Pumpkin stuffed with sweet pilaf
4 servings
30 minutes
A festive version of pilaf, which has no meat, but lots of raisins, pine nuts and apple pieces. The pumpkin serves not only as a container for baking in the oven, but also as an important ingredient - without its pulp and garlic, the rice would taste too dessert-like. The recipe is more of an Azerbaijani one, but this is how pilaf is prepared throughout the Caucasus. One of those dishes that serve as a table decoration, but also requires a lot of effort.
1
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Pour water over the rice and boil until half-cooked. Drain the water, rinse the rice with cold water, and place it in a bowl.
- Short-grain (round) rice: 1 glass
2
Add washed raisins, pine nuts, and peeled, julienned apple to the rice. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and salt. Drizzle with melted butter and mix.
- Raisins: 190 g
- Pine nuts: 70 g
- Apple: 1 piece
- Sugar: 1 tablespoon
- Ground cinnamon: 1 teaspoon
- Salt: to taste
- Butter: 70 g
3
Cut the top off the pumpkin like a lid and set it aside. Use a spoon and knife to remove the seeds and fibers from the pumpkin. Place the pumpkin in the oven for 30 minutes. Then fill the pumpkin with rice filling, add an unpeeled head of garlic, and cover it with the reserved top like a lid.
- Pumpkin: 2 kg
- Garlic: 1 head
4
If the pumpkin is elongated, place it in a greased pot with high sides; if it's round, just put it in a greased dish — the main thing is that it stands upright. Bake for about forty minutes. When serving, scoop the pilaf onto plates, including the pumpkin flesh.
- Butter: 70 g
