But for now it’s a treat. This is a very fast, healthy, easy, seasonal, meal in a bowl. It will generously serve two on its own, or four as a main side dish. The key ingredient, besides the pumpkin, is a Moroccan spice mix. You can use a ready bought mix but I have fresh turmeric, ginger, and chili in the garden, and besides turning very ordinary ingredients into something special, they also fend off the viruses that change of season can bring.
For this recipe, I use a mortar and pestle to crush together a nut sized knob of fresh turmeric and one of ginger, a fresh chilli and a handful of fresh coriander with teaspoon of mixed dry cumin and cinnamon, a pinch of cardamom and nutmeg and just a whisker of cloves.
Put half a cup of couscous in your serving bowl and cover it with boiling water. Let it absorb the water, topping up as needed until it is a good texture.
Meanwhile, heat a swig of olive oil in a heavy pan. Peel and chop pumpkin into bite sized pieces. This recipe uses about 2 – 3 cups of chopped pumpkin, but as always you can vary. Saute the pumpkin along with a roughly chopped onion, a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, and your spices. If you use dried spice mix, use about two good teaspoons.
When the pumpkin is nearly there, add a handful of sultanas, ½ a capsicum cut into thick strips, and about 2/3 cup of cooked chick peas (garbanzos). Salt to taste.
While all this is happening, roughly chop some parsley, halve some cherry tomatoes and tear up some rocket. Toss the lot together with the juice of half a lemon and serve into bowls.
Pingback:First Pumpkin of the Season
We do a very similar recipe at our thermomix classes. Instead of raisons I add cranberries, apricots and mint.
We make a slightly different dressing. Just love it.
(But then, you can’t go wrong with pumpkin, can you?)
Sounds simply awesome!! I’m also in Pumpkin City atm, flat leaf parsley too and other stuff so this is a great recipe for me. Cheers 🙂
Fetta goes so well with the pumpkin glut that we have.
Do you grow sweet leaf/katuk (sauropus androgynus)? If you have some recipes for this easy to grow vegetable it would be helpful.
Our Seedsavers group is spreading the word about lesser known but easily grown food crops and sweetleaf/katuk grows in the Bellingen Valley in frost free areas.
Sorry John, I’ve never grown sweet leaf. But now you’ve piqued my curiosity!