Pumpkin Stuffed with Potato, Pea, & Mushroom Curry and Rice + Toasted Pumpkin Seeds (week of January 4 - 10)

Stuffed Pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cut lid as for jack-o'lantern from

• 1 small pie pumpkin

and scoop out seeds. Prick all over inside with fork and rub interior with

• butter
• salt, pepper, mustard powder (to taste)

Add pre-cooked filling (leftovers with a handful of rice and some water - see below) and bake until pumpkin is soft (35 minutes or longer).



Potato, Pea, & Mushroom Curry (with added Red Butter)

We adapted another recipe from Sam Stern's Real Food/ Real Fast for this week's pumpkin filling. We started with a basic curry of potatoes, peas & mushrooms and then mixed in Red Butter Sauce to fill a couple of pumpkins - baked them - YUM!


Heat in a large pan

• 2 Tablespoons peanut oil

Add

• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• Pinch of salt

Cook gently until soft, about 2 minutes.
Add

• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, crushed
• ½ teaspoon mustard seeds, crushed

Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add

• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 green chile, de-seeded and finely chopped
• 2 medium cold cooked potatoes, cubed
• 3 tomatoes, roughly chopped (or an eqivalent amount of canned tomatoes)
• ¾ lb. button mushrooms, washed, stalked and sliced
• Fresh cilantro, chopped

Cook over very low heat for 10 minutes, stirring so it doesn't burn.
Add

• 1 cup defrosted peas

plus a little water if they're dry. Cook 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle with additional cilantro.

[For pumpkin filling, stir in red butter sauce:

Melt in a large pan

• 6 Tablespoons butter

Add

• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• Pinch of salt

and cook gently for 2 minutes.


Add

• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon chlii powder
• 3 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 cardamom pods (or 1¼ teaspoons ground
  cardamom)

and cook until onions are soft.

Add

• 2 (15 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon freshly grated ginger

and stir. Bring to a boil. Simmer on reduced heat for 10
minutes.


Add

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt

Reduce heat.

Add

• ½ cup rice

and some water. Fill pumpkin, cover with pumpkin lid and bake.]

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Rinse and pull pulp from seeds. Soak in salted water for an hour, then drain in seive and spread seeds on cookie sheet. Bake at 350° until they start "popping" - about 10- 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Or here's an alternative method, from our local CSA

• To toast pumpkin seeds, wash them in a sieve immediately after removing them from the pumpkin and clean off the pulp as much as possible.
• Then toss the seeds in a tablespoon of oil and put them on a baking sheet.
• Sprinkle on salt, as well as any spices or seasonings you might like, and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes for crispy seeds, or at 250 degrees for an hour for chewy ones.
• Check on them in the middle of baking to stir, if necessary.