Pumpkin zupa

Some people consider the word ‘zupa’ to be slang but in fact, it’s simply Polish for ‘soup’. The word is widely used in Western Ukraine and the reason for this is the region’s love for numerous soups. Pumpkin zupa is one of the Ukrainian autumn classics and has a pretty easy recipe.

Ingredients:

• 25 g of butter
• 300 g of pumpkin
• 50 g of salo (fat)
• 2 potatoes
• 1 celery root
• 1 carrot
• 1 parsley root
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 onion salt pepper

Preparation:

1. Melt butter. Add a little olive oil.
2. Cut potatoes and pumpkin into large pieces. Add celery root, then carrot, parsley root, chopped onion and bell pepper. Fry until a light crust appears on the mixture.
3. Add vegetable broth or water enough to barely cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil and then cook on a small fire until the vegetables become soft.
4. Using a blender, mash the vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Put the soup on the stove, bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. 6. Lightly fry salo (fat) on a pan. Add onions.
6. Serve zupa with pieces of salo (fat) and onions.

Pumpkin halushky

Halushky is a famous Ukrainian dish made of dough pieces boiled in water. The fillings range from mushrooms and potatoes to pumpkin. This recipe also combines pumpkin and cheese.

Ingredients:

• 250g of cheese
• 100 g flour
• 1 egg
• 200 g pumpkin pulp
• salt
• pepper

Preparation:

1. Break the egg, grate cheese in the mixture, salt and pepper.
2. Finely chop pumpkin and bake in the oven until it’s soft. Alternatively, boil pumpkin until its soft.
3. Mash the pumpkin. Add cheese, flour and make the dough.
4. Form a ‘sausage’ and cut into pieces.
5. Cook in boiling water for 5 minutes. Serve with butter and sour cream.

Pumpkin pancakes

Plump and delicious, pumpkin pancakes are a simple autumn recipe to try on a weekend. You can choose whether to make accents sweet or sour by adding honey or different jams.

Ingredients:

• 200 g of pumpkin
• 1 glass of flour
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• half a teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1 glass of kefir
• salt

Preparation:

1. Cut the pumpkin, bake in the oven or a microwave until its soft. Mash the pumpkin.
2. Sift flour, add salt, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix in the egg, add kefir and pumpkin puree. Mix thoroughly.
3. Preheat the frying pan, smear with butter. Form pancakes with the mixture and fry on both sides.
4. Serve with honey or jam.

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Pumpkin pie

The classic Thanksgiving dish, pumpkin pie, is widely spread in the North America during autumn season. It is served as a whole dish or added to sweeten coffee, french toasts, pancakes and even ice cream. The pumpkin pie recipe actually dates back to the 19th century when it was brought by the Pilgrims to the United States.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 2 cups of pumpkin pulp purée from a sugar pumpkin
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream or one 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
• 1 good crust

Preparation:

1. Preheat your oven to 425°F.
2. Beat eggs, mix in sugars, salt, spices, lemon zest: Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Mix in the brown sugar, white sugar, salt, spices—cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, ground cloves, cardamom, and lemon zest.
3. Add pumpkin and cream: Mix in the pumpkin purée. Stir in the cream. Beat together until everything is well mixed.
4. Pour into pie shell and bake: Pour the filling into an uncooked chilled or frozen pie shell. Bake at a high temperature of 425°F for 15 minutes.
5. Then after 15 minutes, lower the temperature to 350°F. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes more. The pie is done when the center of the filling reaches 175°F (79°C) when measured with an instant read thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer, a knife tip inserted in the center comes should come out wet but relatively clean, and the center of the pie should still be a little bit jiggly. (About half-way through the baking, you may want to put foil around the edges or use a pie protector to keep the crust from getting too browned.)
6. Cool on a rack: Cool the pumpkin pie on a wire rack for 2 hours. Note that the pumpkin pie will come out of the oven all puffed up (from the leavening of the eggs), and will deflate as it cools.
7. Serve with whipped cream.

Pumpkin porridge with rice

A pretty traditional meal for modern Ukraine, pumpkin porridge with rice is well-spread in all regions all over the country. It’s often prepared for kids but adults adore it as well.

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of peeled diced pumpkin
• 1 liter of milk (or 500 ml of milk and 500 ml of water)
• 200 grams of white or brown rice
• 2 tablespoons of chopped garlic
• paprika (optional)
• salt
• 3 tablespoons of butter (optional)

Preparation:

1. Boil pumpkin until soft. Mash with a blender or a fork.
2. Boil milk and add rice in. Mix while the porridge is boiling. Add paprika for spicing if you want.
3. Add pumpkin puree into the porridge. Add butter for the softer taste if you want. If the porridge is too dense, add some water from the boiled pumpkin.

Pumpkin puree

How to make pumpkin puree? It's actually pretty easy. See for yourself. The recipe has only four steps yet the dish can be used as a base for stews, pasta, soups, rice dishes and much more. The trick to this recipe is to not let the pumpkin get cold before scooping out the plump - once its cold, it's difficult to do.

Ingredients:

• 1 sugar pumpkin (3-pound pumpkin equals about 1 cup of puree)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Cut the pumpkin in half, stem to base. Remove seeds and pulp. Cover each half with foil.
3. Bake in the preheated oven, foil side up, 1 hour, or until tender.
4. Scrape pumpkin meat from shell halves and puree in a blender. Strain to remove any remaining stringy pieces.
5. Store in the freezer in freezer safe bags.

Baked pumpkin with mushrooms

Cooking in the oven is often overlooked — yet it’s one of the easiest and healthiest ways to prepare dishes. Besides, the recipe that includes oven is perfect to prepare delicious pumpkin. 

Ingredients:

• 500 g of pumpkin
• 200 g of mushrooms
• 2 pieces of puff pastry
• 5 eggs
• 200 ml of cream
• 20 g butter
• 100g white dry wine
• black ground pepper
• salt

Preparation:

1. Finely chop mushrooms, fry in oil. Add spices, wine and braise on a medium heat under the lid until ready. Let mushrooms cool down a bit.
2. Peel pumpkin, take seeds out and cut into cubes.
3. Take one egg, separate yolk and white. Put yolk away in a glass. Take other eggs and whip them with cream.
4. Mix mushrooms, pumpkin, eggs and mix thoroughly.
5. Put the first dough sheet into an oiled baking form, forming tall walls. Put the filling in and cover it with the second dough sheet. Pinch the edges and smear with yolk.
6. Put in the oven preheated to 180°С for 40 minutes.

Pumpkin spice latte

Pumpkin spice latte is almost synonymous with autumn and coziness when it comes to the contemporary coffee culture in the USA. The drink was invented by Starbucks and stays one of its autumn best sellers.

Ingredients:

• 250 ml of coffee (espresso)
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 3 tablespoons of mashed pumpkin
• 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
• sugar to taste
• ground cinnamon

Preparation:

1. Make the pumpkin puree: first, bake pumpkin until it becomes soft. Mash the pumpkin with a blender.
2. Mix the milk and mashed pumpkin in a pot and boil for 30 seconds. You can do the same in a microwave.
3. Add sugar, vanilla sugar and cinnamon. Pour the mixture into a cup and make foam with a blender.
4. Add coffee to the milk mixture. Add some more cinnamon to decorate the drink.

Sources: 1plus1.ua, holos.fm, milkalliance.com.ua, tsn.ua, mirta.ua, simplyrecipes.com, jessicagavin.com, allrecipes.com.
Photo sources: gazeta.ua, shutterstock.com, unsplash.com, depositphotos.com. All images belong to their rightful authors.

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