Autumn is in full swing. Pumpkin is rightfully considered the queen of vegetables this season. You can prepare many dishes from it. I want to offer you the recipe for one of them today. This is a pumpkin stuffed with
rice, apples and dried fruits
. Sweet stuffed pumpkin baked in the oven is a tasty, original and healthy dish, rich in various vitamins and microelements that we need so much in the fall.
Ingredients
(the quantity of products is indicated approximately, as it depends on the size of the pumpkin):
- 1 small round pumpkin
- 1-1.5 tbsp. rice
- 2-4 apples
- sugar to taste
- 50 gr. butter
- raisins, prunes, dried apricots, nuts (walnuts) – optional
- vegetable oil
Preparation:
- Wash the pumpkin, cut off the lid, clean out the seeds, rinse the inside of the pumpkin.
- Place the pumpkin in a saucepan, pour some water into the saucepan, some into the pumpkin itself (as when cooking), salt the water, cover the pumpkin with a lid or place the lid next to it. If the pumpkin fits completely into the pan, cover the pan with a lid and cook until done; if not, put the pan in the oven, uncovered, and cook in the oven until done.
- Remove the finished pumpkin from the water. Carefully remove some of the pulp with a tablespoon, leaving some of it so that the pumpkin holds its shape well.
- Pour boiling water over the rice, add salt, cover with a lid and towel and let it brew. Mix the rice with mashed pumpkin pulp, add sugar to taste.
- Wash apples and dried fruits. Fill dried fruits (in this case prunes and raisins) with hot water and let stand for 10 minutes, then drain the water. Prunes can be cut into 2-3 parts.
- Cut the apples into 4 parts, peel the core and remove the stems. Three of them on a coarse grater.
- Place a layer of rice filling into the pumpkin.
- Place a layer of grated apples on top.
- Place raisins and prunes (dried apricots, other dried fruits, nuts) on the apples.
- Alternate layers. Leave 2-3 cm unfilled to the edge of the pumpkin.
- Place the pumpkin on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil. Add about 1/2 tbsp. water in which the pumpkin was boiled. Place butter, cut into pieces, on top of the last layer. Cover the pumpkin with a lid. Pour a little vegetable oil into your hand, rub it between your hands and grease the sides of the pumpkin and the lid.
- Place the pumpkin in a hot oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
- Place the finished sweet stuffed pumpkin on a dish. When serving, you can remove the filling from the pumpkin with a spoon, or you can cut the pumpkin and serve part of the pumpkin and part of its filling.
It is not for nothing that in the folklore of different countries unusual, truly fabulous qualities were attributed to pumpkins. Remember Cinderella in a pumpkin carriage or Pumpkin’s house in the fairy tale “Cipollino”. And at Halloween the pumpkin plays a central role.
Moreover, in all these cases, the pumpkin is used not for its intended purpose, but in the form of a container, a vehicle, or a headdress.
Our ancestors also did not miss this opportunity. But they acted more rationally, turning the pumpkin into a cooking container. Apparently, this method of use was inspired by the great similarity of this vegetable to a pot or cast iron. Moreover, the thick pumpkin bark is so strong that it can withstand high temperatures in the oven. Therefore, they cooked porridge in pumpkin, stewed vegetables and meat, and made casseroles.
Nowadays almost every kitchen has an oven. Its spacious interior also allows you to bake a whole pumpkin in it.
Subtleties of cooking
- For the dish to be of excellent quality, the pumpkin must be ripe. For dessert dishes, it is better to take sweet pumpkin; in other cases, its taste does not play a special role.
- The main thing is to pay attention to the integrity of the crust. There should be no cuts or dents on it. The pumpkin should be firm, with elastic bark. If the pumpkin is pressed under pressure, then it means that it is not the first freshness, it has been lying for a long time and may be half-dried or rotten.
- Preparing a whole pumpkin for baking doesn't require much effort. Wash the pumpkin well and wipe dry. Cut off the top of the pumpkin near the stalk to form a lid. It is advisable that the pumpkin have a tail - with the help of it you can later easily open the lid.
- Remove the seeds from the pumpkin along with the fibrous pulp that surrounds them. Don't rush to throw them away. Once free, rinse them in warm water, dry them, and then fry them. This delicacy can then be added to any salad, baked goods, or just clicked to your heart’s content.
- If possible, carefully cut off some of the pulp, thereby expanding the internal space of the pumpkin. But don’t overdo it: the wall thickness should be at least 2.5–3 cm, otherwise the pumpkin may lose its shape when baked.
- Prepare the stuffing according to your taste. This could be rice with apples, raisins and dried apricots, flavored with cinnamon or nutmeg. For meat eaters, a good combination would be meat mixed with onions and pumpkin pulp cut from the inner walls. If you like cheese, you can use that too, adding a little cream and herbs.
And now - the recipes.
Recipe for delicious rice with pumpkin and raisins
Simple rice porridge with pumpkin can be made much tastier if you cook it with dark raisins. For 4 servings you need the following ingredients:
- rice (white or brown) – 1 cup;
- water - 4 glasses of water;
- ripe pumpkin – 600 g;
- black raisins – 100 g;
- butter – 20 g;
- sugar and salt - to taste.
Read: Lenten dish made from frozen green beans
The porridge is prepared quickly and easily. You should choose cookware with a non-stick coating.
Recipe:
- The raisins are washed, cleared of stems and filled with water to soften.
- Wash the rice several times, then pour two glasses of water into it, bring to a boil and cook over low heat for 10 minutes.
- During this time, you can cut the peeled pumpkin into pieces. The cubes are made approximately 2 cm.
- When the water in the pan with rice has boiled, add two more glasses and add pumpkin and raisins. Add salt and sugar to taste. You don’t have to do this: the pumpkin’s sweetness is already enough.
- Continue cooking the porridge over low heat until the rice is ready. Do not forget to periodically stir the contents of the pan. If the porridge seems too thick, you can add a little more water.
- In total, cooking will take about 35-40 minutes, so you can easily prepare such a delicious porridge with rice, pumpkin and raisins even for breakfast.
Video on the topic:
Whole baked pumpkin: with rice and apples
Ingredients:
- small pumpkin – 1 pc.;
- rice – 0.5 tbsp;
- apples – 3 pcs.;
- cherry plum or sour plums - 1 tbsp.;
- raisins – 0.5 tbsp;
- butter – 100 g;
- salt;
- cinnamon – 1 tsp;
- cloves – 2 buds;
- sugar - to taste.
Cooking method
- Wash a small pumpkin and wipe dry with a towel. Cut off the top. Remove the seeds through the hole. Carefully cut off some of the pulp with a sharp knife to make a pot with smooth walls, about 2.5–3 cm thick.
- Rinse the rice and soak it in warm water for an hour. Bring a large amount of salted water to a boil, add rice and boil for 5-10 minutes. Place on a sieve.
- Peel the apples from the skin and seed chambers, cut into large cubes. If the skin is tender, you don't have to cut it off.
- Cut the plums in half and remove the pits.
- Sort the raisins, wash, and soak in warm water for 15 minutes. Place on a sieve.
- Cut the pumpkin pulp, cut from the walls, into cubes. Mix with rice, plums, raisins, apples, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and butter.
- Fill the pumpkin with filling. For greater juiciness, you can add 100 ml of water.
- Cover the pumpkin with the cut lid. Place in the oven preheated to 180-190° and bake for 50-60 minutes. Cooking time depends on the size of the pumpkin and its variety. A well-baked pumpkin will wrinkle a little, brown and become soft. Therefore, the only way to find out if a dish is ready is to take a sample.
Recipe for the occasion:
:
Pumpkin stuffed with rice and vegetables
Meat, rice and pumpkin combined with each other make this dish complete, very filling and juicy. All products are very simple and affordable. Try it and be surprised how delicious it is!
Ingredients:
- pumpkin (small) – 2 pieces;
- zucchini (large) – 4 circles;
- carrots (smaller than medium) – 1 piece;
- rice (long grain) – 4 tablespoons;
- sour cream – 2 tablespoons;
- dried basil – 2 pinches;
- ground pepper;
- salt.
Preparation:
1. Pour the washed rice with plenty of water and boil, stirring, until half cooked. Rinse and drain in a colander.
2. Cut the zucchini slices and peeled carrots into small cubes. Vegetables must be finely chopped, otherwise they will not have time to cook. Turn on the oven at 200 degrees.
3. Add rice to the prepared vegetable cubes.
4. Add sour cream, salt, dried basil and ground pepper to the pumpkin filling. Mix. Dried basil will add amazing flavor to the filling.
5. Wash small pumpkins and dry with a towel. They should weigh no more than 500 grams. Cut off the tops of the pumpkin and get small caps.
6. Clear the caps of seeds. We cut the inner parts of the pumpkins, remove the seeds with a teaspoon and cut off a little of the pulp on the sides. So, the pumpkin turns out with the same wall thickness. Product preparation is complete.
7. Fill the pumpkins with the prepared aromatic filling, leaving space on top. Vegetables will release juice when roasting and to prevent it from leaking out, you need a little space.
8. Cover the stuffed pumpkin with lids.
Transfer to a baking sheet with foil, which we roll up and make small sides, put in the oven and bake for about 1 hour. Baking time depends on the oven. If the resulting liquid begins to flow out abundantly, open the lids a little. If the lids start to burn, remove them. The pumpkin will be ready in the oven when it has reduced in volume and the flesh becomes soft. Check for doneness with a toothpick.
9. Remove the fragrant stuffed pumpkins, transfer them to plates and serve immediately with fresh vegetables.
Pumpkin baked whole in the oven: with onions and apples
Ingredients:
- small pumpkin – 1 pc.;
- onions – 3-4 pcs.;
- peeled walnuts - 1 tbsp.;
- raisins – 2 tbsp.;
- barberry - 0.5 tbsp.;
- butter – 100 g;
- honey – 2 tbsp. l.;
- cinnamon – 1 tsp.
Cooking method
- Wash the pumpkin and wipe dry. Cut off the top to form a lid. The hole should be such that a tablespoon can easily fit through it. Remove the seeds and loose pulp. Using a sharp knife, cut off some of the hard flesh, making the walls a little thinner. Cut it into small cubes.
- Wash the raisins, soak in warm water for 10 minutes, drain on a sieve. Sort the barberries, remove the stems and branches, and wash. Chop the walnuts.
- Finely chop the onion and sauté in butter until golden brown.
- Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Fill the pumpkin with filling. Cover with the top. Place in the oven, bake for 50-60 minutes. After baking, add honey to the pumpkin.
Pumpkin stuffed with meat, baked in the oven (step by step)
We pickle pumpkin, bake pies, and make puree soup. But mostly we bake in pieces or whole. There are many recipes, including sweet options. Vegetable and cereal fillings are often made. But if you are planning a hearty dish for dinner, bake pumpkin with meat. And here there is where to roam. Along with meat, pumpkin is stuffed with vegetables, buckwheat, rice, and potatoes.
A couple of tips:
- A small pumpkin is better for baking, as it will bake faster.
- If there are not enough vegetables for stuffing, add some of the pulp that will remain after removing the seeds.
- Take any meat - pork, veal, chicken, turkey. Even with fatty pork, the calorie content will be low.
You will need:
- Small pumpkin - 1 kg.
- Meat – 400 gr.
- Bulb.
- Carrot.
- Sweet pepper – 2 pcs.
- Garlic cloves – a couple.
- Oil, salt, pepper.
Step-by-step recipe with photos
First of all, prepare the vegetable for stuffing. Cut off the cap using a knife.
Cut the top in a circle and use a spoon to select part of the pulp with the seed box. For successful baking, do not leave the walls of the pumpkin thick. 1.5 cm is enough.
Cut the carrots lengthwise into 4 parts, then chop into small pieces.
Cut the sweet pepper into randomly shaped pieces, similar in size to cutting carrots.
Chop the onion into small cubes and chop the tomato in the same way.
Cut the meat into small pieces. I have pork, neck. I advise you to choose meat with layers of fat, then when baking in the oven the dish will turn out more juicy.
Products prepared for use must be fried. It is more productive to fry in two pans at once. The first one will fry the meat.
Vegetables are placed in the second one one by one. First, fry the onion cubes until translucent. Then add the carrots and fry for a few minutes.
Add diced tomatoes and peppers. Add garlic cloves. At the same time, stir the pork in a parallel pan.
After 5-7 minutes, transfer the meat to the vegetables, add all the spices specified in the recipe. Fry together for a few minutes. Turn off the burner and cool slightly.
Place the pumpkin on a baking sheet or in a mold. Lubricate the outer part with vegetable oil by hand.
Fill with filling.
Cover with a lid. Place the pot in an oven preheated to 180°C for an hour and a half.
After the specified time, check the hardness of the pumpkin walls. In a well-baked vegetable they are soft.
Pumpkin baked whole in the oven: with meat, champignons and potatoes
Ingredients:
- medium pumpkin – 1 pc.;
- chicken fillet – 300 g;
- onion – 200 g;
- fresh champignons – 200 g;
- potatoes – 300 g;
- sour cream – 200 g;
- salt;
- garlic – 2 cloves;
- seasoning for potatoes – 1 tsp;
- vegetable oil – 40 g;
- black pepper – 5 peas;
- bay leaf – 1 pc.
Cooking method
- Wash the pumpkin and wipe dry. Cut off the top to form a lid. Remove the seeds and stringy pulp. Since the filling will be juicy, the walls of the pumpkin can be left thick.
- Cut the chicken into small pieces. Fry in oil until golden brown. Place on a plate.
- In the remaining oil, sauté the onion and sliced champignons.
- Cut the potatoes into cubes, boil until half cooked for 10 minutes in boiling water, mix with potato seasoning and pepper.
- Place half of the potatoes on the bottom of the pumpkin. Place the meat on it. Cover it with the rest of the potatoes. Place the next layer of mushrooms and onions. Pour in enough hot water to lightly cover the bottom layer of potatoes.
- Mix sour cream with salt and chopped garlic. Pour over the mushrooms. Close with the cut lid.
- Place the stuffed pumpkin in an oven preheated to 180–190°. Bake for 1 hour.
Pumpkin stuffed with rice and dried fruits
I offer you a simple but very tasty recipe for making pumpkin. I hope you will enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 small pumpkin 3 tbsp rice 5 prunes a handful of raisins 3 tbsp pumpkin pulp 1 tsp honey tbsp butter salt
step 1/8
Prepare and wash the pumpkin.
step 2/8
Cut the lid off the pumpkin. Using a knife, carefully remove the seeds from the middle.
step 3/8
Cut off some of the pulp and grate on a fine grater. You can simmer for 10-15 minutes over low heat with the addition of water.
step 4/8
Rinse the prunes and raisins, pour boiling water over them and let stand for 10 minutes.
step 5/8
Wash the rice and boil until half cooked in salted water. Rinse the finished rice under cold water.
step 6/8
Mix cooked rice, finely chopped prunes, and raisins. Add honey and stir.
step 7/8
Stuff the pumpkin with filling. Place butter on top, close with a pumpkin lid and place in an oven preheated to 180g for 45 minutes.
step 8/8
Pumpkin baked whole in the oven: with cheese
Ingredients:
- small pumpkin – 1 pc.;
- cream – 0.5–0.6 l;
- salt;
- cheese – 500 g;
- nutmeg - a pinch;
- butter – 40 g.
- black pepper to taste.
Cooking method
- Wash the pumpkin and wipe dry. Cut off the top to form a lid. Scoop out the seeds along with the fibers. Trim off some of the flesh, making the walls a little thinner. Cut the pulp into small cubes.
- Grate the cheese on a medium grater. Mix with cream and chopped pumpkin. Many recipes say that you need to add a liter of cream. In fact, it all depends on the volume of the pumpkin. If it is small, then 500 ml (or even less) will be enough.
- Add salt and pepper. Add nutmeg. This spice has a very pronounced smell, so don't overdo it.
- Place a piece of butter. Close the lid.
- Place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.
Rice porridge with pumpkin in the oven
Rice porridge with pumpkin, prepared according to this recipe in the oven, is not only tasty, but also healthy. This porridge can be safely eaten by both children and adults. For this dish, it is better to take sweet varieties of pumpkin, then you won’t need to add a lot of sugar. The pumpkin cubes turn out to be very soft and tender; if you lightly touch them with a fork, they will immediately turn into puree. Our family loves it when there are whole pieces of pumpkin on a plate. Be sure to try it! Preparing the porridge is very simple, and the result is magnificent.
Ingredients
To prepare rice porridge with pumpkin in the oven you will need: pumpkin - 600 g; rice - 150 g; sugar - 100 g; milk - 400 ml.
Cooking steps
Prepare the necessary ingredients: pumpkin, rice, milk and sugar.
Remove the skin and seeds from the pumpkin. Cut the dense, seedless pulp into equal cubes (approximately 2x2 cm in size).
Place the pumpkin cubes in a cast iron or thick-walled pan. You can also use a ceramic baking dish for baking in the oven.
Any type of rice will do. I always use long and steamed rice. Rice needs to be washed and poured into a cast iron pot with pumpkin.
Add sugar and milk.
Stir so that there is no sugar or rice on top. Close the lid and place the rice porridge with pumpkin in an oven preheated to 160 degrees for 45-50 minutes.
During this time, the rice will cook, but will remain crumbly, and the pumpkin will become tender, juicy and soft.
Arrange the aromatic, delicious rice porridge with pumpkin, cooked in the oven, on plates and serve.
Bon appetit!
Note to the hostess
Many housewives complain that their pumpkin lid burns. Therefore, as soon as the lid is covered with a golden brown crust, remove it, and in its place place a piece of foil, bending it downwards. 10-15 minutes before cooking, return the lid to its place.
To prevent the bottom of the pumpkin from burning, pour a little water on the baking sheet.
The contents of the pumpkin should not reach the very top, otherwise during baking the liquid may overflow and burn.
To bake a whole pumpkin, use any filling: those products that you would put in a clay pot to cook in the oven.
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