VEG-TABLE/CHANA MASALA PUMPKIN POTS
Orange and black! Visually, everything about this dish screams Halloween to me and I even considered carving these little pumpkin pots into jack-o’-lanterns. In this recipe, roasted sugar pie pumpkins are filled with chana masala and then served over a bed of warm forbidden rice. For Thanksgiving or any fall dinner, this makes a delicious and seasonally spectacular entrée.
The recipe is available in my cookbook, Veg-Table (Chronicle Books/October 2023)
Serves 4
4 Tbsp/60 ml extra-virgin olive oil or ghee
2 large/total weight 600 g yellow or white onions, thinly sliced2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp garam masala homemade or store-bought
1 tsp whole cumin
½ tsp ground turmeric
¼ cup/60 g tomato paste
Two 14 oz/400 g cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 small sugar pie pumpkins/each about 2 lb/910g
fine sea salt
1 cup/100g of black/forbidden rice, rinsed and drained
A few sprigs of fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp toasted salted pumpkin seeds
To prepare the chana masala, heat 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil or ghee in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add and sauté, the onions until they turn translucent, 4 to 7 minutes. Add and sauté the garlic, ginger, garam masala, cumin, and turmeric and cook until fragrant, 30 to 45 seconds. Add and sauté the tomato paste And cook until the tomato paste starts to brown, 2 to 3 minutes, reducing the heat as necessary to avoid scorching. Fold in the chickpeas and 1 cup/240ml water and heat until the chickpeas are warmed through. Using an immersion blender, pulse for a few seconds to break some of the chickpeas up. This will help thicken the liquid. Don’t overdo this but if you end up making it too thick, stir in ½ cup/120ml water. Stir in the lemon juice and scrape the bottom of the pot to incorporate any browned bits that remain. Taste and season with fine sea salt
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C.
Cut about 1 in/2.5cm of the top of the pumpkins to form a lid. Core and remove the seeds (How to Toast Pumpkin Seeds) and stringy materials (freeze and use to make vegetable stock). Brush the inside of the pumpkin and the tops with the remaining 2 Tbsp of olive oil and salt. Place the pumpkins and their lids, cut side up on a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan and roast them in the preheated oven until the flesh is tender and easily pierced by a skewer or fork and golden brown, 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven.
While the pumpkins roast, cook the rice, bring the rice, 2 ½ cups/600ml water, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer covered until all the water is absorbed by the grains and they turn tender, 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from the heat and let rest for 15 minutes covered.
To serve, transfer the rice on a serving plate. Carefully transfer the pumpkins (be careful, they will be very delicate once roasted and can easily collapse) on top of the rice, a sturdy slotted fish spatula will be your friend. Divide and fill the chana masala between the two pumpkins. Garnish the chana masala with the cilantro. Top the rice with the pumpkin seeds and serve immediately or warm with a carving knife.
Notes
If you don't want to serve these as "pots", slice the pumpkin into thick wedges and roast them in the oven. Top the wedges with the chana masala.
Forbidden rice or black rice is a medium-grain rice that gets its dark purple-almost black - color from the anthocyanin pigment. Buy it online or in Asian markets.
Tomato paste is an essential staple to keep in your pantry. It's a wonderful shortcut when you need a concentrated spot of tomato flavor and don't have time to cook down the tomatoes for a long period. Buy it in tubes; they're easier to use and store than cans.