Lin gave me a recipe for Balinese pumpkin soup. It looked so simple that I didn't write it down. It's pumpkin, a liter of water, a tablespoon of butter, 3 cloves garlic, an onion, a piece of ginger and a cup of coconut milk. Cook everything but the coconut milk together. I diced everything and the pumpkin that I had was already cooked, but I think it may taste even better if you cook the pumpkin in the water. I used about an inch of ginger root. I can't remember if it was supposed to be pureed but I did it anyway. Then add the coconut milk. It sure is pretty isn't it?
I prepared it today along with a cabbage salad and some fried rice. I had some left over red rice and that is why the fried rice doesn't look traditional. The Thai basil that I planted is doing really well so I put some in the cabbage salad for a more Asian flavour. The salad is red and green cabbage,Thai basil and some dried cranberries dressed with rice wine vinegar and olive oil.
I am still basically cooking vegetarian except the fried rice had some pork in it. Meat as a condiment is more my style.
