Delicious Pumpkin Dishes

The benefits of pumpkin are well known, but traditional pumpkin porridge is not to everyone's liking. How to cook healthy and tasty pumpkin dishes?

The benefits of pumpkin are well known, but traditional pumpkin porridge is not to everyone's liking. How to cook healthy and tasty pumpkin dishes?

Pumpkin can be called a storehouse of vitamins, trace elements and nutrients. It is rich in vitamins C and B, iron, potassium, magnesium, zinc, fiber, pectin, beta-carotene, organic acids.

The calorie content of this vegetable is only 22 kcal per 100 g. After heat treatment, the pulp is quickly and easily absorbed by the body. Therefore, pumpkin dishes are useful for the whole family, widely used in dietary and children's nutrition.

People with diabetes, stomach ulcers, gastritis with reduced acidity, and diseases of the duodenum should be careful with pumpkin.

Pumpkin porridge is probably the most popular, but it is far from the only dish that can be prepared from this vegetable. Pumpkin pulp is used for various side dishes, salads, soups and desserts. Every housewife can prepare delicious pumpkin dishes that will be liked and benefit adults and children. We offer you several simple recipes.

The first pumpkin dishes

Healthy pumpkin soups can be prepared with both mild and spicy taste. Butter, milk, cream help absorb beta-carotene, which is rich in pumpkin.

For 4-6 servings of tender pureed soup, you need to take 200 g of peeled pumpkin, cut into small pieces, one onion and one potato each, 100 ml of milk or cream, vegetable oil, salt to taste.

Pour a little vegetable oil into a small pan. When the oil heats up, throw in the onion, cut into four parts, and lightly fry it. Then add coarsely chopped potatoes to the onion. When the potatoes are slightly fried, put the prepared pieces of pumpkin in the pan. Fry the vegetables together for about 5 minutes, then add water (so that it slightly covers the vegetables), salt.

After the water boils, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 15-20 minutes, occasionally stirring the vegetables. When the pumpkin has become soft, remove the vegetables from the heat. Part of the vegetable broth should be poured into a cup so that the pumpkin soup is not too liquid, and the rest should be pureed in a blender. Then add warm milk and grind again in a blender. If you add cream instead of milk, the soup will be even more delicate and tastier. If the soup turned out to be too thick, you can add a little vegetable broth, which you poured into a cup before. Pumpkin puree soup is served hot. You can add homemade croutons to it.

To make pumpkin puree soup spicy, add chopped garlic, pepper, nutmeg, cumin, ginger - there are recipes for every taste.

Pumpkin side dish

Pumpkin side dishes are a tasty and healthy alternative to traditional side dishes made of potatoes, cereals and pasta. They are perfect for meat.

To prepare a pumpkin side dish with sour cream, you need to take 1 kg of peeled pumpkin, one onion, half a glass of sour cream, dill, salt, ground black pepper, bacon or brisket.

Cut the peeled pumpkin into small plates. Fry the meat slices on both sides without oil so that the pieces become dry and crispy, and put them separately. Transfer pumpkin and finely chopped onion to the vacated pan with fat.

Simmer for about 10 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Then add sour cream, dill, salt, and pepper to the vegetables. Mix everything and simmer for another 1 minute. Arrange the resulting side dish on plates and sprinkle with finely chopped bacon.

If desired, tomatoes can be added to the vegetables during stewing, and basil or other spices can be added to the salt and pepper.

In order for ordinary pumpkin porridge to add to the list of delicious pumpkin dishes, try using apples, raisins and cinnamon for its preparation. First, bake in the oven slices of pumpkin flesh and apple halves wrapped in foil, cleaned of seeds. At a temperature of 160 ° C, 15 minutes is enough for this. Wash the millet well in running water, soak it in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain the water and soak it in boiling water again. Pour millet with boiling water in a ratio of 1: 2 and cook on medium heat under the lid for 20 minutes.

Milk heated in a separate pan, baked pumpkin cut into 1 × 1 cm pieces and applesauce are added to the millet porridge. Boil for another 10 minutes, remove from heat. Then you can add sugar, raisins, cinnamon, a piece of butter or vegetable-cream mixture, wrap in a blanket and leave for 10-15 minutes. Porridge is ready.

Pumpkin dessert

Pumpkin is an excellent base for sweet dishes: from pancakes and casseroles to pies and jam.

For example, to prepare a pumpkin cake, you need to take 300 g of pumpkin, 200 g of flour, 100 g of vegetable and cream mixture or butter, 80 g of sugar, 3 eggs, 75 g of raisins, 50 g of dark chocolate; 1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

Boil the raisins, grind the chocolate into crumbs. The vegetable-cream mixture must be mashed with sugar until smooth with a fork, then beat with a mixer for 2-3 minutes. Pumpkin is rubbed on a fine grater, salted.

Add eggs one at a time to the whipped vegetable-cream mixture, beat for 2-3 minutes, gradually add flour, grated pumpkin squeezed out of juice, baking powder, raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon and chocolate chips. Everything is mixed with a mixer until smooth.

Cover the rectangular form with parchment, pour the resulting dough into it and bake for 40 minutes at a temperature of 170 ° C. Decorate the cupcake as your imagination tells you.

Do not deny yourself the pleasure of preparing and tasting delicious pumpkin dishes. The season of the bright orange vegetable is in full swing.