From pumpkin you can cook a huge variety of dishes: soups, cereals, pilafs, casseroles, salads. But they all have one thing in common - the enormous benefits that they bring to the human body.
Healthy pumpkin dishes - general cooking guidelines
Before use, the pumpkin is washed, peeled, cut and seeds removed. The pulp is cut into pieces, then stewed, boiled, steamed, baked. The sperm and brighter the vegetable, the tastier the dish. In many recipes, a fresh product can be replaced with a frozen one.
What is pumpkin combined with:
• vegetables, mushrooms;
• meat, poultry;
• fresh and dried fruits;
• nuts;
• cereals.
Various spices, pickles, candied fruits, zest can be added to dishes. Pumpkin is baked, fried, stewed, steamed and with the addition of liquid.
Porridge - a hearty and healthy dish of pumpkin
To prepare a healthy dish of pumpkin, millet is used. In a similar way, you can cook porridge with the addition of rice or semolina.
Ingredients
• 600 ml of milk;
• 200 g of millet;
• 500 g pumpkin;
• 1 pinch of salt;
• 0.5 cups of water;
• 100 g sugar;
• 50 g of oil.
Cooking
1. The peeled pulp of a pumpkin needs to be cut into small pieces, transferred to a pan.
2. Add half a glass of water, put on fire, boil for about ten minutes.
3. Separately, heat the milk to a hot state, pour into a pumpkin.
4. Salt, bring to a boil.
5. While the mixture is boiling, rinse several times with millet, remove damaged and spoiled grains.
6. Add millet to the pumpkin, you can immediately put half the butter, cover and cook the porridge a quarter of an hour after boiling.
7. At the end, in about five minutes you need to add sugar, the remaining oil.
8. Stir the prepared porridge well, let it brew. To taste, you can add cream, raisins.
Baked Cinnamon Slices - A Healthy Pumpkin Dish
A variant of a very simple but tasty pumpkin dessert. Choose a ripe and sweet fruit. Turn on the oven immediately to 190, the stove should warm up well.
Ingredients
• 0.5 kg of pumpkin;
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 30 g of oil;
• 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.
Cooking
1. Cut the pumpkin into neat slices. The size of the pieces can be made any, the smaller, the more beautiful and rouge slices will turn out.
2. Move the pumpkin slices into a mold or onto a baking sheet. Spread in one layer.
3. Pour so much liquid into the bottom of the mold so that it reaches the middle of the pieces.
4. Sprinkle the slices on top with sugar. It will give not only taste, but also a wonderful color.
5. Put in the oven, cook for about half an hour, until the pumpkin wedges are well browned.
6. Finally, sprinkle with cinnamon.
7. Serve the dish with the liquid that forms at the bottom of the mold.
Appetizer puree with apples - healthy pumpkin dish
Option of mashed potatoes from pumpkin and apple, which can be used as a main dish, dessert, filling for baking.
Ingredients
• 3-4 apples;
• 500 g pumpkin;
• cinnamon, a little sugar.
Cooking
1. Peeled, washed pumpkin needs to be cut into small pieces, put in a pan, add half a glass of water.
2. Put on the stove, simmer over low heat until soft.
3. Apples need to peel, core, cut the pulp into pieces.
4. Add fruit to the pumpkin, cover, boil until soft.
5. Remove the dish from the heat, mashed with a blender or simply mash with a pestle.
6. To taste, add cinnamon and sugar in the smoothie. In a dietary dish, you can add a sugar substitute, or a little steamed raisins.
Sun casserole - a healthy dish of pumpkin
The recipe for a very bright, satisfying and healthy pumpkin casserole, which is prepared with the addition of semolina and fresh apples. Serve the dish with sour cream, jam, grated berries.
Ingredients
• 0.5 kg of pumpkin;
• 50 g butter;
• 0.5 cup semolina;
• 25 g of sugar;
• 2 eggs;
• 150 g of apples;
• vanilla, salt.
Cooking
1. The pumpkin needs to be cut into arbitrary pieces, add a couple of glasses of water, cook until soft, but do not overexpose.
2. Drain the water, mash the pieces. The resulting mashed potatoes need to be cooled.
3. Grate apples coarsely, add to mashed potatoes.
4. Put the butter next, but you can put it in a hot mass, so that the piece melts.
5. Add semolina, eggs, a pinch of salt, a little sugar, mix and let the future casserole brew for at least half an hour.
6. Take a cookie cutter, coat with oil, you can sprinkle with flour or semolina, put the casserole. Flatten the top so that the layer is the same over the entire area.
7. Bake a sunny dish at 200 ° C for approximately 25-30 minutes.
Pumpkin with prunes - a healthy dish
A variant of not only healthy, tasty, but also a healing dish. Pumpkin with prunes will help get rid of constipation and cleanse the intestines. The dish can be stewed on a stove or used to cook a slow cooker.
Ingredients
• 0.15 kg of prunes;
• 0.5 kg of pumpkin;
• 1 tsp lemon zest;
• 1 spoon of lemon juice;
• 120 ml of water;
• 3 tablespoons of sugar;
• 2 tablespoons of oil.
Cooking
1. You can take any oil for the dish. Put it in the pan, melt.
2. Cut prunes, add and lightly fry over low heat. This will give the dish an unusual flavor.
3. Pumpkin needs to be cut into small cubes, added to prunes, also lightly fry, two minutes are enough.
4. Add water, add chopped lemon zest. It will mask the vegetable aroma of pumpkin and turn the dish into an amazing dessert.
5. Cover, simmer until the squash is soft, but do not boil the slices.
6. At the end, season with sugar, lemon juice, you can add cinnamon or other spices.
7. Serve the dish in any form, you can cook in advance and store in the refrigerator for two days.
Ragu - a healthy dish of pumpkin with chicken
Dietary version of unsweetened, satisfying and healthy dish of pumpkin. According to the recipe, chicken fillet is used. Similarly, you can take a turkey. If there are no tomatoes in your own juice, then use fresh tomatoes or juice.
Ingredients
• 0.4 kg of chicken;
• 0.4 kg of pumpkin;
• 2 tablespoons of oil;
• 1 onion;
• 300 g of tomatoes in their juice;
• greens, salt;
• 200 ml of water.
Cooking
1. Chopped peeled onion rings. Transfer the vegetable to a saucepan or in a casserole with a heated spoon of oil, fry.
2. Wash the chicken fillet, cut into cubes, add to the onion.
3. Fry for a minute, so that the pieces are bright on all sides.
4. Now add the pumpkin. Cut the vegetable in the same way as chicken or small cubes.
5. Pour in water, simmer under the lid for about 15 minutes.
6. During this time, you need to grind the tomatoes in your juice until gruel. You can just grate fresh tomatoes, remove the skin in this case during the process.
7. As soon as the pumpkin begins to pierce, add the tomatoes. Stir.
8. Stew the dish for about ten minutes, pepper, add other spices.
9. When serving, decorate the pumpkin stew with greens.
Soup puree - a healthy dish of pumpkin
A variant of a hearty, but at the same time light, low-calorie and very healthy dish of pumpkin. Chicken is used for soup. You can cook the first dish without flour.
Ingredients
• 300 g of chicken;
• 400 g pumpkin;
• 200 g of carrots;
• 1.5 liters of water;
• 150 g of onion;
• spices;
• 10 g flour;
• greens for decoration.
Cooking
1. Take any part of the chicken, rinse, cover with water and boil until cooked. If breast is used, then half an hour is enough. Other parts will cook a little longer.
2. While preparing the broth, you need to peel and chop all the vegetables. Carrots and onions finely, pumpkin can be a little larger.
3. Remove the chicken from the broth, pour one ladle to cool. Leave the rest of the broth on the stove.
4. Add all the vegetables to the pan at once, cook until soft.
5. As soon as all the ingredients are cooked, remove the pan from the heat, mash the soup.
6. Return the dish to the stove, season with spices, bring to a boil again.
7. In the previously cast and cooled broth, dissolve the flour, pour into the soup, stir. Let it boil well and turn it off immediately.
8. When serving in plates, add chopped chicken pieces, fresh herbs.
Sweet salad - a healthy dish of pumpkin
The recipe for a light, quick and delicious salad. He will need a ripe and sweet pumpkin. This is very important, since the vegetable is not subjected to heat treatment.
Ingredients
• 200 g pumpkin;
• 1 carrot;
• 1 apple;
• 1 tablespoon of nuts;
• 50 g of raisins;
• 1 tablespoon of honey.
For flavor, zest or cinnamon can be added to the sweet salad.
Cooking
1. Pour raisins with hot water.
2. Peel the carrots, grate with straws, slightly remember that the vegetable let the juice.
3. Now you also need to chop fresh pumpkin and apple. The fruit can be peeled or left as is.
4. Squeeze the raisins, add to the salad.
5. Season with a spoon of honey, cinnamon, zest. Stir. If the honey is thick, then you can pre-melt it a little.
6. Chop the nuts, fry for a minute in a dry pan, sprinkle the salad on top. Serve immediately.
Healthy pumpkin dishes - useful tips and tricks
• Any pumpkin dish will be more useful if you replace regular sugar with honey. In this case, you need to add the product to an already cooked dish, since during heat treatment most of the nutrients will die.
• If you need to fry slices of pumpkin, then the product is laid only in well-warmed oil. Otherwise, a lot of juice will stand out, nothing will work.
• Frozen pumpkin cooks much faster than fresh vegetables. But the pieces from the freezer are not suitable for frying and baking, as a lot of juice will be released during thawing.
• If the pumpkin dish turns out to be grassy, does not have a pronounced taste, then spices will correct the situation. In sweet dishes, you can add lemon juice, extra sugar, honey.
