How to Make Seminole Pumpkin Soup Joumou 🎃

I grew these Seminole pumpkins in my garden, so now we are taking them into the kitchen.

First up, soup joumou.

Soup joumou is a Haitian pumpkin soup. Traditionally we make it on New Year's Day to celebrate independence from France. For a long time in Haiti, enslaved people were not allowed to eat it. So on January 1st, 1804, we ate it. And we have eaten it every New Year since. That is what is in the bowl.

Traditionally it is made with calabaza. I am growing calabaza too, but I had a pile of Seminole pumpkins ready, so that is what went in the pot. And I used lamb instead of beef.

This is exactly why I love growing Seminole pumpkin. Pumpkin pie is great, but there is so much more we can do with what we grow.

Why this pot is worth the afternoon

• Seminole pumpkin is built for Florida. It shrugs off our heat, our humidity and most of our bugs. One vine will hand you more pumpkins than you know what to do with.
• The pumpkin becomes the broth. You are not dropping chunks of pumpkin in water. You boil it, blend it, strain it, and that becomes the base everything else cooks in.
• Searing the meat first changes the soup. That browned bottom of the pan goes in the pot too.
• Everything goes in by how long it takes. Carrots get the head start, then cabbage and noodles, then potatoes and the lamb, herbs last. Nothing sits in there turning to mush waiting on something else.
• Lamb cooks faster than beef. It comes tender sooner, so the pot is finished sooner.
• The noodles make it a full meal. The pasta is what makes a bowl of this dinner instead of a starter.
• It feeds eight and it gets better overnight.

What You Need

The pumpkin broth

• 1 medium Seminole pumpkin, about 4 cups cooked. Calabaza, kabocha or butternut all work. They are the same family.
• 6 cups broth, vegetable or chicken or beef, plus more as needed
• Salt for the boiling water

The lamb

• 2 pounds lamb stew meat. Beef works too, it just needs more time
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste. This is what gives the seared meat its sauce
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• Broth or water
• Salt and black pepper

The vegetables

• 3 medium carrots, sliced
• 3 celery stalks, sliced
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 medium cabbage, roughly chopped

Fresh herbs from the garden

• Thyme, parsley and oregano. Fresh if you have them. This is not the place to skip

The pasta

• 8 ounces pasta noodles. Rigatoni, penne, whatever shape you have

How I Made It

1. Prep and boil the pumpkin

Wash the pumpkin, cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. Save those seeds. Seminole pumpkin is one of those things you will have for life once you start saving.

Leave the skin on. Do not try to peel it raw.

Put it in a pot, cover with water, salt the water and bring it to a boil. Boil about 15 to 20 minutes, until the skin is soft.

The skin comes right off once it is cooked.

Scoop the flesh out, getting as close to the skin as you can. You want about 4 cups.

2. Sear the lamb

I sear every meat I cook. Beef, lamb, steak, all of it. It brings a different flavor to the soup.

Get the pan hot and lay the lamb down. Let it get golden brown on one side, then flip it.

Add the tomato paste and about a quarter of an onion.

Add broth or water until it comes close to the top of the meat. Let it cook down while you cut everything else.

Lamb cooks faster than beef. If you are using beef, give it more time.

3. Blend and strain the pumpkin broth

Add the cooked pumpkin to a blender or food processor with some broth. Blend until completely smooth.

Now strain it. Do not skip this.

I skipped it one time and the soup came out gritty. I have not skipped it since. Straining is what gives you a smooth broth.

Pour the strained broth into your big soup pot.

4. Start the carrots, celery and onions

Add the carrots, celery and chopped onion to the pumpkin broth.

Let it simmer so the flavor gets into those carrots before anything else goes in. Carrots take the longest, so they get the head start.

5. Add the cabbage and noodles

Cabbage goes in next. It does not take long at all.

Then add the pasta. My baby girl loves the noodles, so I always add a little extra for her.

6. Add the potatoes and the lamb

Add your potatoes.

Then add the seared lamb, and pour the sauce from that pan in with it. Scrape all of it in. That is where the flavor is.

7. Add your herbs

Thyme, parsley and oregano, straight from the herb bed.

This is the part I almost forgot on camera, and it is the most important part. Do not leave it out.

8. Simmer and finish

Give it about 10 minutes. Let the potatoes finish and let everything cook together.

Taste before you add any salt. Between the broth and the seared meat, there is already salt in there. Mine did not need a thing.

Add a little more broth if the noodles drink up too much of it.

Serve hot.

If you are missing something

• No Seminole pumpkin? Calabaza is the traditional one. Kabocha or butternut will get you there too.
• Beef instead of lamb. Absolutely. Just give it longer to get tender.
• Making it meatless? Use vegetable broth, skip the searing step, and lean harder on the herbs and a little more tomato paste.
• Want heat? Drop a whole Scotch bonnet in while it simmers and do not break it open. Fish it out before you serve.
• No pasta? Leave it out and add another potato. It is still soup joumou.
• No fresh herbs? Dried thyme and oregano will carry you. Use about a third as much. Parsley is the one I would still go find fresh.
• No blender? A food processor does the same job. With neither, mash the cooked pumpkin as smooth as you can get it and push it through the strainer with the back of a spoon.

Day two soup

Cool it down, then keep it in the fridge up to 4 days.

The noodles will keep drinking the broth while it sits. When you reheat, add a splash of broth or water and stir it back to where you want it.

It freezes for about 3 months. If you know you are freezing it, cook the pasta separate and add it fresh when you reheat.

Three questions, every time

Do I have to use Seminole pumpkin?

No. A lot of people think you need one specific pumpkin or squash for this soup. You do not. They are all in the same family, and a few of them grow so easy here in Florida.

Why is my soup gritty?

You skipped the strain. I have been there. Blend it as smooth as you can, then push it through a strainer before it goes in the pot.

Is soup joumou spicy?

Not by default. The heat is up to you and it comes from the Scotch bonnet you add or do not add.