Most Delicious Thanksgiving Recipe - Rice Stuffed Pumpkin

This beautiful looking stuffed pumpkin makes a great vegetarian main dish for the holidays or a side dish for your roast. Filled with a delicious mixture of rice, vegetables, nuts and berries, this pumpkin in all its orange round glory is just beautiful.

 Here’s what you need to prepare this amazing holiday feast.

Ingredients

• 4 kg Pumpkin
• 1 cup Pride of India Basmati Rice 
• 2 tbsps. olive oil
• 2 onions finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic crushed
• 3 tsps ground cumin
• 3 tsps ground coriander
• 250 g haloumi cut into cubes
• 2 tblsps lemon juice
• 1 cup chopped mint leaves
• 1 cup chopped coriander leaves
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup pine nuts toasted
• 1 cup Greek yogurt to serve

Let’s get cooking:

Pumpkin Prep:

• Measure 4cm out from stalk of pumpkin and mark a circle, now use a sharp knife to cut along circle and remove the top (set it aside for now)
• Remove seeds and membrane, once done you can return top to pumpkin.
• Wrap it in foil and place it on an oven tray.
• Cook in a moderate oven (180C) for 1 hour, 30 minutes, or until just tender.
• Remove. Unwrap foil. Remove lid. Cool slightly.

Cooking Rice:

• Soak rice for 15-20 minutes. 
• Rinse thoroughly and drain water. 
• Add water to a wide pot and heat on low uncovered. 
• Once the water is at the level of the rice, cover the pot. 
• Cook until just tender and drain well.

Now we have an empty pumpkin and cooked rice.

• Spoon out 1 cup of pumpkin flesh. Chop it roughly.
• Heat oil in a frying pan. Add onions and garlic, stir it until it is soft. Add spices and haloumi. Keep stirring it, until golden. Stir in lemon juice. Transfer to a bowl.
• Add rice, chopped pumpkin, herbs, raisins, and nuts. Season it with salt and pepper and mix it well.
• Spoon the mixture into pumpkin. Wrap the pumpkin and lid, separately, in foil and place it on a greased oven tray.
• Cook it in a moderate oven (180C) for 30 minutes.
• Add lid. Cook for a further 30 minutes, or until tender.
• Let it Stand for 5 minutes.
• It’s time to remove the foil and serve this beauty!
• We recommend you serve it whole, with or without lid, with yogurt.