Who does not know pumpkin, this orange miracle! Legends can be made about its useful and healing properties. I will not list the numerous vitamins that are found in the pulp of this berry. Yes, exactly, berries. Due to the high content of pectin in the fibers, it is able to remove toxins, waste and excess cholesterol. Its seeds contain a number of rare trace elements that balance the body's imbalance and help strengthen the arteries, lower blood sugar, heal wounds, ulcers and burns, and improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. For a long time you can list its advantages. The main thing is that all the housewives understand that pumpkin is a welcome guest in their kitchen. From it you can cook many dishes. How to cook a pumpkin tasty, this article will tell you.
I want to offer you dishes from different categories.
Pumpkin soup
There are many recipes, you are offered one of the options. Add boiled vegetables into boiling broth in the following order: potatoes, bean pods, carrots. The last to lower the pumpkin. In a pan, in a slightly fried onion with sweet pepper, put on the tip of a red hot knife. Add the fry to the pan, cook until tender. Salt, spices or tomatoes - to the taste of the hostess. Serve sprinkled with herbs.
The following recipe will tell you how to make a pumpkin delicious with fewer ingredients. Bake a small fruit in the oven, carefully cutting off the crown, pick out the pulp from it, mash it in mashed potatoes, pour hot milk, bring to a boil, add spices, butter. Serve with crackers and herbs. You can use the pumpkin itself as a dish. If desired, such a soup can be sweet, in which case it can also be served chilled.
Second courses
How to cook pumpkin delicious as a second course? You can make vegetable stew, in which it will play an important role. Pumpkin, cut into large pieces, fried in vegetable oil. To it you can add bell peppers, onions, carrots. Then everything is brought to readiness, a few minutes before the end of cooking add chopped tomatoes, finely chopped garlic and spices to taste. The dish can be served sprinkled with herbs, as an independent or as a side dish for meat.
Many housewives in their practice have long been using such a creation of modern culinary technology as a sleeve (bags) for baking. Therefore, it is worth paying your attention to how to cook a pumpkin tasty as a side dish with their use. Sliced pumpkin (preferably in half with potatoes), salt, pepper to taste, add your favorite spices. Next, lay on the bottom of the sleeve in an even layer, and pack on the baking sheet. Carefully pierce several holes in the upper part of the sleeve - and you can into the oven. Bake at a temperature of about 200-220 degrees. One of the advantages of this package is that everything that happens inside is visible. To get a golden crust, you can cut the top of the bag for 5-7 minutes at the end of cooking.
According to temperature characteristics and cooking time, this dish can be cooked simultaneously with chicken or its individual parts. Salt, season with spices and mayonnaise, lay on top on a layer of pumpkin with potatoes. Everything else remains valid. And in the oven. This dish deserves to be crowned for many housewives.
Desserts and drinks
And how to cook a pumpkin for dessert, you ask. The most common recipes here are jam or candied fruit.
For jam, 1 kg of pumpkin, peel and grind, pour 1 kg of sugar and let stand for several hours. During this time, the pumpkin will give juice. After setting the jam on low heat, it is necessary to wash 2 medium-sized oranges (or lemon), chop them in a blender (or meat grinder). Add to pumpkin, bring to readiness.
For the preparation of candied fruit, peeled pumpkin (1 kg) is cut in large sticks. Fall asleep with sugar and settle in a cool place. After she returns the juice, it is heated, without stirring, to a boil over low heat and the juice is drained. With one glass of juice, pour the remaining sugar (only 800 grams) and prepare the syrup. Cool pumpkin is added to the hot syrup and boiled until transparent. The syrup should thicken like honey. Dry pieces of pumpkin roll in sugar or icing sugar. Cinnamon or finely chopped nuts, candied fruits can be added to the powder. You can store them at room temperature.
Well, and from drinks - invariably pumpkin juice. You can skip the pumpkin through a juicer. For 1 kg of juice add 100 g of sugar and 10 g of citric acid. It should be added to obtain a more complete taste and preservation, since there is no acid in pumpkin juice.
If you make juice without a juicer, the pumpkin is boiled, rubbed through a sieve, sugar and citric acid are added at the rate of 10 g per 1 kg of the rubbed mass (if necessary, water is added). It is brought to a boil and bottled in sterilized jars. Shelters to cool completely.
At the end of our conversation, I would like to note that cooking pumpkin dishes is your way to beauty, health and optimal weight.