Added 21/Apr/2016
This was inspired by my stint at FoE in Melbourne. Presentation can help an otherwise slightly boring dish :).
Garnishing:
Tofu:
Tahini sauce:
Start by cleaning and chopping the butternut or pumpkin into cubes (i leave the skin, because fuck the haters). Take the bunch of kale and coarsely chop it up. Reserve some of the dark green leafy bits for garnishing later.
Add a few tablespoons of fryable oil (rice bran, arachide, whatevs man) to a pot, add lots of cumin (seeds or ground), the garlic, chili and mustard seeds. Fry/sauté lightly for a minute or two. Add the chopped vegetables and coat with spiced oil mixture. When that’s done, add about 500mL to 1L of boiling water and a stock cube/powder. Perhaps some ground ginger would be nice, too. And ground coriander seed. Great, let it boil for 45 minutes or so until all vegetables are soft and edible.
Shred the small amount of kale you kept separate very finely.
This is a good time to deal with the pumpkin pips and tofu. A sealable tupperware thing is nice for the tofu cubes, that way you can shake it about to coat the pieces nicely. After having marinated the tofu in tamari for a while, sprinkle a tablespoon of corn flour on the tofu, close and shake till homogenous. Repeat about 3 times, or as necessary, so the tofu cubes are covered in a gloopy sauce. Heat up a pan with arachide oil (only a quarter cm or so) and when hot fry the tofu.
The tahini sauce is simple: take a few tbsp tahini (organic hulled high-quality preferrably) and add some water and whip vigorously with a fork till the consistency is pleasing (it’ll go stiff and sticky then yoghurtey). Add salt to taste, plus a tbsp or so max of apple cider vinegar (lemon juice doesn’t cut it, i tried). It’ll taste like yoghurt, great!
By now hopefully the soup will all be cooked. Stir quite a bit with a metal spoon or something: this will make it less watery and chunky, and more creamy with a bit of vegetable every now and then.
Plate up! Stick some soup in a bowl, put a bunch of fried tofu blocks on, sprinkle pine nuts, add a dollop of kale-steel-wool, and potentially drizzle some ‘fauxgurt’ dressing. For bonus points, serve with fancy sourdough/rye bread from your local free-range hipster bakery.