Lean celery and vegetable soup

Chop the celery, onion and garlic finely. Peel the pumpkin from the seeds and peel. Cut into large pieces. It took me a quarter of a pumpkin, but it all depends on its size.

Peel the tomato (in order for the skin to come off well, the tomato needs to be dipped in hot water) and seeds (I got the seeds with a melon spoon, or you can just use a teaspoon). If the seeds and the skin are not removed, then we will not get a smooth puree. Then, cut the tomato into squares.

In a saucepan with a thick bottom, heat the oil and add the chopped celery, onion and garlic. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring.

Then, add the pumpkin and continue to simmer for 3-5 minutes, stirring. We throw a tomato. If desired, at this stage, you can add a little chili pepper. Stir and simmer everything for 10 minutes on medium heat. Stirring constantly.

After 10 minutes, pour boiling water. I wrote 500ml of water, but it all depends on the pan. Be guided by the fact that the water covers the vegetables a little. Simmer all this for another 15 minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft (with the lid closed). Then, the broth is drained from the vegetables. We prepare the vegetables themselves a little and send them to a blender. If you have a blender handle, then you don't have to wait and mix it into a homogeneous mass. Filter the broth through cheesecloth so that it is clean.

And the last stage. Combine pumpkin puree with broth. Add as much broth, depending on what consistency of soup you want to achieve. I pour out all the broth. (If desired, you can add cream instead of broth, or in half — both cream and broth). Salt to taste. We warm it up on the stove, but do not boil it.

Decorate the lean pumpkin soup with freshly ground pepper. Bon appetit!

In the soup, if desired, you can add a little chili pepper and low-fat cream