy them. I like adding chili powder or cayenne pepper to the soup to counteract the sweetness. It’s a perfect soup for a cool fall evening! And if you love pumpkin soups then you need to try Curried Pumpkin Soup from Garlic and Zest.
Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Leek, and Coconut Milk Soup is light and delicious. Perfect for cold autumn evening or chilly spring afternoon. It's easy to make and healthy | Imagelicious
recipe adapted from Fast Family Meals
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 small leek, finely chopped white part only finely chopped - 1 small
- 1 pound pumpkin, or Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 2 cm cubes
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2 cm cubes (about 3/4 pound)
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 1 can light coconut milk (270 ml)
- 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
- more cilantro to garnish
- salt, pepper, cayenne to taste
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Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. - Cook the onion and leek for 3 minutes, or until soft.
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Cook the onion and leek for 3 minutes, or until soft.
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Add the pumpkin, sweet potato, and stock. Cover and bring to boil.
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Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
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Using an immersion blender blend the soup until smooth.
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Add the coconut milk and chopped cilantro. Mix.
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Season to taste with salt, cracked black pepper and cayenne if using.
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Serve with crusty bread and extra cilantro leaves.
Hi there,
I had this little book with this recipe in it,,,I loved it.
I can’t find the book anymore ( I think I loaned it to someone), & I don’t remember the name on the book. I know it had a few other recipes in it I liked, & would love to pick up this little cookbook again.
Was it Betty Crocker, by any chance?
Thanks, Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth – no, it’s not a Betty Crocker book. It’s a tiny brochure, 14×20 cm (or about 5×8 inch). It’s called Fast Family Meals (The Hawthorn Series), printed in 2000. I love it, but it has very old style photographs. There are only 32 doubleside pages.