Ingredients:
1 medium size whole pumpkin, cut into four. Cut again each quarter into half. Total 8 pieces. Do not peel skin. Remove seeds.
1 1/2 cup palm sugar/ maple syrup
2 pieces screw pine leaves (pandan)
25 pieces cloves
1 cm young ginger root- chiffanade (paper thin slices)
A pinch of salt- I prefer the Himalaya rock salt
The way to do it:
Fill up a large pot with water and boil the pumpkin (submerged) until cooked, not too soft. You may test- poke a bit with a tiny stick, if it feels soft, then its cooked.
Carefully take out each piece from the water (avoid breaking) and place on individual serving plates. I serve 2 pieces per plate. Set aside.
Use a small pan and add 3 cups of water. Add in palm sugar, salt, ginger, knotted screw pine leaves (pandan) and cloves. Stir until sugar dissolves. Here, we get fresh and pure palm sugar and it’s flavor is most suitable for making desserts.
Pour the syrup onto the pumpkin when ready to eat.
You may use maple syrup instead. Over here maple syrup is rather a much more expensive imported ingredient.
This is a vintage recipe from the Malays of Malaysia. It is a sweet, savory and fragrant dessert, best for tea… better yet chamomile tea or chamomile tea with lemon.
THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF PUMPKIN:
Pumpkin, a low calorie vegetable, is rich in beta carotene (anti oxidant).Usually, the darker the skin, the higher the beta carotene content.
It is an excellent source of vitamin A, a great source of vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber.
Also contains vitamin B1, B3, B5 and B6 and Omega 3 fatty acids.
Beta carotene is of red, orange and yellow pigments called carotenoids, provides approximately 50% of our body’s vitamin A requirement.
Beta carotene helps prevent certain cancers, heart disease, cataracts, Alzheimer disease, depression, heartburn , parkinson and rheumatoid arthritis.
Beta carotene SUPPLEMENTS are not recommended for general use.
Preventing bronchitis and difficulty breathing in smokers- beta carotene from food helps, but beta carotene from SUPPLEMENTS do not
There are so many health benefits which i have earlier posted on this in greater details at
http://recipesdream.blogspot.com/2011/06/winter-squash-bread-recipe-squash.html- Follow RecipesDream
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