To celebrate Halloween Hunter and I did some cooking with pumpkin, and took our dishes over to share with some friends.  This soup is one of the dishes I took. I usually go with the standard seasonings for winter squashes- cinnamon, nutmeg, butter (yes, butter is a seasoning in my book!) so for this party I decided to break away from those and try something new.  I saw a number of recipes for a Thai pumpkin soup on various websites and cookbooks, and this is my version of it.  It is spicy, creamy and pumpkin-y all at the same time.  I used canned puree when I cooked this, but if you want to roast a fresh pumpkin and puree it yourself, that would be great , just be sure to get the excess water out of the cooked pumpkin (roast long enough, and squeeze with paper towels if necessary before pureeing, or strain over cheesecloth after pureeing) to make sure the final flavors of the soup aren’t too watered down.

Mince half of a medium sized shallot, a half of a jalapeno pepper and a large clove of garlic.  Peel a piece of ginger and mince, to get ¼
teaspoon.  Heat 3 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat and sautee the minced ingredients until cooked through and golden.  Then add a 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree and stir until the pumpkin is heated. Turn the heat to medium low and add a half cup of coconut milk (not the low fat kind) and 3/4 cup of chicken stock. Cook this mixture for about 15 minutes, and then put in a blender or use a stick blender to get the soup to an even consistency.  Once the soup is entirely blended, add chicken stock and  coconut milk to get to the right level of runniness you want.  Start with nother half cup of stock and a quarter cup of coconut milk.   Then re-heat until just slightly bubbling, and taste.  You may want to add more coconut milk at this point but be careful not to overpower the pumpkin flavor.  Serve and enjoy!