Long story short. I already wanted to publish this post yesterday but then things and my bad time management skills got into my way. Also drinks at a wine bar with the girls. There is just not enough hours to the day. Or I often seem to be unable to make full use of the valuable hours I actually do have each day. Sounds familiar? Chances are you’ve also read books, listened to smart podcasts and tried to follow recommended steps to on how to better manage your time. I have over the years. Just out of interest. But until now I never really needed to use it as I was in full employment and my free time agenda wasn’t overall busy that I needed to use any time management skills. This has changed now.
I dedicate more and more time to creating content for my blog and Instagram. This hobby has become a passion I want to make into a career. So every free minute I try to bring *this* (I still need to find a proper word…my black.white.vivid. world?) forward. And there is just so much to do and no end in sight.
One time management skills I’m trying to be fairly good at is the one that tells you to schedule interruptions. If your head is working around the clock, after time the results will suffer no matter how much passion and love you do have for your work. Just take last night as an example. I had worked from the early morning on and was determined that I wanted to finish my blog post before meeting the girls in the evening. I could have made it but then this blog post’s content would have been photos, the recipe and “Long story short, I’m bad at managing my time. So here is the recipe because I won’t even have another minute to introduce you to this delicious Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Tofu”.
Yes, this would have been kind of okay but I much rather prefer to share more about myself and hopefully get to know you better that way too, by reading your comments and messages responding to my content. So this morning I decided to take some time off and spend first an hour walking in the park before having breakfast with my love outside and a quiet coffee date afterwards. Just like I’d imagined it yesterday when I cooked my Roasted Pumpkin Soup for dinner. The last rays of sun were still warming our kitchen and the birds were excited about the first sunny spring day too. I’d imagine to take two bowls of creamy thick pumpkin soup on a picnic in the park. We would first take a long walk and then sit down to enjoy the soup alfresco. Afterwards we would warm up in a cozy coffee shop.
Still time is so essential to recharging my batteries. By that I don’t mean to take off time to sit still in a corner. Stepping back from my work and distracting myself with other topics, taking walks and meeting friends, that’s still time to me. Enjoying delicious home cooked food is definitely a part of that time too. And when it is something the other person likes so much that he sends photos of it to his colleagues, then that’s the best inspiration and motivator anyway.
Calling this Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Tofu a soup might be a little misleading. It’s more of a hybrid between pumpkin soup and mash. But that’s how we love it in our house. You can certainly add more broth or bouillon if you like but the creaminess and thickness feels so much more nourishing and satisfying. Added with the crispy tofu I’ve introduced you to in my Crispy Tofu Bowl recipe and you’re all set for a healthy meal.
Roasting the pumpkin brings out the flavour. Even though it takes more time than cooking all ingredients together at once, it’s worth taking that extra step. Before serving I suggest to top the soup with some coconut cream. Soy yoghurt or cashew cream would taste delicious too. Also sprinkle with a few fresh leaves of coriander for a final flavour touch before covering the soup with hot crispy tofu cubes.
Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Tofu
- Pumpkin Soup
- 800-900 g pumpkin, cubed
- 1 TL grape seed or coconut oil
- 1/2 lemon, juice
- 1 piece / 50 g leek
- 1 TL grape seed or coconut oil
- 2 medium / 120 g carrots
- 1.2 l/ 5 cups water
- 2 vegetable bouillon/broth cubes
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp dry ginger powder
- 4 TL coconut cream
- 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
- 1 TL coriander leaves, cut
- 2 – 4 TL coconut cream (for decoration)
- Crispy Tofu
- 180 g firm tofu
- 1 TL cornstarch or arrowroot powder
- 1 TL grape seed or olive oil
- 2 tsp tamarind or soy sauce
- 2 TL grape seed oil for frying
- Preheat oven to 200°C/ 390°F
- Put the sliced and cubed pumpkin on a baking sheet, sprinkle with lemon juice and olive oil and mix well with hands
- Bake for 30 min
- In the meantime, thinly slice leek and cut carrots into bite-sized pieces
- Heat 1 TL grape seed oil on medium high in a large frying pan
- Add leeks to frying pan, lower heat and roast for 2 min or until they start to turn brown
- Now add the carrots and cook for another 1-2 min
- Heat water, place bouillon cubes in large bowl or jar, pour water over and stir until dissolved (or first do one cube and mix with half the water and then the second cube)
- Add bouillon water to pan and lower heat to minimum
- Add cumin, ginger and chilli
- Cook until carrots are soft, then turn off until the pumpkin is ready
- When pumpkin is roasted, turn on the heat of the frying pan again, bring bouillon to boil and add pumpkin
- Cook for another 5 min
- Remove from heat and use a stick blender until soft
- Add coconut cream and bring to cook again, turn off heat and prepare the tofu now
- Slice tofu into small cubes
- In a medium bowl, mix tofu, oil, cornstarch and soy sauce and stir until all tofu cubes are evenly coated
- Heat 2 TL oil in a small pan
- Add tofu and fry tofu cubes from each side – the longer you fry them, the crisper and harder the cubes get
- Divide soup between 2-4 bowls
- Top each bowl with 2-3 tsp of coconut milk, 1 tsp coriander and equal parts of crispy tofu
