Pumpkin Rice - Children's Health Food

Pumpkin Rice - Children's Health Food

Pumpkins are very popular in cooking. It can be fried, boiled, steamed, baked and even roasted. Small pumpkins can be eaten as squash or zucchini. Mashed pumpkin can be used in soup. In Middle East, pumpkin is used for making desserts such as halawa and yaqtin. In China, the leaves of pumpkin are used as an ingredient in soups. In India, kadu ka halwa is made from pumpkin, butter, sugar and other spices. In Japan, some take the pumpkin to serve as tempura. In Australia, pumpkin is commonly roasted before consumed. In Italy, pumpkin is used with cheeses for ravioli. In Thailand, small pumpkins are steamed with custard, sugar and coconut milk mix to become a Thai dessert - pumpkin custard.

Usually, kids like to eat pumpkin. It might be due to its sweetness taste and the cheerful color - orange. My kid likes to eat pumpkin meals as well. My wife started feeding him with pumpkin meals since he was 1 year old.

Now, he is six years old and still likes to eat pumpkin very much. Pumpkin is his favorite food, and no matter the meal prepared in soup, porridge, rice, steam or stir fry, he will always ask for pumpkin.

I would like to share with you one of the simplest and easiest way to prepare pumpkin cooking. You can prepare it in meal box and let your children bring them to school. Normally, I will add it with green peas to make the dish looked better and also more nutritious. Here is the Pumpkin Rice recipe.

Cooking Methods: (servings for 4 to 5 people)

Ingredients:

a) white rice 160g rinse clean and take off the water
b) Pumpkin 220g removed skin and cut into cube
c) Chicken breast 130g cut into cube
d) Dried mushroom 7 pcs soak till soft, rinse off the water and cut into cube
e) Dried prawn 35g soak till soft, rinse off the water
f) Onion small 5 pcs, cut slices
g) Water 350ml ( including water of soaking mushroom &dried prawns)
h) Green onion few

Seasoning materials:

a) Soya Sauce 1 ½ tbsp
b) Dark Soya Sauce 1 tbsp
c) Salt half of tsp
d) Sesame oil 2 tsp
e) Pepper 1 tsp

Method:

1. Marinate chicken breast with few starch flour and soya sauce together with sugar for about 30 minutes.
2. Heat up the oil, fry onion small until fragrance and ready to use.
3. Heats up the oil again, fry fried prawns with low flame and add in mushrooms continue by put in the chicken. Stir fry till half cook; add in white rice and the seasoning materials. Put into rice cooker and add in water and cook till 80%.
4. After that, add in pumpkin and onion that fried earlier and cook the rice till dry.
5. Loosen out the rice，put some green onions when ready to serve.
6. Completed.

Cooking Tips:

1. Australia pumpkin normally easy to cook than local pumpkin, hence don't cut too small, around 1.5cm to 2 cm will do.
2. Separate the fried onion to two servings, one can pour into the ingredients while half cook, another servings can use when ready to eat. This will help the taste.
3. Chicken breast can replace by chicken thigh.
4. Water levels that use to cook rice depend on the type of rice that you use. Use the normal cooking water level as reference
5. Use fresh mushrooms, put them into hot water, then rinse off.
6. if use pot to cook, you can follow the same method (1) to (3), put all ingredients (except pumpkin & fried onion) into pot, put in appropriate water and cook till water is boiled. Don't use too big flame, change to medium flame till water dry off, continue by low flame and add on the pumpkin and fried onion. You may want to stir it from time to time so that the rice won't stick to the pot.