(This is vegetarian and can easily be made vegan if you just skip or replace the ghee and the goat yoghurt).
Start with a hokkaido pumpkin (or any squash or pumpkin I guess) -, two sweet potatoes, and two carrots, all topped and tailed but with the peel on, in chunks, and two red onions. And yes – the pumpkin WITH the peel, and of course also the seeds. Throwing those out is a crime.
For a nicer colour and more caramellised flavour, I browned half of it all in some ghee on a frying pan. The rest I steamed in some vegetable stock.
Blended it all, poured it into a big pot with some cinnamon sticks, black cardamom, aniseed, juniper berries (slightly crushed), curry leaves, bayleaves, fresh ginger, chili, turmeric, salt and pepper, and simmered for about half an hour.
I then blended two whole oranges (topped and tailed but with the rest of the skin on – throwing out orange (and lemon) skin is also a crime), a large dollop of tahini, some miso, and a head of garlic, peeled, a large slug of olive oil, and some water. Added this to the soup, brought it back to a simmer.
To serve, I garnished with goat yoghurt, dry-roasted whole buckwheat, dry-roasted chopped walnuts, and some walnut oil.
Almost a complete meal, with enough for a couple of days, and some for the freezer.