Middle Eastern people love to stuff EVERYTHING. My granny would stuff me in a zucchini or in an eggplant and serve me on a platter if she could have…
That’s where I get my love of stuffing, vegetables that is.
With this stuffed pumpkin, it’s love at first bite, a humble but flavoursome meal, you just fall in love over and over again with every bite. Filled with rice, tasty veggies and crunchy nuts, this pumpkin is bursting with flavour. The pumpkin gives this dish a subtle sweet, earthy flavour. This meal is light and easy to eat, with a salad or as a side to a main dish.
I could eat this stuffed pumpkin all day long, oops I actually did….
Pumpkin
Ingredients
2 x 950g pumpkin cut lengthwise
½ tablespoon oil
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Rice Filling
ingredients
1 cup white or brown rice
½ - 1 cube vegetable stock
1 ½ cups boiling hot water
1 tablespoon oil
½ teaspoon mixed spice
Veggie filling
ingredients
1 onion
2 tablespoons oil
1 carrot diced
1 onion diced
350g frozen peas and corn (if you want you can use up to 500g)
150g mushroom
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon cumin
¾ teaspoon onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup roasted hazelnuts broken
¼ cup roasted slivered almonds
Pumpkin
Method
Pre heat the oven to 200C
Line a flat baking tray with baking paper.
Cut pumpkin lengthwise
Remove and discard seeds
Mix oil and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside
Scoop out some of pumpkin flesh and chop into small pieces and place on the baking tray lined with paper.
Brush the chopped pumpkin and the flesh of halved pumpkin with the cinnamon and oil mixture and place on lined baking tray (make sure the cut side is facing up).
Rice
method
While the pumpkin is roasting, prepare the rice and veggies.
Place one cup of rice in a pot add oil and mixed spice, stir to coat rice. Add vegetable stock to boiling water, stir until stock has dissolved, pour into pot. On high heat bring the stock to the boil then reduce heat to low, and cook rice, covered with a lid, until water has been absorbed and rice is cooked through.
Vegetables
Method
30 minutes after putting the pumpkin to roast, remove the chopped pieces of pumpkin and set aside. Keep roasting the halved pumpkins for another 30 minutes.
In a frying pan, heat the 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat and fry the diced onion until golden. Add the carrot and stir until semi-soft.
Stir in the chopped pumpkin, peas and corn and cook for another 10 min. Add seasoning and stir for another minute. Cut mushrooms any way you like and add to the mixture and cook for another 3 minutes.
Assembly
Once pumpkin is cooked through, remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Some liquid will have accumulated in the pumpkin. Use paper towels to absorb the liquid.
Once rice is cooked through, add the rice and nuts to the vegetable mixture and mix all filling ingredients together.
Divide the filling between the pumpkins and serve hot.
This is super tasty and very Moorish, enjoy.