Guyana-style Pumpkin
I am going to give a hand at this recipe, which is a sweet and spicy butternut squash dish. It is simple to make, but can take a long time. If you have any additions to this web page or recipe changes, please email me, so I can fix them right away! (Or just leave a comment).
Pumpkin
Ingredients:
- 1 whole butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped well.
- water to cover
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp cumin seed
- ~1 tbsp garam masala
- ~1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon or 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1-2 whole hot peppers
Directions:
Peel and seed butternut squash, then chop into small pieces. Put some oil on the bottom of a stockpot and heat until hot, add the onion, garlic, and cumin seed and fry until fragrant. Add the pumpkin and fry to caramelize and seal (about 3 minutes). Fill the stockpot with water until squash is just barely covered. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Add spices and sugar, cover, and simmer until squash is soft, about an hour. Stir occasionally.
At this point, the squash should be absorbing the water and turning into a mash. Continue to stir the pumpkin until it is well combined with the water. Taste the pumpkin at this point and if it is getting spicy you can remove the hot peppers. Continue to simmer until thick, another 10 minutes; it will be a little less thick than mashed potatoes when fully cooked.
Serve with roti and rice while still hot. Also good for breakfast with bakes and egg.
So I have spent a lot of time perfecting this recipe- Jaci has been complaining that the recipe as it stood before was not correct. I have updated this post to be more accurate, but let me describe the problem so that you can be well armed to make this delicious dish- I don’t know how big your pumpkin is! If you have a small pumpkin, it is very easy to over spice the dish, and if you have a big one, easy to under spice. So here is my tip:
Use equal amounts of garam masala and brown sugar- you want a spicy sweet combination. The final color of the pumpkin should be a golden auburn- not brown, not yellow this will help you measure your spice. Start with small spice, then add more to taste, but make sure you get it in after the boil so that the spices cook in!
Ask Jaci- I feel that I have perfected this by now- now I just have to work on my roti…
Thank you for posting this recipe, going to try it today!
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that your site thus far has been the best one for Guyanese recipes. I’m a Canadian but I was in Guyana in 2008 and I experienced so much good food, and learned to cook a bit of it myself. Other sites use different names for the dishes, but your site uses the names that I learned, like bakes, roti, solara, and pumpkin curry. I’m going to try your recipes and hopefully they taste like the Guyana I remember!
Lynn, I’m glad you’re enjoying it! Let me know how the food turns out! The pumpkin recipe is especially tricky- my entire family debates on exactly what to put in it, and since no one measures anything- it gets pretty heated! Stay tuned- I’m editing a Guyana cooking video that we produced to put on the website soon!