631/1038 - Bunya nut and pumpkin soup

Realising I finally had a moment to myself, I decided to crack out another of my bush foods; this time the humble bunya nut. 

The bunya nut comes from the bunya pine and drops to the ground encased in an enormous green cone, along with many, many kilograms of its buddies. The pods inside are peeled to reveal the bunya nut which, like chestnuts, needs to be boiled or roasted and then peeled. Enter my trusty Stanley knife! After a thirty minute boil the flesh came away easily from the skin which was a huge relief given that I had thawed exactly the required amount.

Bunya nuts before they are peeled

I decided to roast the pumpkin instead of boiling it as I wanted to make sure the soup had plenty of flavour. Because of this, I decided that the soup boil time was not necessary and decided to simply sauté and blend the firm ingredients, add the water (half of the recommended amount) and adjust the seasoning after only a few minutes on the heat.

Some beautiful mountain pepper which had been gathered by my gorgeous in-laws was finally dry enough to grind and so a good pinch of this was added for flavour along with a tiny handful of dried saltbush.

Of course some roasted pumpkin seeds never go astray and I couldn't resist harvesting them as I dissected the pumpkin. My trusty dehydrator is so handy for getting rid of the excess moisture from the seeds before roasting but this process can also be done in a very low oven or simply by leaving them to air-dry if time is not an issue.

We were unexpectedly invited to a dinner party last night and so this soup was shared with more people than expected. I was quietly pleased when one of the diners asked if the soup was based on a lovely chicken stock, knowing that no stock had been used and that all of the flavour came from the beautiful batch of ingredients.

With a huge bag of bunya nuts in the freezer, this fabulous soup will definitely be on the repeat list. Meanwhile, today will see the rest of the roast pumpkin turned into mini pumpkin cupcakes.

Thanks be to an incredible cultivar!

Roasted pumpkin seeds for topping