Thai-style Pumpkin Soup with Shrimp

In my family it's a tradition to have pumpkin soup on New Year's in honor of Haitian Independence Day. Due to my limited access to certain ingredients over the years I've played around with my recipe quite a bit. What follows is my favorite experiment so far (a slight adaptation of this recipe), and possibly my recipe from here onwards despite its distance from more traditional Haitian recipes. I hope you like it as much as I do!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 medium onion (chopped)

4 cloves of garlic (crushed)

2 tablespoons of Thai red curry paste

900ml / 32 ounces of Thai chicken broth*

540ml / 18 ounces of pumpkin puree

2 kaffir lime or bay leaves**

200ml / 7 ounces of coconut milk

450g / 1lb of shelled/deveined shrimp

2 tablespoons of roasted peanuts

Fresh cilantro*** (to taste)

*I used a carton of Campbell's,  but I'm sure homemade broth would be all the better!

**The kaffir lime leaves would be better, but use what you got!

Directions

1a) Heat the oil in a medium-large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until soft, then add the garlic and sauté for another couple of minutes.

1b) Once the onion is cooking get the peanuts roasting and set aside.

2) Add the curry paste and sauté for another minute or until fragrant.

3) Stir in the broth, pumpkin, and leaves and bring to a boil before adding the cubed potato, covering the pot, and simmering until the potato is almost tender (10 minutes or so depending on the size of the cubes).

4) Return to a boil, add the shrimp, and continue cooking for 2 or 3 minutes until cooked, then stir in the coconut milk.

5) Serve the soup topped with the roasted peanuts (and fresh cilantro, if desired) and enjoy!