It’s that time of year when that large, edible orange orb
makes its appearance. It usually starts out in October as that seasonal
decoration with the traditional grin of someone who hasn’t seen a dentist in
quite a while but in November morphs into that traditional edible pie filling.
Yup, the pumpkin or bobura. Strangely
enough, in the 50th, bobura
isn’t the name of fruits in the squash family but more commonly refer to
Japanese tourists. Which for some reason, I often get mistaken for while in
Waikiki or even Ala Moana Shopping Center? When entering stores, I often get
the “ohayo gozaimasu…”. I know I have a pasty, white complexion but
really? But getting back to the real bobura…
The Early
Experience
Growing up in the 50th, my only exposure to
pumpkins were at Thanksgiving primarily as pumpkin pie. Our family never
purchased pumpkins for carving during Halloween I assume because it involved a
hard fleshed, round fruit (since pumpkins are simply ovaries containing seeds,
they botanically are classified as fruits) and a sharp instrument to carve said
fruit. Which more than likely would have resulted in severe finger and hand
lacerations for yours truly. It also probably had to do with the tropical
climate and freshly cut fruit left at a balmy and humid 90-degree ambient
temperature. Dad once brought home a fully carved Jack-o-Lantern which promptly
was reduced to a pile of pumpkin mush in 2 days. So, Halloween only involved
candy.
But because the Thanksgiving pumpkin pies were primarily
purchased and probably made with canned pumpkin and because I’ve never really
had a sweet tooth, I hardly indulged after dinner selecting alternate desserts
on the table.
Pumpkin Nutrition
The fruit of Cucurbita pepo is a great source of
Vitamin A with a cup containing almost 2 & ½ times your Reference Daily
Intake (RDI)! It’s also a good source of Vitamin C, potassium, manganese,
copper, riboflavin and Vitamin E and a cup also contains about 3gm of dietary
fiber. And as the commercial goes; “it can be sautéed, mashed or pickled, fresh
or roasted… you can even eat the seeds”. And roasted pumpkin seeds or pepita
are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids.
Then Liquid
Pumpkin
Though I primarily select wine as my preferred adult
beverage, I occasionally will consume the product of fermented barley and hops
and usually reach for a darker brew like a porter or steam beer. That is until
I sampled a pumpkin ale. The slight sweetness from pumpkin balanced the
bitterness from the hops rounded by the malty qualities of the ale. It was a perfect
quencher with or without food and I now specifically look for a pumpkin ale
when I’m in the mood for beer.
And brewed pumpkin isn’t the only liquid variation of the
gourd. I once sampled a pumpkin soup where the chef smoked a whole baby pumpkin
then hollowed the outer shell to function as a serving bowl and pureed the
inner flesh with bacon and onions. This rich pumpkin soup, almost a bisque had
a light smoked flavor rounded by the smokiness of the bacon and was perfect
with a glass of Chardonnay from Oregon. Yes, I plan on trying to re-create this
in one of my many smoking vessels.
Baked Pumpkin
No, I’m not speaking of the filling in a pie crust at
Thanksgiving. I’m talking about using the pureed flesh of pumpkin as the main
flavor ingredient in that Southern specialty, biscuits. We once had leftover kabocha that was used for some other
culinary application. I simply microwaved the unused portion to soften it a
little more then mashed it to a smooth paste. This paste was incorporated into
the basic buttermilk biscuit dough with a touch of pumpkin pie spice and the
resulting biscuits were the perfect “buns” for thinly sliced ham and honey
mustard!
I‘ve also used pureed pumpkin in one of my many
variations of a slightly healthier pound cake that I either bake in a Bundt pan
or as muffins. Additions such as toasted pecans, cinnamon chips or walnuts can
be added and spices such as pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, clove or even star
anise perk up the flavors while glazes incorporating maple syrup, buttermilk or
candied ginger add complementary flavors.
Savory
Applications
I first sampled pumpkin chili after Williams-Sonoma
discounted their seasonal foods at the end of the year. A bottle of dried
seasoning for Instant Pot simply required water, ground beef and 1 can of diced
tomatoes then pressure cooked for about 20 minutes. The finished pumpkin chili
was delicious but as a pre-prepped mixture, one pot of this pumpkin chili had
almost 3 tablespoons of salt in the blend. So, I then decided to create my own
using meat substitute and low-salt canned goods.
Pumpkin Chili
1 cup meat substitute
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 (7 oz) can diced green chiles
2 Bay Leaves
1 can vegetable stock
2 (15 oz) cans kidney beans, or pinto beans, rinsed &
drained
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 (15 oz) can pinto beans, drained & rinsed
2 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 (6 oz) can Tomato Paste
Salt and black pepper to taste
Water
Sauté chopped onions and garlic in a little olive oil.
Add spice to toast (but don’t burn). Add the rest of the ingredients and bring
to a boil then lower the temperature to simmer. Simmer for about 1 hour adding
more water if it gets too thick.
And since everyone in the 50th has a
bowl of chili with rice and macaroni salad, I serve the pumpkin chili with my
garlic fried rice with kale, carrots and edamame along with my vegan
macaroni salad. But those recipes are for another column…
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