Pumpkin Walnut Bread

'Tis the season... for baking...

A lot of standard soups and stews and casseroles and breads and rolls come about this time of the year, with not many new recipes to share. I resort to comfort foods and sail through the winters without much fanfare. Except around the holidays in December, when quite a bit of baked goodies come about just to make the kids happy.

This Pumpkin Bread, much like the Zucchini bread and Apple Walnut bread and Rhubarb Banana bread and Sweet Potato bread and others that I've shared here already, is a simple no-fuss bread.

For the most part, it is a fairly standard recipe, only, I am not into adding a lot of sugar and butter. However, without the right amount of fats and sugars, baking can fail miserably... unless, I manage to substitute with the right kind of ingredients that work and that I can feel comfortable incorporating in copious amounts that is required to make it work.

Ingredients
1 can (15 ounces) pureed pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie mix)
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup combination of flax meal and wheat bran
½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For Icing:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
a few teaspoons of water as needed (or maple syrup, if preferred)

Some raw green hulled pumpkin seeds for topping

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350° F; grease the bottoms of two standard loaf pans
2. Beat together the wet ingredients: pumpkin puree, sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs
3. Mix the dry ingredients: flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, walnuts
4. Fold in the dry ingredients mix to the wet ingredients to form a thick batter
5. Pour into the greased loaf pans and bake in the 350°F oven for about an hour, checking for doneness when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
6. Cool on a wire rack and add on the icing and sprinkle some pumpkin seeds on top
7. Icing (optional): Stir a few drops of water to the icing sugar and stir till desired consistency, spread over the bread

Spinach, Cauliflower, Potato Soup with Pumpkin Rounds

Now that wintry weather is here, the sun absconding for months at a stretch, the dinners lean towards hot casseroles, soups, and fresh-from-the-oven rustic breads/rolls/dampers... there is no set combination, really. Whatever I can throw together and we are in the mood for. One of my favorites is meatless Borscht.

Creamy Cheesy Broccoli Soup is a favorite with the kids, along with Sour Dough or Rosemary-Potato Bread. Tomato Florentine with Cheese Bread. Chunky Fusilli/Rotini/Radiatori Pasta with Vegetables Soup and Herb+Olive Dampers.

The quick breads and rolls and dampers come in handy for weeknight meals. And, of course at times, artisan bakers have done the work and I just bring one of their creations home and heat and serve. I found myself addicted to Pugliese bread for a while, along with Borscht...

The Spinach, Cauliflower, Potato Soup here is quick and simple. To cut down on cooking time, I par cook the potatoes in the microwave for about 5 minutes before adding it to the soup.

Ingredients
2 medium potatoes, peeled, diced, par-cooked
2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Madras Curry powder
1 tsp coriander powder
4 cups vegetable broth/stock
2 cups water
½ cup evaporated milk (optional)
salt to taste
arrowroot powder (or cornstarch) as needed for thickening


For the Pumpkin Rounds:
2½ cups flour
3¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ tsp chopped herbs
4 Tablespoon Smart Balance Omega Butter Light (or butter)
1 egg
3/4 cup pureed pumpkin

Preparation

1. Soup: Combine the vegetables (except spinach), broth, water, spices and a tsp of salt in a large pot and bring to a boil; simmer at medium-low heat till cauliflower is tender; adjust seasonings to taste; add the spinach leaves, cover and simmer for a few more minutes; thicken as needed; off-heat stir in the evaporated milk, if using
2. Pumpkin Rounds: Pre-heat oven to 415°F; Cut in the butter into the flour+baking powder to form fine crumbs; Make a well in the center and add the beaten egg and pureed pumpkin, knead the dough till smooth; Roll it out on a dusted surface to about 2-inch thick and cut small rounds; Place in a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 mins till tops are golden and insides are done

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin and mildly sweet winter squashes are a few of my favorite winter vegetables - soups, poduthuvals, dals, risotto - I like to add them to dishes as often as I can. Pumpkin is a rich source of nutrients, high in fiber with an inherent mild sweet taste that goes well with most dishes, including sambar and pachadi - South Indian staples.

Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, Moo-less Chocolate Pie, Banana Cream Pie (and any sortof smooth-textured pudding-like pie filling), Strawberry Pie Glace are some of the kids' favorites, Cherry Pie being the least favored one.

I don't make pies often. Typically, something about the Holiday Season, with shorter days and colder weather inspires me to bake cookies, breads, and pies more often.

We made a Pumpkin pie during the Thanksgiving holidays recently. The recipe is the classic one found on the label of Libby's Canned Pumpkin.

The only simple changes I make to this famous recipe (as I have a chronic inability to follow a recipe exactly) are:

1. substitute brown sugar instead of sugar
2. only ½ cup of brown sugar instead of ¾ cup
3. use ready-made Pumpkin Spice mix

If making pie shell from scratch, I follow the standard single-crust pie pastry recipe, cook it, cool it before filling it and baking the Pumpkin pie.

Opo Squash, Zucchini, and Pumpkin in a light sauce

There is something about the combination of delicate almost watery Opo Squash with meaty semi-sweet pumpkin that I find irresistible. This probably stems from consuming a lot of Olan, a South Indian delicacy that is my mom's specialty.

We had harvested some zucchini and pumpkin from our home-garden and the combination of these reminded me of my mom's Olan very much, especially along with Opo Squash.

The kids don't enjoy it much - they'll take a bite to satisfy me and because we made it a rule to try the dish, grimaces and nose-wrinkling notwithstanding, every time I put something in front of them.

It is the simplicity of this dish that I find reflects the inherent qualities of the vegetables - no rich curry, no strong spices, just simple flavors. Of course, feel free to experiment and adjust/add flavors to taste, as always. Instead of pumpkin, can use any mildly sweet winter squash like butternut or acorn squash.

While similar to my Olan recipes, this recipe can me made into a thin soup with vegetables chopped up tinier, and using chicken stock instead of vegetable, if preferred. [Incidentally, looking back at my very old recipes, gosh! what terrible pictures! I must update them with better ones soon :)]

Ingredients
½ Opo Squash, peeled, cored, and diced
1 medium zucchini,  cored and diced
As much pumpkin  or winter squash as preferred, diced or cut into chunks
Additional vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, Chinese long green beans (optional)
vegetable stock, enough to cook the veggies
¼ to ½ cup plain low-fat milk (for a richer, slightly different flavor, can use light coconut-milk)
spices: freshly ground black pepper, turmeric
1 Tbsp coconut oil (or any other preferred oil)

Preparation

1. Heat the coconut oil in a pan, add the turmeric, then vegetables and stock, cover and simmer till vegetables are cooked but not mushy; I like the smell and flavor of coconut oil in this dish as I use milk instead of coconut-milk to finish
2. When water is all but absorbed and veggies are cooked, turn off heat,  stir in ground black pepper and milk, adjust flavors. The amount of milk depends on how runny we want the finished dish to be. For a soupy consistency, add more, naturally.
3. Garnish with cilantro and spring onions if preferred and serve warm with brown basmati rice, or plain cooked quinoa, or roti; or enjoy it as-is.

Pumpkin Risotto

I have been making my usual favorites like rasam, wholewheat pasta, injera, dosai, idlee and such but nothing new and exciting as Baby and I are just recovering from some sort of viral influenza thing... So, I casually started sifting through some old photos that I might have missed posting and found this pumpkin risotto one.

Risotto is a versatile rice dish open to variations - almost any combination of vegetables would work. This here is not quite the pumpkin risotto - Asian sweet potatoes and acorn squash stood in for pumpkin in this recipe.

Unless I use seafood/poultry explicitly (we don't care for red meat), my usual recipes are primarily vegetarian, and many of them actually turn out to be vegan. In that sense this pumpkin risotto can be classified as vegan, I guess...

For a non-vegan version, add some grated parmesan or pecorino-romano cheese, if preferred.

Ingredients
2 cups arboreo rice
6 cups vegetable stock (low sodium)
1 medium onion diced
4-5 garlic cloves crushed, minced or sliced
1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
1 medium acorn (or butternut) squash, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 medium Asian sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
salt to taste
1 Tbsp olive oil

spices/herbs:
2 Tbsp fresh chopped rosemary (reserve some for garnish)
2 Tbsp ground black pepper or cayenne pepper powder
1 Tbsp paprika powder
1 tsp nutmeg powder

Preparation

1. heat oil in a pan, add the onion, garlic and ginger, sauté till onions turn translucent
2. add the squash and sweet potato chunks, rice, stock, some salt, cook over medium heat till all water is absorbed, stirring occasionally
3. i like the creamy consistency - not too thick, sort of like porridge - so, i smash some of the squash and sweet potatoes into the rice to give it some body
4. adjust salt to taste, stir in the spices and herbs

Olan

Olan is a dish from Kerala state in India. As I don't get the 'elavan' and 'mathan' which are the primary vegetables, I substitute with Opo Squash for elavan and either butternut or acorn squash for matthan and the taste is sort of close and pretty good.



I find that opo squash (aka bottle gourd) and foo gwa are readily available in most asian stores pretty much year round; and we have a bunch of butternut and blue hubbard and sweetmeat squashes growing in our backyard this year which is sort of handy for this dish.

Basically, I look for a neutral flavored whitish squash/gourd and a sweetish yellow colored squash for this dish.

Ingredients
2 cups peeled, cored, diced opo squash (can substitute ash gourd)
2 cups peeled, cored, diced butternut squash (or, use acorn/danish squash)
2 cups chopped snake beans - cut into 1" long pieces
5-6 green chilies, slit lengthwise (less if you don't want the heat)
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup whole milk
salt to taste
water as needed, for steaming veggies

Preparation

1. heat 1 Tbsp coconut oil in a pan
2. add the snake beans and a couple of tablespoons of water, cover and let it cook till partially done (snake beans take longer to cook than opo and butternut squashes)
3. add the diced opo and butternut squash, 1 tsp salt, turmeric, coconut milk; cover and cook till squash is tender and cooked but not mushy
4. turn down the heat, add milk and slit green chilies, stir and simmer for a few minutes till well incorporated; adjust salt to taste
5. off heat stir in the rest of the coconut oil and serve warm with rice or chapathi