The beginning of October brings beautifully colored leaves, chilly days, and the beginning of America’s rampant pumpkin obsession. For a limited time only, pumpkin spice candles and lotions and air fresheners and even kitty litter are socially acceptable (or at least marketed as if they were). Anything edible that can be pumpkin-spice flavored will be—and the nation basks in this season until the last bite of Thanksgiving pumpkin pie is gone.
But the rest of the world isn’t so chronologically limited about their consumption of pumpkin. And among the many different types—everything from traditional orange pumpkins to Japanese kabocha squashes—pumpkin is prepared for any cooking scenario. From soup to stir fry, pancakes to porridges, savory to sweet, and traditional to trendy, the entire world has embraced pumpkin and added this versatile ingredient to their cuisines.
So if you’re a little sick of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, why not give one of these recipes a try?
Steamed Pumpkin Cake—China
Serves 8–10.
Ingredients
Filling
About 1 lb. pumpkin, shredded
About ½ lb. raw chicken, diced, seasoned with salt and pepper
About ¼ lb. dried shrimp, blended coarsely
4 shiitake mushrooms, blended coarsely
1/3 lb. preserved turnip (tai tau choy), blended coarsely
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp shallot, minced
4 tbsps vegetable oil
Batter
About 4 cups rice flour, sifted
2/3 cup tapioca flour, sifted
1,000 ml water (about 4 ¼ cups)
½ tsp alkaline water
Seasoning
1 tbsp salt, adjust to taste
1 tsp sugar, adjust to taste
1 tsp chicken stock granules
1 tsp ground white pepper
Garnish
At least 10 shallots, peeled and sliced
1 red chili, sliced
1 bunch spring onions, chopped
Steps
Prepare the fresh ingredients
Skin and coarsely grate pumpkin after removing the seeds and pulp.
Dice chicken and season with salt and pepper.
Soak dried shiitake mushrooms until soft. Drain, then chop OR blend coarsely in a blender/food processor.
Soak dried shrimp until soft. Drain, then chop OR blend coarsely in a blender/food processor.
Soak the preserved turnip (tai tau choy) to remove excess salt. Rinse, then mince finely OR blend in a blender/food processor.
Set the pumpkin, chicken, mushrooms, shrimp, and turnip aside.
Prepare the batter
In a large bowl, mix rice flour and tapioca flour. Slowly stir in water until you form a watery batter.
Add alkaline water and mix well.
Mix salt, chicken stock granules, and ground white pepper into the batter.
Assemble the pumpkin cake
In a large wok, fry sliced shallots in oil until crispy. Set aside for garnish later.
Reusing the oil from the shallots, sauté minced garlic and shallot until golden brown. Add shrimp and fry until fragrant.
Add chicken and fry until cooked.
Add turnips and mushrooms. Mix well while frying.
Add in grated pumpkin and continue to mix well with the rest of the ingredients. Fry until pumpkin is tender.
Using a strainer, pour watery flour batter over the stir fry. Over medium heat, stir until the mixture thickens.
Transfer the cooked mixture into a lightly greased steaming tray. Make sure the mixture is evenly dispersed; you can even it out with a spatula.
Steam over high heat in a steamer for 40 minutes until the pumpkin cake is totally cooked through.
Remove the tray from steamer and immediately garnish with fried shallots, chopped spring onions, and red chilies. Let cool completely before cutting the cake.
Serve with sweet chili sauce.
Hope you like this dish! Xīwàng nǐ xǐhuān zhè dào cài.
Ghapama—Armenia
Serves 4–6.
Ingredients
1 medium-large sized pumpkin
3 cups chicken stock, unsalted
2 cups long grain rice
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp allspice
1 ½ tbsps cumin, ground
1 tsp ginger, ground
2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup butter, melted
½ cup honey
½ cup dried apricots, chopped
¼ cup prunes, chopped
¼ cup dates, chopped
½ cup golden raisins, whole
½ cup unsalted raw walnuts, chopped
½ cup unsalted raw almonds, chopped
2 tbsps orange zest
Salt to taste
Steps
Boil chicken stock.
Wash rice until the water runs out clear.
Mix cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and cumin into the uncooked rice.
Once chicken stock is boiling, add rice mixture to the chicken stock.
Let the rice cook for 10–15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The rice won’t be done in 15 minutes, but it will finish cooking inside the pumpkin.
Wash and clean the outside of pumpkin; scrape out all the seeds and pulp.
Whisk together melted butter and honey; gently brush honey-butter mixture on the inside of pumpkin.
Once the rice is finished cooking, gently fluff it with a fork. Add apricots, prunes, dates, golden raisins, walnuts, and almonds and stir until the dried fruits and nuts are distributed evenly throughout the rice.
Pour the remaining butter-honey mixture over the rice. Add orange zest and a few pinches of salt. Stir again.
Ladle rice mixture into pumpkin. Don’t pat it down or stuff too much rice inside, or else the steam from the pumpkin won’t cook the rice all the way through. Leave 2 inches of room at the top of the pumpkin.
Cook pumpkin in the oven at 350°F until pumpkin is tender (you can test it with a toothpick), 60–120 minutes (mine took 90 minutes).
Enjoy your meal! Bari akhorzhak!
Pampoenkoekies—South Africa
Serves 12.
Ingredients
Batter
1 lb. pumpkin
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsps light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour or fine sponge flour, sifted
¼ tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder
Oil for frying (use as needed)
Up to ¼ cup self-raising flour if the batter is too liquidy (as a result of a watery pumpkin)
Cinnamon sugar topping
½ cup caster sugar or fine granulated sugar
2 tsps ground cinnamon
*You can substitute powdered sugar for the cinnamon sugar topping.
Steps
Skin pumpkin and cut into large cubes. Steam and strain it.
Mash cooked pumpkin (you should end up with about 2 cups of mashed pumpkin) and strain off any remaining liquid that collects.
Whisk eggs with sugar for 5 minutes until mixture is light and airy, then add vanilla extract.
In a bowl, mix together salt, cake flour, and baking powder. Add pumpkin and whisk to combine.
Let rest for 10 minutes before frying.
Mix together caster sugar/fine granulated sugar and ground cinnamon for the topping. Set aside.
Add self-rising flour to batter if batter is loose.
Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat.
Use an ice-cream scoop to measure out the pumpkin fritter batter into oil.
When bubbles form on the surface of fritters, flip them and fry the other side until golden brown (about 2 minutes per side).
Remove from oil and drain on absorbent paper.
Dip or sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (or, alternatively, powdered sugar). Serve warm.
Enjoy your meal! Smaaklike ete!
Sangkaya Fak Thong—Thailand
Serves 6–8.
Ingredients
1 kabocha squash (Japanese pumpkin): Choose a ripe squash that feels heavy for its size with a patch of orange on the skin.
1 cup coconut milk
300 grams chopped palm sugar
1 pandan leaf, preferably fresh but frozen also works (sometimes called a “screwpine leaf”)
1 tbsp rice flour
½ tsp + 1/8 tsp salt
6 eggs + 1 egg yolk
Steps
Cut out the lid of the pumpkin and scoop out seeds and pulp. Rinse pumpkin and let dry, upside down, on a towel.
In a pot, add palm sugar, most of the coconut milk (reserve about 2 tbsps), and pandan leaf. Cook over medium-low heat until sugar is just dissolved. Set aside.
Add reserved coconut milk to rice flour and stir to dissolve.
In a large bowl, add all eggs, dissolved rice flour, and salt; whisk until well combined. Slowly whisk in palm sugar mixture. You now have a custard.
Strain custard into a spouted container, such as a large measuring cup.
Set the pumpkin into a bowl to keep the pumpkin from tipping over. Pour custard into pumpkin until the custard just barely reaches the top, leaving enough room to put the pumpkin lid on.
Steam over medium heat for 50–60 minutes. The custard is done when you can insert a wooden skewer into the center and the skewer comes out clean.
Let cool completely before cutting. To serve, cut pumpkin into wedges resembling pie slices.
Have a delicious meal! Taan ha_i a-ròi!
—ClaireMae Hoyt Peterson