Orange pumpkin is a source of many beneficial substances. In order to preserve them as much as possible, it is best not to cook and fry the vegetable, but to steam, that is, steam. The beauty is that pumpkin slices are neither watery nor too fat. The absence of a crust is also a plus for health. It may not be so tasty, but completely safe.
Steamed pumpkin can be eaten as an independent dish (for example, with garlic, salt and herbs), make simple mashed potatoes or delicious desserts based on it, add to homemade pastry dough. Pumpkin has a delicate aroma and goes well with fruits, nuts, vegetables, cereals.
Steamed pumpkin - general principles of preparation
Cooking steamed pumpkin is very simple. From the vegetable you need to separate the desired piece, wash it, dry it. Cut the pumpkin into slices, stripes, cubes or random pieces. The peel can be cut off or left (it can be removed very easily with steamed pumpkin).
For cooking, any dishes are suitable. It can be an ordinary pan, oven, double boiler, slow cooker. The bottom line is that the slices of the vegetable are exposed to hot water vapor, and the hostess herself decides how to do this.
Pumpkin is preparing very quickly. In just half an hour, no matter what cooking method the hostess chose, the slices would be ready.
Steamed Sugar Pumpkin
A simple way to cook sweet steamed pumpkin on a regular gas or electric stove is one of the most reliable and convenient. In addition to the vegetable itself, only sugar to taste and a little water will be needed.
Ingredients:
• a piece of pumpkin weighing 500-600 grams;
• one hundred to two hundred grams of granulated sugar (you can vary the amount of sugar to your taste);
• 150 ml of pure water (the amount of water may be more or less depending on the diameter of the bottom of the pan).
Cooking method:
Cut the prepared slices of pumpkin without skin into small cubes.
Put pumpkin cubes in a thick-bottomed pan.
Pour in water so that it does not completely cover the pumpkin. Pieces should lie closely and be half filled with water.
Sprinkle pumpkin with sugar, focusing on your taste.
Close the lid tightly and turn on medium heat.
As soon as the water boils, put the slowest fire and simmer the pumpkin for a couple of about twenty minutes.
Serve sweet pumpkin immediately, hot, or after cooling.
Oven steamed pumpkin with salt and garlic
Fans of a pungent taste should definitely cook steamed pumpkin in the oven according to this recipe. A particularly tasty dish is obtained with sea salt. If it is not, you can do with ordinary coarse salt. Instead of fresh herbs in late autumn, use ready-made seasonings (choose those that contain sea salt - very tasty!).
Ingredients:
• four hundred grams of pumpkin;
• sea salt to taste (a pinch or two);
• three cloves of fresh garlic;
• two tablespoons of chopped dill and parsley;
• a tablespoon of olive or mustard oil.
Cooking method:
Slice a pumpkin into stripes or slices. The thickness should not be more than a centimeter.
Wash fresh herbs, dry with a paper towel and chop finely.
Peel and pass the garlic through a press. You can chop it very finely with a knife or just grate it.
In a small bowl, prepare a pumpkin dressing, mixing herbs, garlic, salt. Add oil at the end and mix again.
On a baking sheet covered with baking paper, lay out pieces of pumpkin.
Grease each slice with dressing.
Cover the pan with foil.
Place a wide, low bowl of water at the bottom of the oven or pour a little water directly into the pan.
Send to the oven, preheated to 200 °.
Steamed pumpkin in the oven can be checked for readiness after 15 minutes. If the slices are very thin, most likely they will be ready.
If the pumpkin does not seem soft when pierced, you need to add it until tender (another 5-10 minutes).
Steamed pumpkin in pots with apples
Another tasty and unusual version of the autumn dish is steamed pumpkin in the oven, cooked in clay pots. It turns out a full sweet dish, very fragrant and tender. Such a pumpkin can please not only babies, but also adult sweet tooth.
Ingredients:
• a pound of pumpkin;
• a kilogram of Antonovka or any other apples;
• half a glass of clean semolina;
• sugar to taste;
• two glasses of drinking cream;
• fifty grams of butter.
Cooking method:
Cut the pumpkin into small cubes, be sure to remove the peel.
Wash the apples, cut the core, cut into thin slices.
In the baking pots lay the layers of pumpkin and apple slices. Sprinkle each layer with sugar.
Turn on the oven at 230 degrees.
Heat the cream in a saucepan, but do not boil.
In each pot, toss a piece of butter and pour all the cream.
Send pots to the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the peas from the oven, pour the semolina into a very thin stream, mix.
Return the pots to the oven for another ten minutes.
Steamed pumpkin with dried apricots and prunes
The combination of pumpkin and dried fruit is very tasty. If there is a little dried apricots and prunes in the house, you can prepare a light and healthy pumpkin dish.
Ingredients:
• seven hundred grams of peeled pumpkin peel;
• four tablespoons of granulated sugar;
• two hundred and three hundred grams of a mixture of dried apricots and prunes.
Cooking method:
Wash dried fruits and pour boiling water for half an hour. If the dried fruits are ready to eat, that is, very soft, then you do not need to steam them.
Cut dried apricots and prunes into small pieces.
Prepare a pumpkin by cutting into small cubes.
Lay out layers of pumpkin and dried apricots with prunes in a thick-walled pan.
Bed each layer with granulated sugar.
Pour half a glass of water into the pan (a little more if the diameter of the bottom is more than 20 cm).
Cook over low heat as described in the first recipe.
Steamed Pumpkin with Walnuts
Gentle steamed pumpkin goes well with nuts. For example, with walnuts having a tart taste.
Ingredients:
• kilogram of pumpkin;
• a glass of white sugar;
• a glass of nuts (peeled);
• one and a half glasses of water.
Cooking method:
Cut the pumpkin into cubes.
Put slices of pumpkin in a pan, add sugar and pour water.
Turn on a slow fire and simmer pumpkin slices in sugar syrup for at least an hour.
In a dry skillet or in an oven, brown the walnuts.
Chop them with a knife.
Put cooled slices of pumpkin on a plate, pour in syrup and sprinkle with nut crumbs.
Sugar steamed pumpkin in the oven with lemon juice
Sugar steamed pumpkin in the oven is prepared in the same way as in a saucepan according to the first recipe. To prevent it from becoming too sweet, you can add a little lemon juice.
Ingredients:
• a pound of pumpkin pulp;
• half a glass of sugar;
• half a lemon;
• a tablespoon of vegetable oil;
• incomplete glass of water
Cooking method:
Lubricate the glass baking dish with oil.
Preheat oven to 210 °.
Fit pumpkin slices tightly into shape.
Sprinkle with lemon juice.
Pour sugar into a pumpkin.
Pour in water.
Cook steamed pumpkin in the oven until completely softened.
Steamed pumpkin in the oven with honey
Instead of sugar, you can use honey. You get a no less tasty dish with a tart honey aroma. The amount of honey can be changed to your taste. When served, the finished honey pumpkin is good with nuts.
Ingredients:
• a kilogram of not very sweet pumpkin;
• half a glass of liquid honey;
• a tablespoon of butter for the mold;
• glass of water;
• two tablespoons of almond shavings (optional).
Cooking method:
Heat the oven to 190-200 °.
Put slices of pumpkin in a greased form.
Pour them with liquid flower honey (if the honey is thick, it needs to be heated in a water bath).
Pour water and send the mold into the oven.
Steamed pumpkin in the oven will be ready in 25 minutes.
Arrange the pieces on plates, sprinkle with almond chips.
Steamed pumpkin in a multicooker with cinnamon
If the multicooker has a special tray for cooking steam dishes, then cooking a pumpkin in it is as easy as shelling pears. The maximum possible amount of vitamins with this cooking method will be saved.
Ingredients:
• four hundred grams of peeled pumpkin;
• two glasses of water;
• three tablespoons of sugar (focus on your taste);
• two tablespoons of butter;
• a pinch of cinnamon (optional).
Cooking method:
Pour water into the multicooker bowl.
Fill the tray with slices of pumpkin, sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar.
Set the basket over the bowl, snap on the lid.
Cook for 20 minutes in steam mode.
Steamed pumpkin in a double boiler
A great option for savory pumpkin dishes can be prepared using a double boiler. Only pumpkin and salt are needed. When serving, you can use sour cream and garlic.
Ingredients:
• a pound of pumpkin;
• sea salt to taste;
• sour cream;
• two cloves of garlic (optional)
Cooking method:
Prepare and arrange the pumpkin in a medium-level double boiler.
Sprinkle the vegetable slices with salt.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Grate the garlic.
Arrange the finished pumpkin on plates.
Mix sour cream with garlic.
Pour the pumpkin over the sauce or serve it separately.
Steamed Pumpkin - Tips and Tricks
The roasted garlic pumpkin cooked in the oven is especially tasty when cooled. It can be used as a basis for vegetable sandwiches, if knead with a fork or spoon.
Pumpkin sliced in long strips can not be peeled. To remove it from the finished pumpkin is much faster than cutting it with raw.
If the pumpkin, steamed, goes to the dough, then it must first be cooled. Then mashed the pieces, turning them into a delicate orange mass. The dough will get a wonderful sunny color and will not stick to your hands. Pumpkin puree pastries have a pleasant aroma.
