A Spooktacular Stuffed Pumpkin in 7 Easy Steps

Doesn't Mr. Jack-O-Lantern look spooktacular & happy?

I love, love, love October! Ghoul and gravestones pop up in suburban yards. Scarecrows and carved pumpkins grin at you from pretty porches. There might even be witches on broomsticks and skeletons lurking by the mailbox. The playful whimsy of the month is infectious.

And nowhere do I get more inspired than in the kitchen. In the past, I have served Monster Meatballs (with olive eyes and carrot hair), black pasta (made with squid ink), Graveyard Cake (some call it dirt cake)...in other words, yes, I like playing with food. :) So I loved it when my #Letslunch twitter buds, a group of food bloggers from around the globe, chose this month's theme: SCARY!

I like to involve my entire family in my kitchen projects...fun and educational for the kids, less work for mom and dad doesn't feel left out. Yeah, I delegate. And, seriously, the kids loved putting together Mr. Pumpkin.

First Step: Go to the store and find the "perfect" pumpkin. For our family of four, we used a small pie pumpkin. I decided it had to be between 3 to 4 pounds. Rest I left up to the kids. They found a good one with a little bulge on the front...perfect for a nose.

Second Step: Prepare the pumpkin. The DH was put in charge sharp tools and, together with the kids, he carved out the lid, scraped and cleaned out the pumpkin (yes, the kids saved the seeds for roasting) and created a jovial Jack-O-Lantern. Yay!

Third Step: This is where I come in and prepare the filling. I think I love working in the kitchen during Fall because of all the great seasonal ingredients: vibrant pumpkins, crisp, tart apples, ruby-red cranberries and sweet, warm cinnamon. Mmmm.

So for the filling I put together a curried turkey-couscous mixture with sage, apples,cranberries, chickpeas, tomatoes and a dash of cinnamon. I always make extra because the family loves this as much as I do.

Doesn't that look delicious?

Fourth Step: Season the pumpkin. I brush melted butter on the insides of the pumpkin and then seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper. Next time, I'd add a bit of powdered garlic. Then I spooned in the filling.

Step Five: Replace the pumpkin lid, place the entire pumpkin in an oven-proof dish and cover with foil. Place the dish inside the pre-heated oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, or until pumpkin is done.

Step Six: Prepare for serving. Take all the pictures you want (Mr. Pumpkin was a star...he had 3 photographers snapping pictures from every angle imaginable...I stayed out of the fray) and then cut him into wedges.

Step Seven: Dig in!

Curried Turkey-Couscous Filling:

Vegetable oil
1 small onion, peeled and diced
2 celery stems, sliced
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
6 to 8 fresh sage leaves
2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 large apple chopped
2 teaspoon curry powder
20 ounces ground turkey sweet Italian sausage
2 cup Israeli couscous (larger pearls of couscous), cooked
1 15-oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes with liquid
1/4 to 1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon garam masala (this Indian spice has cinnamon as one of it's ingredients, you can replace GM with 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of cumin)

 Directions:

Heat oil in a frying pan. Add onions, celery, red pepper flakes and sage leaves.
When the onion is half-soft, add in garlic, apples, and curry powder. Cook for for a minute or two.
Add in ground turkey. Cook while breaking up the pieces, until turkey is browned.
Stir in couscous, chickpeas, tomatoes, cranberries and garam masala. Cook until ingredients are warmed through and the sauce thickens. Take off heat.
Use what you will for the stuffed pumpkin. I love serving the leftovers over baked sweet potatoes or in scrambled eggs.

Check out other scary and fun offerings from our Twitter #Letslunch party:

Pumpkin Cake by A Cook and her Books

Celebrating Day of the Dead by SpiceBox Travels

Freaky Pretzel Fingers by Lisa Goldberg

Halloween Spice Cookies by Glass of Fancy

Cyclops Soup by HobNob

 Text and Images Copyright 2012, Rashda Khan

Review & Give-away: STIR IT UP! A Multi-cultural Foodie MG Read

Raising a multi-cultural blended family that is as familiar with its Asian heritage as its German-Polish roots in the heart of West Texas isn't easy.

The farm life, the mainstream Anglo-culture is a constant presence, but the desi relatives and cultural celebrations are often part of visiting my parents in Houston. While my children treat Indian clothes as special, reserved for celebrations, they are more likely to identify with cowboys than the Indians. As a woman of color, I'm just not comfortable with that...I want them to embrace both and more. Yes, I want them to have the world.

So I'm always trying to involve the family in experiences that introduces them to diverse cultures and people, teaches them to appreciate what is unique and different, and also recognize all we have in common. We learned Renaissance dancing and helped put together India Day at our local museum, we've cooked up special dinners to celebrate Eid and the Chinese New Year. But --as a family of readers -- we often explore through books.

One of my latest finds is food writer Ramin Ganeshram's Stir It Up! A wonderful middle-grade novel featuring a spunky, creative 13-year-old heroine Anjalie Krishnan.

I love the determined way Anjalie goes after her dream of becoming a chef and grabs onto the opportunity to compete for a shot at being a Super Chef Kid and get her own television show on the Food Network. Her ambitions clash with the expectations of her immigrant family. Anjalie's father runs a Trinidadian roti shop and throughout the story you see him, Anjalie and her grandmother working in the kitchen and the shop. Cooking is their world, yet he wants more for his children -- a universal want that will resonate with all parents.

Kudos to Ganeshram for skillfully resolving the conflict, making the family recognize that cooking for Anjalie isn't just work but a passion. One of my favorite things about the book is the close relationship between the heroine and her grandmother, Deema. Being a foodie, I also appreciated all the wonderful recipes --both traditional and innovative --sprinkled throughout the story.

Stir It Up!was a fun, fast-paced read that magically transported this reader to Little Trinidad --Richmond Hills in Queens -- in New York City. I could almost smell the spices flying about the kitchens...and it left me hungry for curry...so I made Deema's Easy Curry Chicken.

AND, here's a bit of good news: Scholastic Press, the publisher, kindly offered to giveaway a copy of Stir It Up! So leave a comment with your email or twitter handle for contact. The randomly chosen winner will be announced Tuesday, August 9, 2011.

Deema's Easy Curry Chicken from Stir It Up!

4 boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 tablespoons chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh shado beni or cilatro
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 Tablespoons Trinidad curry powder
2 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 medium yukon gold potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut milk

Directions:

1. Marinate the chicken by mixing the onions, garlic, shado beni/cilantro, cumin and 2 teaspoons of the curry powder. Set aside in refrigerator for at least 20 minutes or overnight.

2. Heat oil in a deep saucepan and add the chicken mixture. Add the remaining curry and mix well. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Add chicken stock, potatoes and salt. Simmer for 15 minutes and continue to cook until the sauce thickens, for about 5 minutes more.

4. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 3 minutes more. (Note: I had some peppers from the garden, so a sliced them up and added them at the end for color) Taste to adjust seasonings. Serve with rice or rotis.

Makes 4 servings.

Comfort Foods From Different Corners of the World

Recently I was so stressed that I ended up cooking all kinds of comfort foods. Our favorite comfort foods are like warm hugs, they bring out all the contentment of childhood. One bite and you’re smiling from the inside out and all the chaos of the world subsides for a few moments.

Both kids and husband got sick. The littlest one had 102 degree fever. All three were off their food. Now I’ve been a mom long enough that I don’t panic easily, but my first-born was born at seven months and weighed one pound 11 ounces. Imagine a coke can with arms and legs. He fit in the palm of one my husband’s hands. It’s an image that will be with me forever.  Now my son is almost 9-years-old and he’s on the scrawny side but healthy. However, when he almost stops eating, yes I do panic.

So I called the pediatrician, only to be told the stuff was going around and to do the usual –plenty of fluids, rest and monitoring.  Watch and wait. Patience has never been one of my virtues, and add to that a feeling of helplessness...bad combination.  I did what I always do in such moments: went into the kitchen and cooked. 

 I chose to make a pot of soft khichuri, a comfort food from my childhood. It has all kinds of good stuff in it: chicken stock, rice, lentils, veggies, tummy-soothing spices like cumin and turmeric.

My mother always made this rice and lentil porridge when I was sick and whatever the ailment –a sniffly cold or a sensitive tummy – a bowl of this would make me feel a whole lot better. I served the khichuri with stories from my childhood and the kids almost cleaned their bowls.

Of course, like all good conversations, this one meandered over to include the other parent and we asked the Cowboy what his favorite childhood comfort food was. The answer: Gravy Meat.

I was confused. “You mean meat gravy?”

“No,” he was adamant. “Gravy meat.”

This isn’t an old German or Polish recipe, but an army one. “It’s a dad recipe,” the Cowboy said. My father-in-law served in the army during World War II and didn’t much like the food. The only exception was “Gravy Meat” or the less-polite "Shit-on-a-Shingle." Whatever the name, he liked the dish so much that when he returned home he had my mother-in-law recreate it. And so the Cowboy enjoyed it growing up.

It doesn’t matter where in the world you’re born or where you end up, every culture has its comfort foods to soothe a sick child and/or a worried parent. You grow up with this food and when things are not perfect in your world—you yearn for it.

Cooking all these wonderful foods definitely helped calm me down. The best part though was to curl up on the couch with a bowl of Khichuri and watch the twinkly splendor of my Christmas tree on Sunday night. I’m glad my children will have so many different kinds of comfort foods, and their associated stories, to help them through life.

 So what are some of your comfort foods?

Recipes:

Soft Khichuri – As far as comfort foods go, this one is actually on the healthy side.

½ cup white, short grain rice (or whatever rice you have)

¼ cup red mushur lentils

¼ cup pale yellow mung lentils (I’ve seen this in H-E-B, or if you want substitute both these lentil varities with ½ cup green or brown lentils)

2 tablespoons of canola oil

½ a medium onion, finely sliced

A thumb-length of fresh ginger, skin scraped-off and coined

1 bay leaf

6 to 8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

¼ teaspoon of turmeric

¼ teaspoon of cumin

½ teaspoon of coriander powder

¾ teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne (optional)

1 cup of pumpkin puree (my mom used a traditional Bengali gourd called lao, but she suggested the more readily-available pumpkin would have a similar tummy cooling effect)

1 cup frozen mixed vegetable

5 to 7 cups of liquid (I use a mix of chicken broth and water)

Directions:

1. Mix the rice and lentils together, wash several times until the water runs clear. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion, ginger and bay leaf and cook until onion has softened.
3. Add the rice and lentil and fry for two minutes, then add the garlic and spices (turmeric to cayenne) and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add 5 cups of liquid and pumpkin puree, stir and bring to a boil.
5. Cover and cook on low heat for about 25 minutes. Check on it. Most rice is cooked by now, but at this point you probably can see rice and lentils as separate ingredients. You want them to meld together and give you a creamy, porridge-like consistency. So cook for another couple of hours. If it thickens too much, add more liquid, stir. Keep an eye on it.
6. When you think it’s coming together, add in the frozen vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes more.
7. Serve with sliced lemons on the side. Remember to remove the ginger chunks if you don’t like to bite into their intense flavor.

Rashda’s version of Gravy Meat (Now that I think of it, this is similar to the Southern breakfast food sausage gravy and biscuits)

2 tablespoons oil

1 pound ground meat

1 teaspoon dried thyme or Italian spice blend

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

½ a medium onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more if you like heat)

½ cup white flour

4 cups of milk

Directions:

1.       Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, add meat and spices. Cook until meat is browned.

2.       Add garlic, onions, bell pepper and red pepper flakes and cook until the vegetables are soft.

3.       At this point you can either spoon out the meat mixture and set it aside, or leave it in the pan. Stir in the flour until dissolved. Gradually stir in the milk. Cook until the gravy is thick and bubbly. Taste test, and add more salt and pepper if needed.

4.       Serve with toast, biscuits or mashed potatoes.