Red lentils and pumpkin soup

I know I have been making a lot of soups lately. There are two reasons for it. One is that it is getting cold and I love having a hot bowl of soup after a hard days work and the other reason is that  I find it easy to put it together as compared to making a full fledged Indian meal. I was very happy with the way this soup turned out but I was more excited about the creamy coconut milk and sour cream dip that I made to go along with it.

Here is the recipe.
Ingredients
1 cup masoor dal (red lentils) washed and soaked in water for half and hour
1 can of pumpkin puree
1 heaped tbsp. grated ginger
1 can coconut milk
3-4 ground cloves (laung)
2 shallots
3-4 large cloves or garlic (finely chopped)
1 stick cinnamon
2 tsp curry powder
1tsp. turmeric
2 tsp roasted cumin powder
1 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste
olive oil for cooking

Method

Heat olive oil in a pot and add the chopped shallot, garlic and ginger. Stir for a few minutes then add the cinnamon and ground cloves. Cook for about 5 minutes then add the turmeric and ground cloves. Drain all the water and add the lentil in the pot. Mix well till the lentils are well coated with onions and spice. Add the curry powder, chilli powder, roasted cumin powder, salt and mix everything well. Pour about 2 cups of water, cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Cook the lentils till they are completely cooked. Now add the pumpkin puree and after removing the cinnamon stick blend the soup using a hand blender. Finally add the coconut milk in it and adjust the seasoning.

I topped this soup with curry flavored sour cream. To make it I mixed 1/2 a cup of sour cream with 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1tsp chipotle seasoning, a dash of salt, curry powder and 1 tbsp haberno and pineapple dip (optional). I added the haberno dip as I had it at home but I would have added sweet mango pickle or any sweet chutney instead.

For serving pour the soup in a bowl and top with the sour cream.

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