Chestnut and pumpkin soup with ginger juice
Chestnuts and pumpkin simmered until soft and blended into a thick, smooth sweet soup, finished with fresh ginger juice for the coldest days.
- 45 min
- Serves 3
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: Yang-deficient types suffer icy hands and feet and aching lower backs at Minor Cold and need to warm the spleen and kidneys. Chestnuts support the kidneys and sinews, pumpkin warms the middle, and blended into a thick soup with ginger juice it warms without drying — perfect mid-afternoon.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 30 min- 1Peel, deseed and chop the pumpkin. Boil the chestnuts for 5 minutes and rub off their inner skins.
- 2Bring the pumpkin, chestnuts and water to the boil, then simmer over low heat for 25 minutes until soft.
- 3Blend with a stick blender until smooth and stir in the slab sugar until dissolved.
- 4Just before turning off the heat, stir in the ginger juice and goji berries. Eat hot.
Cautions
- Chestnuts and pumpkin are starchy — people with diabetes should watch portions and sugar; have less if prone to bloating.
Chef's tips
- Frozen peeled chestnuts save time; add the ginger juice last so its heat and aroma stay bright.
The TCM view
Chestnuts are sweet and warm, supporting the kidneys, strengthening the sinews and nourishing the spleen and stomach; pumpkin is sweet and warm, supporting the middle qi; ginger juice is pungent and warm, warming the middle and dispelling cold; goji berries nourish the liver and kidneys. Together they warm the spleen and kidneys.
