Today Pumpkin is my Hero! Pumpkin (Greek, “large melon”) is a large orange squash fruit of the genus Cucurbita family along with squash and cucumbers, originated in Central America. It can be of different shapes and sizes, but most often round with smooth, slightly ribbed skin, and deep yellow to orange in coloration. The thick shell contains edible pulp and seeds. The yellow-orange flowers that bloom on the pumpkin vine are edible as well.

Pumpkin by Olga Ocwieja

Pumpkin Types

There are five common species of squashes: ficifolia (chilacayote squash and Malabar gourd), maxima (Hubbard, ‘Lakota,’ buttercup, and winter squashes), mixta (cushaw squash), moschata (‘Shakertown Field’ and ‘Long Island Cheese’ pumpkins), and pepo (jack-o’-lantern varieties, delicata squashes, ornamental gourds).

The best pumpkins for cooking include:

• Peanut pumpkin
• Pie pumpkin
• Lumina pumpkin
• Cinderella pumpkin

Pumpkin in a kitchen

Raw pumpkin has a hearty, rich flavor that makes it a good stand-alone snack or side dish. Fresh pumpkin will have a bright flavor, while canned pumpkin will be a little more muted in flavor. Cubed fresh pumpkin is very hard, just like other winter squashes, and needs to be cooked before eating. Once cooked, the pumpkin tends to be smooth, but doesn’t generally get stringy.

Fresh baked or roasted pumpkin has a texture that is much more like velvet. There are some pumpkins that are much sweeter than others. The best way to encourage the sweet flavor in any pumpkin is to roast it. Even the sweeter varieties of pumpkins aren’t going to taste very sweet if you try to eat them raw.
There are many ways to incorporate pumpkin into desserts, soups, salads, preserves, and even as a substitute for butter.

Storage

Pumpkins can normally be stored for 30 – 90 days.
Store the pumpkin in a cool, dry and dark place (if possible). Avoid hot and humid places, even if storing for only a couple of weeks. Pumpkins are best stored on a board or piece of cardboard. Do not store the fruit on a cement floor, as they tend to rot.

For today’s recipe I choose Cinderella pumpkin

Cinderella pumpkins have become increasingly popular in recent years because of their shape, bright color, and enchanting name. They has flattened shape, yet rounded, deeply ribbed. The taste is semi-sweet and moist.
Cinderella pumpkins are best suited for cooked applications such as roasting, baking, and steaming. Their sweet flavor and creamy texture make them ideal for use in baked goods and desserts such as pies, bread, muffins, cookies, and cakes. They can also be pureed and used to make pumpkin ice cream. In addition to sweet preparations, this type of pumpkin can be cooked and made into pumpkin butter, pureed into soups, stews, or casseroles, or hollowed out and used as a decorative bowl. They pair well with meats such as sausage, poultry, bacon, or turkey, carrots, celery, parsnips, rutabagas, cabbage, green and red bell pepper, broccoli, zucchini, corn, mushrooms, garlic, onions, chives, cream cheese, cinnamon, honey, rice, quinoa, parsley, Italian seasoning, rosemary, thyme, and cheese such as cheddar, Elemental, or Gruyere. They will keep 3-5 months when stored in a cool and dry place.

Pumpkin sweet balls

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (home-made* or canned)
• 1/2 cup oat meal porridge on coconut milk (any porridge left-overs can be used in the recipe)
• 50 g frozen butter, shredded
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar
• 2 tbsp coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice mix
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• vanilla sugar
• salt

(*) Home-made pumpkin puree
To prepare puree from pumpkin the best way it is to steam 300 g of pumpkin first (previously peeled and cut into small cubes) in steamer and then blend it. It can be stored in the jar till 3 days in the fridge.

Cooking method:

1. Ideally for this recipe you can use any porridge left-overs or you can just cook it before preparing the pumpkin sweet balls. If you prefer to have more crunchiness inside the sweet balls than you can use for this recipe 3 tbsp of non-cooked oat flakes with 1/2 cup of coconut (or any plant-based) milk.
2. Wipe eggs with sugar and salt, then add pumpkin puree and porridge. Mix well.
3. Mix wheat and coconut flour, baking powder, cinnamon and pumpkin spice mix, vanilla sugar, brown and coconut sugar.
4. Combine dry ingredients with wet, mix well and add shredded butter. The batter consistency should be thicker than for pancakes but lighter than for muffins.
5. Ideally for frying it should be used Takoyaki or Danish pancake pan, but if you don’t have it use any pancake or regular frying pan.

Takoyaki pan

6. Put the pan on medium heat, grease it with vegetable oil and pour the batter into the molds. Wait for 1 minute and then using a toothpick quick flip each ball on other side. Less than in 30 seconds light, fluffy and puffy balls of heaven are ready. Time to enjoy the smell, taste and sounds of making this dish at home.