Cooking Pumpkin Stews

[ravelda]

I have got two lovely looking pumpkins sitting at home that a friend gave me, and I have to admit, other than soups, I have never really cooked with this vegeatable, and so I was hoping that I may get some good recipes from people here on eGullett that I can used tonight. What I really fancy is a recipe for a nice stew with some spices like nutmeg or something similar. So can you help me reach a happy dinner solution?

[Domestic Goddess]

If you don't mind an exotic recipe from my country, here's a stew that is perfect with fried/baked fish plus steamed rice.

Pinakbet (Veggie stew with shrimp paste)

image from myislandsphilippines.com

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 pound pork

3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon ginger

1/4 cup shrimp paste

4 eggplants

1/3 cup tomatoes

1/3 cup chopped onions

1 cup of string beans, cut into 2 inches long

2 cupes cubed squash

1 tbsp vegetable oil

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Slice the pork into strips. Mince the garlic, chop the ginger, and tomatoes. Quarter the eggplant.

Saute pork in hot oil until crispy. Add the garlic and fry until until golden brown and add ginger. Adter a minute or so, add onions and tomatoes. Stir-fry until tomatoes are cooked and are releasing their oil (about 5 minutes). Add the shrimp paste. Stir until everything is well coated with the paste.

Add the pumpkin, string beans and eggplant and pour in all the water. Bring to a boil then to a simmer. Cook until pumpkin is tender and the eggplant is done.

Makes 4 servings.

[gini]

Pumpkin Ravioli in a browned butter sage sauce is a an old standby for me. You cut and roast the pumpkins, mix the meat with some ricotta and a little romano, then stuff into ravilio and boil.

Depending how big your pumpkins are, you could also stuff them with rice and root vegetables.

For a stew, I would use ground coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cumin in a stew with onion, tomatoes, pumpkin, zucchini, garbanzo beans and raisins.

Method: Heat oil in large non-stick pot or Dutch oven. Add onion and spices; cook 10 minutes or until onion is limp, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes, pumpkin, broth and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Add garbanzo beans, zucchini, parsley and raisins. Cover and simmer 10 minutes, until zucchini is tender. Season with hot pepper sauce to taste.

I also like pumpkin in cocounut milk for a nice dessert.

[Milagai]

Here's a Sri Lankan suggestion:

http://www.elook.org/recipes/vegetable/48316.html

Milagai

[BBQ Brian]

I had the opportunity to have pumpkin fritters a while ago and I remember them dearly. Nice treat and a certainly a deviation from I had solidified in my mind about pumpkin. Sorry no recipe however your creativity with a fritter recipe should get you in the right direction.

Have fun!

[tino27]

Pumpkin risotto.

I would cube the pumpkin into smallish pieces, cook them off in some chicken stock until tender. Puree half of the pumpkin and add it during the risotto cooking process for color. Throw in the remainder of the cubed, but cooked pumpkin at the end for some texture. To gild the lily, you could serve the risotto in hollowed out mini-pumpkins.

[ravelda]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will deffinately give them a go. The recommendations for the pumpkin ravioli and the risotto reminded me of a couple of version of these dishes that I did last year with some pumpkin and truffles. I am really looking for a nice stew-type recipe, ideally with Moroccan or Asian twist, and ideas?

[ludja]

If you don't mind an exotic recipe from my country, here's a stew that is perfect with fried/baked fish plus steamed rice.

Pinakbet (Veggie stew with shrimp paste)

image from myislandsphilippines.com

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 pound pork

3 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon ginger

1/4 cup shrimp paste

4 eggplants

1/3 cup tomatoes

1/3 cup chopped onions

1 cup of string beans, cut into 2 inches long

2 cupes cubed squash

1 tbsp vegetable oil

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slice the pork into strips. Mince the garlic, chop the ginger, and tomatoes. Quarter the eggplant.

Saute pork in hot oil until crispy. Add the garlic and fry until until golden brown and add ginger. Adter a minute or so, add onions and tomatoes. Stir-fry until tomatoes are cooked and are releasing their oil (about 5 minutes).  Add the shrimp paste. Stir until everything is well coated with the paste.

Add the pumpkin, string beans and eggplant and pour in all the water. Bring to a boil then to a simmer. Cook until pumpkin is tender and the eggplant is done.

Makes 4 servings.

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Thanks so much, Domestic Goddess! This recipe sounds healthy and very appealing; I will definately try it this fall.

Is it a Korean recipe, per your cited location? I think I've also seen some Thai recipes that combine pumpkin and pork and then there's the shrimp paste.

Here's a link to a Thai Pumpkin Tofu Curry that sounds interesting. They don't mention when to add the tofu but I would think towards the end when reheating the cooked pumpkin squash.

Edited September 21, 2006 by ludja (log)

[I_call_the_duck]

I have a recipe for Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry, which may be close to what you’re looking for. I substituted lamb and pumpkin (when I obtained two pumpkins last year), and it came out very well. The pumpkins are more watery than the sweet potatoes, so it made a nice sauce that went well with rice.

Domestic Goddess, is the shrimp paste in your recipe the same as Chinese fermented shrimp paste? I not sure, because the latter is kind of purplish in color.

Edited September 21, 2006 by I_call_the_duck (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

Ravelda, this may be a stupid question, but are your pumpkins cooking pumpkins? My understanding is that jack o' lantern pumpkins aren't very good to cook with (though I've never tried). If your pumpkins are a cooking variety, however, then you'll be in business.

As far as recipes go, lamb and pumpkin pair wonderfully in a tagine. I have a good recipe around somewhere; but if you google it, you'll find lots of comparable versions.

[ludja]

This thread in Pastry and Baking mainly has ideas for sweet items but there are some other recipes as well.

RedSugar's Pumpkin Marmalade and andiesenji's Pumpkin Chili Mexicana are on my list to try...

[The Old Foodie]

Absolute Australian Classic - Pumpkin Scones (I think you call them "biscuits" in the States).

1 oz butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups mashed pumpkin

2 cups Self Raising Flour.

Mix and bake in the usual way. Have with strawberry jam and cream.

Other ideas: I second the risotto idea - but always add some crumbled crispy prosciutto; I do the same with cubes of roasted pumpkin and prosciutto in pasta (toss in a few roasted macadamia nuts too - they are fabulous with pumpkin).

Pumpkin soup - especially made with Asian-style flavourings and a dollop of coconut cream.

Slices grilled on a BBQ place so they are all nice and brownly cross-hatched with grill marks are great as a side dish for anything.

In a vegetable curry with potato or cauli or corn, and garnished with cashew nuts.

My friend makes a pumpkin, pine-nut, and couscous salad.

I also have a recipe for a pumpkin fruit cake somewhere or other.

[rooftop1000]

Absolute Australian Classic - Pumpkin Scones (I think you call them "biscuits" in the States).

1 oz butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups mashed pumpkin

2 cups Self Raising Flour.

Mix and bake in the usual way. Have with strawberry jam and cream.

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Nah that would still be a Scone ...but a very lowfat one indeed. You go all to hell with the cream and not feel too bad about yourself.

tracey

[chef koo]

there's a japanese joint near by my work and they have this croquette with pumpkin that's pretty good. basically it's a hard boiled egg that's been surrounded with pumpkin puree and then breaded with panko and deep fried. the croquette is served with what i gather to be fry sauce

Edited September 22, 2006 by chef koo (log)

[Domestic Goddess]

Ludja - LOL, no, the recipe is not korean. It's Filipino! I'm a Filipina married to an American, residing here in Korea. Weird eh?

I_call_the_duck - the shrimp paste is just plain salty fish paste. We get it here in korean food stores. Back in my country, the Philippines, we call it bagoong. It is slightly fermented but not as much as the chinese version one.

[beccaboo]

Zucca Agrodolce is one of my favorites. You just slice your pumpkin/winter squash about 1/2 cm thick and fry it on both sides in olive oil. Lay it an a platter, at most two layers thick, and season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped mint and garlic sliced paper-thin. Add maybe 2T each (more if you're making a lot of zucca) red wine vinegar and sugar to the pan you cooked the pumpkin in, and cook till the sugar's dissolved and it's a little thickened. Pour over the squash. Serve at room temp.

[ludja]

Thank you for starting this thread, Ravelda. There are so many different interesting ideas already. It's amazing really, all the different flavors that are used with pumpkin/winter squash across the world. I really like the recipes that have a savory contrast to the inherent sweetness of the pumpkin/squash like the classic Italian parmigiano cheese, sage, butter, salt and pepper pairing.

...

As far as recipes go, lamb and pumpkin pair wonderfully in a tagine.  I have a good recipe around somewhere; but if you google it, you'll find lots of comparable versions.

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This sounds great. I don't know if I'm imagining it because I can't find the recipe anywhere, but are there any French-based stews that use winter squash/pumpkin in combination with beef? Maybe with mushrooms also?

Ludja - LOL, no, the recipe is not korean. It's Filipino! I'm a Filipina married to an American, residing here in Korea. Weird eh?

I_call_the_duck - the shrimp paste is just plain salty fish paste. We get it here in korean food stores. Back in my country, the Philippines, we call it bagoong. It is slightly fermented but not as much as the chinese version one.

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I would have never guessed! I know that Filipino cuisine is a blend but I haven't seen enough examples of it to yet catch the combinations/ingredients that would signal a potential Filipino dish.

Zucca Agrodolce is one of my favorites.  You just slice your pumpkin/winter squash about 1/2 cm thick and fry it on both sides in olive oil.  Lay it an a platter, at most two layers thick, and season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped mint and garlic sliced paper-thin.  Add maybe 2T each (more if you're making a lot of zucca) red wine vinegar and sugar to the pan you cooked the pumpkin in, and cook till the sugar's dissolved and it's a little thickened.  Pour over the squash.  Serve at room temp.

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Thanks much, beccaboo! I like the southern Italian zucchini dish that has a similar preparation--i.e. thin slices fried or roasted then marinated with garlic slices, mint and vinegar but I have never heard of this squash/pumpkin dish. The sugar is an interesting twist. Perhaps this also a southern/Sicilian preparation?

[ravelda]

Hi Ludja,

I couldn't agree more about the amazing recipes and ideas that are being posted - thanks all for your rapid responses. You know it really does make me marvel at what a wonderful resource this is - a global network of people brought together over food, sharing ideas and inspiration all bound together with a good serving of passion. Considering that the origin of language and culture is based around food with humans forming language whilst being around campfires at meal times and progressing from symbols to grunts and then on to more advanced dialects, this site is wholly appropriate and a reflection of the benefits of the internet.

Please keep the posts coming with inspirations and recipes, with so many wonderful squashes available, and hearty home cooking taking centre stage as we move into the cooler winter months (well cold at least if you are in the UK as I am), the more recipes and ideas the better!

[Andrew Fenton]

Thank you for starting this thread, Ravelda.  There are so many different interesting ideas already.  It's amazing really, all the different flavors that are used with pumpkin/winter squash across the world.  I really like the recipes that have a savory contrast to the inherent sweetness of the pumpkin/squash like the classic Italian parmigiano cheese, sage, butter, salt and pepper pairing.

Ooh, I'm suddenly reminded of one of the best pizzas I've even had: pumpkin and speck. Absolutely outstanding. I had it last fall, at Panella, an upscale bakery on the Via Merulana in Rome. Oh man, was that ever a great pizza. That sweet/salty combination was just perfect.

[mizducky]

The last time I was at my favorite not-watered-down-for-non-Chinese Szechuan restaurant here in town, Ba Ren, we were served a wonderful winter squash dish. It consisted of a whole kabocha squash, stuffed with meats (I think mostly if not all pork) and hot spices, and then steamed for a couple of hours or so until everything inside the squash's rind was meltingly tender. When serving, you'd scoop out some of the squash flesh along with the stewed meat. The combination of the sweet squash, the Szechuan spices, and the savory meat juices and fats was fabulous.

Alas I have no recipe--I'm trying to figure this one out myself. We did have to special-order it ahead earlier that day to give them time to prepare it. They used an about 8-inch diameter kabocha; it arrived at the table still wearing some plastic film wrapped around the lower outside shell, which we thought was probably applied to help keep its shape during the steaming process. I figure the same dish could be done in a similar-sized, really meaty Western-style pumpkin, though my little experience with kabochas suggest that they tend to run sweeter and thicker-fleshed. If nothing else, I've got some fun experiments and/or recipe-hunting ahead of me.

[Chris Amirault]

Folks, I've edited the title to make it more reflective of the initial query by ravelda. There are a few other topics on cooking with pumpkins (to wit, pie, favorite baking recipes, soup... the list goes on) to peruse if you so desire!

[I_call_the_duck]

Ooh, mizducky, that reminds me of a dish that is served at my favorite Brazilian restaurant in NY. It's shrimp cooked in a creamy tomato-based sauce, served in a pumpkin, topped with cheese, then stuck under the broiler until brown and melty. The pumpkin is so tender and goes so well with the sauce. It's such a comforting dish. Man, I gotta get me some now.

[andiesenji]

Not "exactly" a stew, but here is my recipe for pumpkin chili, a big hit at our fall block parties in past years when the temps dipped into the 40s. Often served at Halloween and also cooked by me and sent along with friends to a ski party at June Mountain last year.

I originally posted it in a thread on pumpkins on 10/23/04. I bought a bunch of the inexpensive "latte" cups at Star Restaurant supply. Linens 'N Things also has them, however you can also get the disposable deep hot-food servers at Smart & Final or other similar stores.

This is my pumpkin chili, I serve it in those large "latte" cups so folks can eat it while wearing gloves, when out in the cold.

This is another original recipe developed over several years of "tinkering"....

Pumpkin Chili Mexicana

Serves 20

3 1/2 to 4 pound Mexican pumpkin, cheese pumpkin, Kabocha or similar squash.

2 pounds chopped beef or turkey (not finely ground)

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

3 - 4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 cup diced mild sweet red pepper (Bell is OK, Pimento or ripe mild Anaheim are better)

1 cup diced mild green chiles, Anaheim, Big Jim or New Mexico

1/2 cup Jalapeños, diced

1 cup beef or chicken broth.

1 teaspoon freshly ground dried red chiles, Colorado, New Mexico, Ancho or your preference.

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground cumin

(first toast the seeds in a dry iron skillet till they start to pop)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Optional - - 1 or 2 Habanero or other very hot peppers, very finely minced. (you can omit these if you do not want a searingly hot chili)

2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes, including liquid

2 large cans tomato paste (used to be 8 oz., however they keep changing the amounts)

2 14.5 ounce cans black beans or dark red kidney beans, drained (or equivalent)

1 cup frozen or fresh corn kernels

Directions

First, pierce the pumpkin or squash in several places with an ice pick or chef's fork and place it on a pan in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes, or until a bamboo skewer will penetrate easily through the flesh.

Meanwhile, while the pumpkin is baking,

Sauté the beef or turkey in a large saucier

As it is fairly well browned and is still giving off juices,

add the onion and garlic and cook for about 4-5 minutes or so.

Add the peppers (except for the Habanero) and continue cooking until they are tender.

Add the beef or chicken broth and bring to a simmer.

Add the spices and continue simmering for 8 -10 minutes.

Remove from heat and set aside.

When cool enough to handle, split the pumpkin, remove the seeds and skin and chop into fairly small chunks and add to the meat mixture.

Return to heat and bring to a simmer.

Add the remaining ingredients, including the Habanero, and cook over medium low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring often to keep from burning.

Serve, topped with a generous dollop of sour cream and finely chopped scallions or green onions and freshly baked cornbread, or tortillas if you have them available.

Also have finely shredded mild cheddar cheese, toasted pepitas, croutons and various crackers on side dishes for your guests to add as they wish

[mizducky]

Not "exactly" a stew, but here is my recipe for pumpkin chili, a big hit at our fall block parties in past years when the temps dipped into the 40s.  Often served at Halloween and also cooked by me and sent along with friends to a ski party at June Mountain last year.

I originally posted it in a thread on pumpkins on 10/23/04.  I bought a bunch of the inexpensive "latte" cups at Star Restaurant supply.  Linens 'N Things also has them, however you can also get the disposable deep hot-food servers at Smart & Final or other similar stores. 

(Recipe snipped to conserve bandwidth)

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Yum! Thanks, andiesenji, I am so totally doing this for Halloween! I wonder if I can locate a big ol' cauldron to serve it out of ...

[beccaboo]

Thanks much, beccaboo!  I like the southern Italian zucchini dish that has a similar preparation--i.e. thin slices fried or roasted then marinated with garlic slices, mint and vinegar but I have never heard of this squash/pumpkin dish.  The sugar is an interesting twist.  Perhaps this also a southern/Sicilian preparation?

←

I just Googled it, and the closest-looking recipe I found was in Italian, on a website of Calabrian recipes. There was a button to click for the English version, but that took me to a cabbage recipe!