Haitian pumpkin soup called soupe Joumou pronounced (joo-moo) or sometimes called Sunday soup signifies freedom to the Haitian people. Every Haitian will eat this soup on Independence day because when Haiti was a French colony, the slaves were forbidden to eat pumpkin soup. They were told they did not have a sophisticated enough palate for such pleasure. Can you imagine? Needless to say here is a recipe that is treasured throughout the country. I made mine vegetarian and added a can of coconut milk as I served this still hearty soup as a starter for our International Cuisine meal. The soup is beautiful served up inside a pumpkin. Delicious, enjoy!
Haitian Pumpkin Soup (Soupe Joumou)
Servings 8 cups
Ingredients
- 1 1 lb of beef
- 1/2 cup of olive oil
- water as needed
- 1 large scallions diced
- 1 half medium cabbage diced
- 2 potatoes peeled and chopped
- 2 yams peeled and chopped
- 2 malanga peeled and chopped
- 2 butternut squash or pumpkins peeled and chopped
- 2 turnips peeled and chopped
- 1 stalk of celery chopped
- 3 medium carrots chopped
- 1 6 oz. package of thin spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 1 scotch bonnet pepper
- 5 cloves
- 4 parsley sprigs
- Meat seasoning spices:
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp thyme
- 2 shallots diced
- 1 tsp seasoning salt
- 2 Maggi® chicken bouillon cubes
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
Instructions
- Meat
- Mix together the meat seasoning spices and rub on the meat after cleaning the meat with lime. Marinate the meat overnight or for at least 1 hour.
- Place the seasoned meat in a stockpot and cover with water (just enough to cover the meat.) Add oil and let boil over high heat. Keep covered until the water has evaporated
- Uncover, stir and simmer a few drips of water occasionally to brown the meat.
- Keep stirring and simmer water occasionally until you have a nice browning color to the meat
- Stir in one tbsp of tomato paste.
- Remove meat and set aside pot for the vegetables.
- Vegetables
- Cut into small pieces the large scallions and onion and saute in a bit of oil under soft in a large stock pot
- Peel & chop the potato, yam, malanga, butternut squash or pumpkin, carrots, and turnip. chop the 1/2 cabbage into bite size pieces.
- Add the vegetables to the stock pot and add water. (if making vegetarian add in the coconut milk now). add scotch bonnet pepper that contains the small end of 5 cloves poked in the pepper.
- Cover and cook over medium high heat for about 45 mins to an hour. or until tender.
- Once the squash is fully cooked, remove it from the pot. Use some of the cooking water to blend the squash into a puree. Or you can use an imersion blender.
- For best flavoring, pour the cooked vegetables, the squash puree and cooking liquid into the pot that cooked the meat.
- Add parsley, thyme, and broken spaghetti (or substitute with macaroni)
- Combine meat into soup. Serve hot.
