A small kabocha, or Japanese pumpkin, is a great vehicle for a dish. In fact, it becomes its own edible dish.
Hollow out a kabocha and stuff it with a combo of filling ingredients and you’ve got a colorful meal. Cut it into wedges or scoop out the filling, including the kabocha flesh, as you serve.
Be sure to save the top of the pumpkin, as that can bake with the main dish, used as a cover.
Baked Pumpkin With Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients:
• 1 (about 1-pound) whole kabocha pumpkin
• 1/2 tablespoon margarine
• 6-10 Brussels sprouts
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 4-6 cherry tomatoes
• 10 basil leaves, sliced
Directions:
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Cut top off pumpkin and remove seeds; place on baking sheet. Brush inside of pumpkin and the pumpkin top with butter. Place Brussels sprouts in separate baking pan; toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake pumpkin, pumpkin top and Brussels sprouts 20 minutes.
Add basil and cherry tomatoes to Brussels sprouts. Place mixture into the half-baked pumpkin and cover with the pumpkin top. Bake another 10 minutes. Garnish with a few more tomatoes, if desired.
Serves 2.
Approximate nutrient analysis per serving (based on 10 Brussel sprouts and tomatoes and not including salt to taste): 150 calories, 5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 60 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 9 g sugar, 5 g protein. Nutritional analysis provided by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.
The Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation is an international nonprofit with a local office in Kaimuki. Its mission of community service includes the promotion of a healthy vegetarian lifestyle. To learn more, visit facebook.com/hawaiitzuchi or call 808-737-8885.
