table talk

The pumpkin parade

1 Comment
By Gina Colburn Goto

Pumpkin season is here! Halloween, Thanksgiving … many fall events involve pumpkins. But when it comes to cooking with pumpkin, what is in your repertoire? Yes, I love pumpkin pie, but how about leaving your friends in awe with these pretty fabulous pumpkin dishes, one sweet and the other savory. Whether you have half a can of pumpkin puree sitting around, a cupboard full of pumpkin pie filling, the stringy insides of a Jack-o-lantern, you can transform them into something other than the good old (boring) pumpkin pie.

The first recipe is a low-fat chiffon cake that is very light. The trick is to making really stiff meringue. Serve a slice with rum-infused whipped cream to impress your health-conscious guests at your next Thanksgiving dinner.

Carrot Banana Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

2 eggs (separate into yolks and whites) 100g sugar 120cc vegetable oil 50cc milk 1 banana (mashed) 1 carrot (grated) 30g pumpkin puree 20g sugar 140g flour 2tsp cinnamon 1tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt

  1. Add sugar (80g) to egg yolks. Beat well.
  2. Slowly, add oil to the egg yolk mixture.
  3. Add milk to the bananas, carrots and pumpkin.
  4. Add sugar (100g) to egg whites. Beat well to make a meringue.
  5. Add 1/3 of the meringue to the banana mixture.
  6. After combining dry ingredients and sifting, add to the mixture. Do not mix too much to keep the air in the meringue.
  7. Bake in a preheated oven at 170c for 30 to 40 min.
  8. Serve with whipped cream.

The second recipe is a fancy, layered soup served chilled. The bottom layer is a yellow bell pepper and sweet corn flan. Poured on top is pumpkin soup made with butter and sautéed onions. Go the extra mile to make a consommé jelly to top the beautiful “yellow soup”. Your guests will be wow-ing as they dig into this beautiful yet surprisingly easy to make dish. Of course, you can just make the soup portion of this recipe and serve piping hot with some crusty bread or crackers.

Chilled Layered Yellow Soup

Flan: 1 large yellow bell pepper ½ onion 100g corn 50cc chicken broth 50cc milk 50cc heavy cream 8g gelatin

Soup: 200g pumpkin (fresh or canned) ½ onion 20g butter 200cc chicken broth 150cc milk 100cc heavy cream Salt and pepper to taste

Consommé jelly: 200cc consommé soup 5g gelatin

  1. Roast the bell pepper in an oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Peel skin, deseed and cut into small pieces.
  2. Sauté onions in a pan with a little bit of oil. Add corn.
  3. Put bell pepper, onion and corn into a blender to make a puree.
  4. Add milk and cream. Add gelatin.
  5. Pour into glasses and chill until firm.
  6. Melt butter in pan and sauté onions.
  7. Add pumpkin and broth and simmer until the pumpkin is tender.
  8. Add milk and cream.
  9. Put into blender until smooth. Chill.
  10. Heat up consommé and add gelatin.
  11. Chill in a pan until very firm.
  12. Pour soup on top of the flan. Top with consommé jelly and any green garnish.

Happy pumpkin season!

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


1 Comment
Login to comment

Great recipe, but where is my oven? Not included with the typical apartment. Any way to cook this over my gas two-burner range????

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites