Pumpkin with rice and dried fruits
4 servings
150 minutes
In Armenian, stuffed pumpkin is called ghapama, it is always cooked with rice, sometimes with chicken or meat, and if fasting days come, then with dried fruits and other non-fasting fillings. All the same, it turns out not a meal , but an injection of good mood: sweet pilaf, generously seasoned with dried apricots, raisins, nuts and fragrant spices, is packed into a red pumpkin head greased with honey on the inside. With the exception of the preparatory stage, ghapama does not require any active participation at all - all the contents languish inside the pumpkin, soaking in sweetness and the aromas of cinnamon and cardamom. Recipe from Sergey Navasartov, chef of the Noev Kovcheg restaurant.
1
Boil the rice until al dente.
- Aromatic long-grain white rice: 500 g
2
Soak the dried fruits, then chop and lightly fry in vegetable oil, add honey and spices.
- Dried apricots: 30 g
- Raisins: 20 g
- Dried cranberries: 20 g
- Dates: 30 g
- Nuts: 25 g
- Vegetable oil: 50 ml
- Honey: 50 g
- Cardamom: 5 g
- Cinnamon: 5 g
3
Cut off the top of the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and pulp.
- Pumpkin: 3 kg
4
Grease the inner walls of the pumpkin with honey.
- Honey: 50 g
5
Layer rice and dried fruits inside, add ground cinnamon and cardamom.
- Aromatic long-grain white rice: 500 g
- Dried apricots: 30 g
- Raisins: 20 g
- Dried cranberries: 20 g
- Dates: 30 g
- Nuts: 25 g
- Cardamom: 5 g
- Cinnamon: 5 g
6
Put the top back in place, wrap the pumpkin in foil, and send it to a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 1.5–2 hours. The pumpkin should be soft, and the rice inside should be fluffy.
7
Place the cooked pumpkin on a tray, remove the lid, and slice it without cutting all the way through so that it opens like a flower.
