Pumpkin Rice

If you’ve never had pumpkin before, you should really give it a chance. I don’t recall my mum cooking any pumpkin dish until I was almost 12 or older. In the beginning, I hated it because I thought it’s like eating savoury sweet potato. I don’t really remember how I grew to love it but it was probably the time when I tasted pumpkin rice which my colleague brought into the office for her breakfast. Since then, I’ve decided I should give this squash a second chance and knowing how much nutrient you get from it makes it easier. It’s full of anti-oxidants, beta carotene (which converts to Vitamin A), niacin, vitamin E, calcium and iron!

Well, the next time you’re feeling tired to prepare a 3-4 dishes meal, try this one pot meal. The pumpkin brings subtle sweetness to the rice and blends in really well with dried shrimps and mushrooms (just like yam). In a way, this is like an adaptation from yam rice but I added some carrot as I love to have more vegetables in my meal.


Ingredients:
Rice (I used brown rice)
Pumpkin (cut into cubes)
Carrot
Dried Shrimps (soaked and chopped)
Shallots
Dried Mushroom (soaked and cut into small pieces)
Bean Paste (~1 tbsp)
Dark Soy Sauce
Oyster Sauce
Salt
Sugar
Pepper
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat some oil and saute shallots.
2. Add in dried shrimps and stir fry till fragrant.
3. Add in mushroom and carrot. Stir fry for 1 min.
4. Add in pumpkin.
5. Season with bean paste, oyster sauce, sugar, dark soy sauce and pepper.
6. Pour in the rice and mix well. Add in enough water (this really requires some agak-agak skill because you’ll need to add a little extra water than you usually need to cook the rice).
7. Season with a little salt.
8. Transfer everything to the rice cooker and cook rice as usual.