03/10/2021
Stuffed Pumpkins with Cheesy Wild Fennel Rice Mix
The nights are drawing in, leaves are falling from the trees, Strictly Come Dancing is back on the TV and that can only mean one thing… Autumn is here.
We love Autumn, and ever since eating stuffed pumpkins whilst at our good friends house the humble pumpkin has become a staple in our house. So much so we thought we’d share our recipe with you so you can share this Autumnal delight.
Ingredients & equipment
Mini pumpkins (not the genetically freakish ones people use for Halloween)
Wild Rice - any rice will do and if you’re pressed for time you can use packet straight to wok rice. There’s no shame in being busy. Make sure you have enough rice for how many people are eating
1 Large Onion - we use red but white will do fine
2/3 Garlic Cloves - depends on preference this, we live near vampires so the more the better
Cooking apple (peeled)
Cashew nuts
Fennel seed
Cumin seed
Dried Rosemary
Red Wine Vinegar
Lemon - for juicing
Vegan Natural Yogurt - Alpro one we used for this
Vegan cheese - Violife extra mature is our favourite for melting
Salt and pepper - for seasoning
Olive oil
Baking pan
Method
We’re just going to start by saying, there will be no measurements in this recipe. We get sick and tired of seeing too many exacting measurements, and we think this is the perfect opportunity to express yourself and do things by eye, and how you think you’ll want the dish to taste. It’s also a great recipe for kids to do with you because they love scooping the “brains” out of the pumpkins.
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 200C. Then slice the top off the pumpkin (keep the lid), scoop out all the seeds, piff and brains. You can cook the seeds but we used ours to feed the hedgehog in the garden (and the squirrels too no doubt). Dollop some oil in bottom of baking pan, brush the insides and outsides of your pumpkin (and the lids too) in oil then roast everything in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes.
Step 2 - after around 30 minutes start cooking the stuffing by doing the following:
Fry the onion until soft, add the garlic and chopped apple (peeled) with the fennel seed, cumin seed, and rosemary
When soft add you cashew nuts and a splash of red wine vinegar
Then add your cooked rice (remember to cook your rice before this stage if not using pre cooked rice) and add a touch of water to avoid the mix drying out. Cook the mix until is thoroughly cooked through then take off the heat
add in a generous amount of grated vegan cheese, stir through, then add a good few dollops of vegan yogurt and mix again until you have a creamy/cheesy mix
Season with salt and pepper, squeeze half your lemon in and save other half for serving
Step 3 - now that should be around the 45 minute mark, so remove your pumpkins, stuff with the mix and return to the oven for 15 minutes
Serve with the lids on, make sure you eat the pumpkin from the lids too as it’s delicious. Serve with lemon, other veg, bread or eat as is. Kids love this one and it is a super hearty meal.
Drop us a message if you have any questions, and remember Strictly Come Dancing is optional.x
