Pumpkin Rice Laksa Soup

This recipe comes from a book I was gifted years ago, called Jamie’s Dinners, by Jamie Oliver, published in 2004.

I didn’t realize that Jamie Oliver started cooking at his parents’ pub, The Cricketers, in Clavering, Essex, at the age of eight. At the time the above book was published, he was running his own restaurant, and had his own tv show called Jamie’s Kitchen.

From my memory, Jamie Oliver has come in and out of favor with folks. Maybe he spread himself too thinly? I have eaten at only one of his restaurants, in Oxford, called Jamie’s Italian. There was a giant pasta extruder that made pasta as you watched. It was really fascinating!

In 2019, 22 of his 25 restaurants closed, revealing the collapse of his restaurant empire. I would bet he bit off more than he could chew, but he’s still passionate about food and cooking, especially Italian cuisine, and to this day he’s very involved in childrens’ charities, which is quite admirable.

Jamie’s Dinners is a good cookbook, especially for a novice cook. It’s all about home cooking – no fancy ingredients or techniques required. This soup is excellent – tasty and hearty. It’s just not very pretty.

According to Chef Oliver: “This is one of the best soups I’ve ever had. Laksa is a kind of broth noodle stew, very often made with chicken and coconut milk. when I was coming up with the idea for this soup, I was thinking of the Anglo-Indian mulligatawny soup, which is made from rice, curry sauce, and ground meat.”

I truly didn’t want to cut up a pumpkin or butternut squash so I used one 14 ounce can of pumpkin purée, and used two 10 ounce packages of frozen chopped butternut squash! That way, I got some chunky parts in the soup. Below is his original recipe.

Pumpkin Rice Laksa Soup
Printable recipe below

1 pound 6 ounce pumpkin or butternut squash, halved, peeled, deseeded
Small handful of lime leaves
2-3 chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled, finely sliced
2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled
3 sticks of lemongrass, outer leaves removed
Large handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
1 heaping teaspoon five-spice powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Olive oil
1 white onion, peeled, finely sliced
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 cup basmati rice
2 – 14 ounce cans coconut milk
Sea salt
Black pepper
Juice of 1 or 2 limes
Cilantro leaves
1 fresh red chili, sliced, optional
Fresh grated coconut, optional

Chop the pumpkin flesh into 2” pieces.

In a small food processor, process the lime leaves, chillies, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, cilantro, five-spice powder, and cumin. Put this mixture into a high sided pan with a little oil and the finely sliced onion and cook gently for about 10 minutes.

I didn’t have lemongrass, so I used a teaspoon of panang curry. Lemongrass is the second ingredient following chile peppers.

Add the pumpkin and stock to the pan. Stir, scraping all of the goodness off the bottom. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer with the lid on for about 15 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.

Add the rice and give it a really good stir. Some of the pumpkin will begin to mush up, but you’ll also have some chunks. Continue to simmer with the lid on until the rice is cooked, then remove the lid.

Add the coconut milk, stir again, taste and season with salt and pepper.

Add the lime juice – the amount will depend on how juicy your limes are, but the idea is to give the soup a little twang. Serve the soup in warmed bowls.

Finish with cilantro leaves, and add some extra sliced fresh chili and/or fresh coconut.

I served the soup with some naan. It was a great addition to this stewy soup.