Spiced Pumpkin & Barley Soup – VeganMoFo Day 31

It’s the last day of VeganMoFo 2017!! Can you believe it?! It’s always a challenge – I’ve posted 28 days this month which is more than I posted all year (!) and it’s not always easy coming up with ideas to fill the whole month. But so many people have done it, and it just shows how much creativity there is out there. You can check out roundups of this year’s participants on the VeganMoFo website – the final one will be up soon!

Today’s final VeganMoFo day coincides with Halloween, so that was our prompt for the day. I don’t do Halloween, but I decided to make something using an ingredient you may have plenty of…

Pumpkin! This recipe will be great for all those pumpkins that will go on sale after Halloween. It’s the one you saw in my roasted chickpea recipe – they really do go very well together.

It’s got all lovely wintery spices in – cinnamon and paprika and cloves – and the addition of pearl barley makes it hearty and warming for the cold days (like today! where has this cold front come from?!).

Spiced Pumpkin & Barley Soup

• Servings: 2
• Print

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• Pinch ground cloves (be careful – these are strong!)
• Half a medium sized pumpkin, diced
• 100g pearl barley
• 1 tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 700ml vegetable stock

Directions

1. Begin by heating the oil in a saucepan, and frying the onion and garlic until translucent.
2. Add the cinnamon, paprika, and cloves, and cook for thirty seconds.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients, stir well, bring to the boil, and lower the heat and simmer for 50 minutes, stirring regularly.
4. The soup is done when the barley is tender, and the pumpkin is melting away to create a nice thick soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste.