This recipe was inspired by Susan’s seitan stew. I used her method of cooking the seitan directly in the soup. It saves time and makes the seitan itself very tender. Adding seitan to this dish makes it very filling. Don’t forget to add some lemon, it takes away the sweetness of the pumpkin, if you like your pumpkin savoury like me.

Curried Pumpkin Soup with White Wine and Seitan

For the soup:
1 t oil of your choice
3 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
850 g (~ 7 1/2 cups 1 inch cubes) chopped pumpkin
1 cup white wine (or vegetable broth)
4 cups vegetable broth
1 T curry powder of your choice (I used a mild version)
1 t smoked sweet paprika
freshly ground pepper and additional salt to taste

For the seitan:

144 g (1 cup) gluten powder (vital wheat gluten)
2 T nutritional yeast
1 t onion powder
1 t salt
1 t smoked sweet paprika
1 t liquid smoke
180 ml (3/4 cup) water

Additional seasonings for each bowl:
1/2 T fresh lemon juice
1 t liquid smoke or chipotle sauce
fresh basil

To make the soup:

Heat oil in a large pot. Add onion and garlic and cook for five minutes, stirring. Add bell pepper and cook two minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.Cook for 15 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.

While the soup is cooking, prepare the seitan:

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add liquid smoke and water and mix with your hands until a dough forms. Knead for five minutes. Place the dough on a cutting board and cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Set aside.

Purée the soup with a handheld blender until smooth. Add seitan and bring back to boil. Simmer for 30-35 minutes until the seitan is done. Ladle soup into bowls and add 1/2 T fresh lemon juice per bowl and 1 t of liquid smoke or chipotle sauce. Garnish with fresh herbs such as basil and serve immediately.

If you have leftover pumpkin, you can use it to make Nicole’s pumpkin chili:

I added 2 cups of vegetable broth, 1 T of chipotle sauce, 1 T oregano, 1 additional t of cumin, and used kidney beans instead of black beans. What a great autumn coloured stew!