I quite enjoy having pumpkin. Kavi absolutely detests it. Shirin makes a lovely curry with it which is posted too. I asked around and four of the five I took a poll from said they like it too. Next time Kavi is over from Bangalore, I am making pumpkin. I will have to add some mutton and prawn to the menu to ensure there are no belligerent repercussions.
Sharing some history, apparently the Celts followed the practice of carving faces on vegetables at the end of autumn to bring in light and good spirits to their homes. When immigrants arrived to America they found abundant crop of pumpkins and followed the Irish tradition of carving Jack O’ Lanterns for Halloween.
Trick or treat aside, on one October afternoon, I set about to make a pumpkin cranberry pistachio salad. This was an accompanying salad with French onion soup garnished with Gruyere cheese, some sweet bread and grilled chicken.
My food word for this recipe would be unusual.
When you go shopping look for;
Pumpkin
Salad leaves
Pistachio
Cranberry
Garlic
Maple syrup
Salt
Paprika
Lemon
Coriander leaves
The recipe would be;
I bought about two hundred gms pumpkin for the salad. Skin the fruit and then cut it into cubes. Then mildly salt it. In a bowl fold in together one and a half tsp maple syrup, three fourth tsp paprika powder, three pearls of finely chopped garlic and one and a half tsp water. Next gently season the pumpkin with three forth of the dressing and set to bake for twenty mins at one hundred and fifty degrees Celsius. I took the tray out of the oven, sprinkled cranberries and pistachios and baked again for five more minutes.
Before serving, wash and tear some green fresh lettuce. You can opt for any baby salad leaves. Then pop in the pumpkin cranberry pistachio roast. Sprinkle lemon juice and the remaining dressing. Top with a dash of some finely chopped fresh coriander leaves. Your salad is absolutely ready.
The orange and green with nutty and fruity textures make each spoonful beautiful.
