Heat a tbsp olive oil in your skillet. Add in the chopped garlic and onion. (I used garlic powder instead of garlic only while simmering the soup)

You can either cook these until they soften or you can let them caramelise a bit. Caramelised onion and garlic give a different taste to the soup.

Next, add in the cubed pumpkin. You can roast them until they turn slightly brown or can simply cook them until they soften. Roasted pumpkin add in a different taste than the simply cooked ones.

After a minute or so, add the chopped green apple. Add a cup of water or vegetable stock and let the pumpkin and apple cook, until they soften.

Once they are cooked well, either use a hand blender (immersion blender) or a stand blender (mixie) to blend the ingredients until completely smooth. If you are using a stand blender, transfer the ingredients to blend only after they cool down.

If you have blended using a stand blender, transfer the soup to a pot, add in crushed pepper, salt and red chilli flakes (if using). Simmer the soup for about 3-4 minutes. If you have blended using an immersion blender, just add in the spices and simmer the soup in the same deep-bottom pan.

Serve the pumpkin apple soup in bowls, topping with some pumpkin seeds, coconut milk, extra pepper or red chilli flakes.

Serve it hot with bread or crackers.