This pumpkin was not exactly good because it was too young and gave out too much liquid, diluting the taste of the dish. The younger the pumpkin, the lighter the color, with a bit of translucency, and the less intense and sweet the taste.
Packed with beta-carotene like all red and orange-colored fruits and veg, pumpkins are one veg that most of us overlook when planning our menus. I think I've eaten more pumpkin seeds than the fruit. It's really weird how we dislike certain food our parents liked and then when we get old(er), we find ourselves liking those very same food. Has it happened to you yet?
This is a great dish to eat if you need to loose those stubborn 3 kgs by Christmas. No oil, no meat and very little salt is used in the form of soy sauce. Perfect for cleansing whatever sinful stuff you've loaded your body with all year. And you have to believe me, it tastes good!
This Pumpkin Test can reveal whether you can turn vegan, especially if you eat it 3 days in a row...
This photo was uploaded on 7/1/09. This is how a good pumpkin should be--very dark orange in color. These kinds of pumpkin are mature and will have very little liquid and so give a sweet, 'powdery' sweet flesh with a nice pumpkin flavor.
The Pumpkin Test (Simmered Pumpkin)
1 kg pumpkin (choose deep orange ones), cut into 3cm chunks
1 tsp dashi granules
1/4 cup water
1 T Kikkoman soy sauce
1 T fine sugar (optional--I don't add this)
Put everything except pumpkin into a small pot. When sauce boils, add the pumpkin and simmer (low heat), covered, till pumpkin is half done. Taste and season if necessary. Put heat on high and remove lid and let it bubble (stir once in a while) till water is mostly gone (I forgot this step; I was blogging). This doesn't take long, so do make sure you don't cook the pumpkin till it's too soft like I did.
Serve it with rice.
13 comments:
madam
regarding liking the stuff your parents liked:
my bar school teacher told me a person's taste changes with age.
when i was younger, i thought beer was the worse possible thing you could do to a person. now i'm slowly acquiring a taste for it.
and when you're a teenager you might not like the taste of wine, but as you grow older the taste becomes more appealing.
likewise when i was a kid i liked the sweetened fruit juice and soda. now i don't touch the stuff.
likewise with food i guess.
and people!
I didn't like bitter gourd and pumpkin when I was younger but now, they are two of my favourite veg. Strange how our taste changes over time. So there's hope for my children yet who think veg are akin to poison.
ah like whut ah liked. guess I'm d odd one who didn't like pumpkin as kid & still didn't much care 4 it now. but U made it looks so appealing. (maf pics u asked for r on their way via ur email)
Okay ma, I get the message. 2 more months. Should eat pumpkin. Thanks.
ronnie:yes, tastes change with age.tt's y i tell my kids not to get involved in any relationship in their teens, n preferably not during uni bc what u want at 20 will not be what u want at 25, esp. for boys cos they mature later. i know so many ppl who r together bc they started in their teens n now feel resigned to their situation or worse, obligated. a friend who met her hub at 17 told me by 37 they were like a couple of 'old dogs'. sure u can also check out d wares n not buy d 1st thing u like but can u live with d baggage of many relationships? at least with food u can choose not to eat it. with ppl it's not so simple when ur tastes change.gosh, am i a food blogger or dear abby.
raina:don't force d kids bc they go against us just for d sake of going against us. ming didn't eat veg but now he can't go w/o it.btw, TQ for helping me out d last few days.:)
mike: maybe cos u rn't ageing. yet.
yi:yes, this recipe IS for u!
I like to have plain baked pumpkins. I eat the flesh as well as the seeds. :)
madam
yes i completely agree that the kind of person you are interested in changes with age.
BUT i disagree with your 2nd point. sometimes you have to experience people to know what you want. you might think you want a certain type of person, but past bad experiences might make you realize that people are sometimes not what they seem to be, or traits you thought were good can actually be quite annoying.
somethings, you can't be told, you really have to see it for yourself (especially regarding characters of people).
"the baggage of many relationships" as you put it can be heavy, but it can also be thrown away, if you choose not to let it affect you.
i frame it in terms of
"maturity". the more mature you are the more you will understand that you can't let shitty people affect you.
immature people can't understand this, and they stay unhappy at people who no longer like them. they harbour resentment at these people who don't like them, but the fact is they would not be happy if they DID get together with these people anyway.
it requires a special kind of cynicism. but this is easily achieved through the aforementioned experience of others. sooner or later, you will realize that alot of people out there are actually VERY messed up and you will know what to look for in the "right" person. or at least, you will learn what to avoid.
and that's partially how your taste changes with age!
but of course, i would not be so presumptuous as to try to advise you how to raise kids.
its a job easier said than done, and this is just a personal point of view.
ronnie:1) if only it were so easy to just decide to throw away ur feelings!i read somewhere tt it takes on d average 10 yrs for ppl to recover fully fm a broken serious relationship, esp for women.2)u may be able to throw away ur baggage but what if ur spouse can't hers or u hers?
3):) fm my experience cynicists r ppl who r tough outside but soft inside! usually it's just a defence not to get hurt.4)do u like pumpkin?
madam
10 years? now thats just unhealthy. life is too short for that kind of thing, 10 days much less 10 years.
and yeah, i didn't think of it from the perspective of "the other person". i forgot that not everyone is like me.
sweet pumpkin is good but only in moderation. too much at one go and it gets REAL tiring real quick.
ronnie::D yes 10 yrs' waste of time,n everything in moderation.
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