How To Cook A Sugar Pumpkin Whole?
Autumn is a time for pumpkins, everyone knows that. And today for you the most delicious and simple recipe for baked pumpkin.
A pumpkin is a vegetable that people often undeservedly bypass. Someone does not want to mess with her thick crust, and someone just does not know what can be prepared from it.
And in vain, because it turns out not only very tasty, but also nutritious, as well as healthy dishes. At the same time the pumpkin is universal.
You can cook excellent jam and sweet porridge from the pumpkin. And how tasty it is, if you bake it with sugar! How to bake pumpkin slices, read in this article.
Baked Pumpkin Recipe
For cooking baked pumpkin we need:
- 1 kg of pumpkin;
- 1 big lemon;
- 0.5 tablespoon of sugar (you can substitute honey to taste).
Wash the pumpkin and peel. Cut into half rings. Then in cubes, but you can leave it like that – as you wish. Stir in sugar. Peel lemon, cut into cubes and mix with sugar pumpkin.
Prepare a convenient form for baking or a clay pot, put a pumpkin inside, cover with a lid or seal with a sheet of foil. Send in preheated oven to 180 degrees. Bake for about half an hour.
After 30 minutes, remove the pot or the form from the oven, try the pumpkin slices for sweetness. If it seems inadequate, sweeten or put some honey. And then place in the oven for another 10 minutes, but without the cover / without foil. To check readiness, use wooden toothpicks – they should go into the pumpkin like butter. Soft? All baked pumpkin ready!
It is better to serve the pumpkin in the cold, but it can also be heated. Ideal with milk, hot chicory or coffee. You can decorate with powdered sugar, cinnamon, berries, dried fruits, nuts, caramel. But note that the powder, nuts and caramel will add calories. Baked in the oven pumpkin is prepared very simply, and looks aesthetically pleasing. Suitable even for a festive table, so elegant it is! And what a delicious – honey inside, and outside with a slight sour!
And now a little about the benefits of pumpkin, as well as how to choose it correctly, because not everyone grows a pumpkin in his garden.
How to choose a pumpkin?
To get all the nutritional benefits from this vegetable, you must first choose it correctly. First of all, what you need to pay attention to is the mass of the fetus. The optimum weight is from 3 to 5 kg. In this case, the crust will not yet be too thick, and the pulp will already be enough. Although, these figures, of course, are directly dependent on the pumpkin variety.
If possible, you can buy small pumpkins weighing about 500-700 grams, which are pear-shaped.
The most common variety among them is called batternat (it is often written on the price tags in the store: pumpkin butternat). It has a very thin skin, which is easy to cut with a simple vegetable peeler, with a lot of tasty pulp.
But such a pumpkin, as in the photo below, it is better not to buy – too thick skin. This is often left on the seeds.
In addition, pumpkin seeds are also useful. Vegetable stew, which contains a small amount of pulp together with seeds, allows to remove toxins and toxins from the body. In addition, they can simply be pulled out, dried and nibble instead of sunflower seeds.
The benefits of pumpkin: vitamins and trace elements
The main benefit of pumpkin is that it contains just a huge amount of all sorts of nutrients, trace elements and vitamins. Like the carrot, it is rich in beta-carotene (hence its bright orange color). And it also contains vitamin K, which improves blood clotting. In this case, the vitamins of group K are not all foods that are usually included in the human diet.
Pumpkin – just an indispensable product for people who dream to lose at least a few pounds. In it, in addition to vitamin K, there is a vitamin of group T, which contributes to a more rapid absorption of food and speeding up the metabolism. This vitamin prevents the formation of excess fat cells. Undoubtedly, for this reason, a side dish of pumpkin will be a great addition to many dishes.
Pumpkin for children
From this product you can make baby puree, which you can feed even babies (of course, at an age suitable for complementary feeding). Despite the fact that the pumpkin is rich in a huge number of different substances, it almost never causes allergies.
This vegetable contains vitamin A, fiber and pectin, which will benefit the child’s body. It is good because it allows you to harvest not only mashed potatoes or porridge, but also to make juices. An excellent option would be to use as a complementary food not only a single product, for example, an apple or carrot, but their combination with a pumpkin. Especially when it comes to fresh juices, which are so fond of all children. However, before using it as an additional power, of course, it is better to first consult with a pediatrician.