Tray bake pumpkin wedge rice salad
I love a pumpkin wedge because of the drama it brings to the table. When cooking for a crowd, pumpkin’s a helpful hero for vego guests, because you can treat it much like a big hunk of meat by roasting until burnished and softened through the middle. You can even ‘marinate’ it, as I’ve done, just like you would a chicken for the tandoor. If you can’t be bother faffing about with spices, use half a jar of tandoori paste and jazz it up with yoghurt and fresh minced garlic and ginger.
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Ingredients
- ¼ Kent / Jap pumpkin (approx 900g) cut into 4 equal wedges
- 2 brown onions thinly sliced against the grain
- 3 cloves garlic unpeeled
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil rice bran or grapeseed
- 3 sprigs of curry leaves reserving a handful for garnish
Spiced yoghurt marinade
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala
- ¼ tsp chilli flakes or powder you can always add more
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 3 tsp paprika
- 1 garlic clove finely grated
- Small thumb of ginger approx 15g finely grated
- 3 tbsp yoghurt
- Zest and juice of ½ a lemon
- 2 tbsp oil
- ½ tsp salt
Baked rice
- 1 ½ cups of basmati rice
- ½ cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 3 cardamon pods
- ½ turmeric
Coriander yoghurt drizzle
- ½ bunch coriander tendrils reserved for the top
- 1 small garlic clove
- ¼ tsp salt flakes
- cracked pepper
- 1 cup natural yoghurt
- Juice of half a lemon
Final bits and bobs
- Fried curry leaves
Instructions
- For the marinade, pop all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix together, checking for seasoning. Plonk in the pumpkin wedges and coat them liberally. Leave to get friendly while you potter about with the rest of the components.
- Add sliced onions, whole garlic cloves, curry leaves, vegetable oil and a good pinch of salt flakes to a deep roasting tray and mix. Place tandoori pumpkin on top, drizzling any leftover marinade over the pumpkin/onions and pop in the oven at 190℃ (170℃ fan) for 50 mins. Check halfway through and mix the onions through to give them an even soften.
- While the oven’s doing its thing, in a medium sized saucepan add rice, whole spices and 1 tsp of salt flakes. Cover with triple the amount of water to rice and place onto a high heat. Bring to a gentle boil and parcook for approximately 6 minutes. You want the rice to be slightly tender as it will finish cooking when in the oven. Strain off the water, reserving all of the spices.
- Once the pumpkin’s softened and getting a bit of burnish, transfer the pumpkin and whole unpeeled garlic cloves out of the tray for a moment. Pour the rice mixture in with the reserved spices, onion, release the garlic from their skins and pop back in, squashing slightly, mixing all together. Add in 1 cup of water, ¼ teaspoon more turmeric and another 1 teaspoon of salt flakes. Mix it all together thoroughly, taste for seasoning and then add the pumpkin pieces back on.
- Whack back into the oven for another 25 minutes. Keep an eye on the rice, check it’s not burning and when done check the pumpkin is cooked through - no one likes al-dente pumpkin. If your pumpkin needs longer, transfer to another roasting tray and pop back in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
- While the pumpkin is cooking, make the coriander yoghurt. Combine everything in a jug and whiz with a stick blender until smooth. Taste for seasoning.
- In a small frypan or the wiped out saucepan used for the rice, add in 2 tbsp of neutral oil, bring to a heat gently. Line a plate with paper towel. When the oil is hot, gently add in the curry leaves and fry for only 5 seconds, stirring quickly so all sides get coated with oil. Pop on the paper towel until needed.
- To finish the dish, sprinkle over reserved coriander tendrils and fried curry leaves and dollop on coriander yoghurt or serve on the side.
Notes
Tips
I like to use basmati – white or brown, as the rice in this dish. Brown basmati will take slightly longer to cook, so do check the pack. You could also give wild rice a go, but just remember to up the cooking time again, according to the packet instructions, as wild rice takes even longer to cook. If you’ve got some cooked long-grain rice in the fridge, refresh it with the spices and a good splash of water and reheat in the oven and it’ll be good as new.
I use star anise quite a bit in both savouries and sweets – it’s got a uniquely liquorice warmth, without overpowering. You’ll find it in everything from Chinese five spice to Middle Eastern pilaf to classic poached fruits like the quinces. Like “caramelising” it can also help to activate the compounds in other ingredients, like making onions taste “meatier”, according to Harold McGee, which is why they’re used in tandem, either in spice form or in the spirits star anise is a main component of like Pernod, Ouzo and Pastis. Buying a pack of star anise won’t cost the earth, and will also last for ages in the cupboard due to its woodiness.
