Tag: pumpkin

Curried Pumpkin Soup

INGREDIENTS:

  • 30 g butter
  • 25 g plain flour
  • 15 g curry powder
  • 950 ml vegetable broth such as marigold
  • 900g cooked pumpkin
  • 355 ml single cream
  • 30 ml soy sauce
  • 10 g sugar
  • salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

  • Preheat oven to 190C.
  • Cut thepumpkin into wedges, remove seeds and then bake, skin side down, for approx 1 hour. Allow to cool then remove skin and mash pumpkin flesh.
  • Arrange pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast in preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until seeds begin to brown (I cheated and used prepared pumpkin seeds, because I hate shelling them.)
  • Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat, then stir in flour and curry powder until smooth. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble.
  • Gradually whisk in the broth, and cook until thickened.
  • Stir in the cooked pumpkin and cream. Season with soy sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. Bring just to a boil, then remove from heat.
  • Garnish each serving with roasted pumpkin seeds.

Easy Pumpkin Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

  • 500g cooked pumpkin
  • 2 eggs
  • 120 ml apple sauce
  • 3tsp vanilla extract
  • 500g self raising flour
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves

Method

  • Preheat oven to 175C.
  • Lightly grease two baking sheets.
  • Beat the pumpkin, eggs, apple sauce, and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl.
  • Stir in the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves until well blended and creamy.
  • Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto prepared baking sheets. Bake in preheated oven until tops are firm when lightly touched, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on racks.

PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD

Next month is October. This is me getting prepared for the pumpkins.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 250 g sugar
  • 100 ml vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 65 ml water
  • 500g pumpkin puree
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground allspice
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¾ tsp ground cloves
  • 180 g plain flour
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder

METHOD:

  • Preheat oven to 175c.
  • Lightly grease a loaf tin.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil and eggs and beat until smooth.
  • Add water and beat until well blended.
  • Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice and cinnamon.
  • In medium bowl, combine flour, bicarb, salt, and baking powder.
  • Add the dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix just until all ingredients are combined.
  • Spoon into prepared loaf tin. Bake in preheated oven until, about 1 hour

Turkish candied pumpkin with tahini

We learned how to make this extraordinary dessert when we were on holiday in Istanbul. The first night we went out, I ordered this, thinking it looked really unusual, and then the next day, it was one of the dishes we prepared at our Cookistan cookery class. Our teacher explained that this was a dish invented at the end of the Ottoman empire, for the palace.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 500g peeled pumpkin cut into large cubes, about 2 inches across.
  • 450g granulated sugar,
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 3 cloves
  • 100g tahini (about 7 tbsp)
  • chopped walnuts.

METHOD:

  • Place the pumpkin cubes into a large saucepan and cover with the sugar, and leave overnight.
  • Add a little water if required, so that the liquid in the pan reaches about half way up the pumpkin. Add the cloves and vanilla.
  • Put the lid on the pan and cook for 30 to 35 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft and absorbs all the water it initially released. Check regularly to ensure that the syrup doesn’t stick. Baste the pumpkin in the syrup.
  • Let it come to room temperature. This dish can be kept in the refrigerator.
  • Garnish with tahini and chopped walnuts to serve.

Pumpkin, ginger, and potato gratin

I’ve had this recipe for years and years. I think it is best with a firm squash or pumpkin, like butternut squash.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 1/2 lb pumpkin or squash, cubed
  • 1 1/2 lb potatoes, boiled for 15 minutes and cubed
  • 1 oz grated ginger
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
  • 1 oz butter (omit for a vegan version)
  • 3 floz olive oil
  • 1 oz wholemeal breadcrumbs

METHOD:

  • Melt the butter and the olive oil together and add the ginger, cumin and cardamom, and start to fry, for around 30 seconds
  • Add the potato, pumpkin and fry for another 10 minutes, until the pumpkin is softening and the potatoes are starting to brown.
  • Season with salt and pepper, put into an oven-proof gratin dish, and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.
  • Place under a hot grill for a few minutes, until the top is crisp and the interior is bubbling.