Pack a punch with pumpkin

Pumpkins also contain vitamins and nutrients including calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc.

Apart from vegetable dishes, pumpkins are used for making bread, butter, soups, muffins, pancakes, waffles, cakes, custard and cookies. It is great for making batter-fried bhajis. Roasted or fried pumpkin seeds are both nutritious and tasty and can be eaten like nuts.

Pumpkin halwa
Ingredients: 1 kg pumpkin; 2 ½ cups of milk; 1 ½ cups of sugar; 3 tbsp butter; ½ tsp cardamom powder; ½ tsp nutmeg powder and 1 cup of dry fruits (cashew nuts, almonds, walnuts, raisins).

Method: Grate the pumpkin and press hard to get rid of excess water. Heat butter and add grated pumpkin. Stir for a few minutes and add milk. Keep stirring until it becomes thick, almost dry, and add sugar, cardamom and nutmeg powder. Cook until the sugar melts and add dry fruits. Serve hot or cold.

Pumpkin chutney
Ingredients: 500 gm pumpkin; 2 cups of malt vinegar; 3 cups of water; 3 cups of sugar; 1 tsp chilli powder; 2 cardamom; ½ cup raisins; ½ cup seedless dates and salt to taste.
Method: Peel and grate the pumpkin. Cook in water along with the dates until tender. Add vinegar, sugar, salt, chilli powder and raisins. Cook until it becomes thick (ketchup consistency) and slightly golden brown in colour.