Pumpkin and Trick or Treating for Halloween

Because Meena’s pumpkin and shrimp curry was one of my favorite dishes during training and since Gie and Shannon made that great dinner in TBC a couple weeks ago, pumpkin has been put on a pedestal and became my next dish to accomplish. I bought my own small pumpkin last time in TBC, and have been waiting for the right time to try it out. Yesterday was the day. I had a general idea of what I needed to do from watching Meena and Gie, and then I got tips from Maisie, Mike and Ashley on how best to cook it. “Oh, pumpkins are easy,” Ashley said. “Good, it’ll boost my confidence with cooking,” I replied.

I cut into my slightly-bigger-than-a-big grapefruit-sized pumpkin and immediately start scooping out the goo with my hands. Why is it the slimyness and stench of a pumpkin is so enjoyable, when descaling a fish gives me the heebie jeebies? Then I realized it was because it was so familiar to me – I’ve de-gooed a pumpkin countless times, though never for the purpose of eating one. Every year at this time, I usually carve a pumpkin. The act is one of several things that happens in the fall, and along with the stench of pumpkin goo came the smemories of all that. Roasting pumpkin seeds in the oven, carving crazy pictures in the sides of pumpkins, the people I’ve carved with – mom and brothers, Susie, and Devon, Lacey and I’s pumpkin goo fight that one year. I remembered trips to the Pumpkin Patch, cutting out pumpkins out of orange construction paper, Halloween, pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving… Oh, I love fall. And, even though I’m away from my favorite season and all the events that encompass it, I realized last night, I still got my pumpkin.

Shannon and I talked about how pumpkin will have to be a staple once we get back into the states – how did we carve pumpkins all those years and then just throw them out without noting the goodness within? It seems so obvious to cook more with pumpkin now! And the way it’s cooked here, yum… First had to peel it and cut it into chunks. Heated oil then added curry seasoning, then onions and garlic. Added pumpkin chunks, then some water and some sugar. Let them stew for about 25 minute. Mash with a fork and stir. My first time cooking with curry and the smell was magical. I made some roti to go with it; my second roti came out better than my fist one. The pumpkin was a little too sweet and not as spicy, but it was pumpkin. And that’s how I got my pumpkin for Halloween.

Days later, still before Halloween, some girls visited my house. One, in particular, has wormed her way into my heart; she usually comes bearing bread from her grandmother, and requesting peppers and other things for her grandmother’s kitchen. She came asking for “plants” this time, so we started picking these tiny peppers that grow abundantly on a bush in my yard. Then, I think she got in the spirit of receiving, because she started asking for all the other various plants I have in my yard. “What is that, Miss?” –“Those are shallot.”- “My mother wants dem, Miss.” And of course, since she was getting all the freebies, even if they WERE just veggies not fit to eat on their own, the other little girl wanted some, too. I got them plastic bags, and we put some sorry-looking boulanger, some shallot, and the peppers into their bags, the girls resembling trick-or-treaters without costumes, I thought, with an inward smile. After the girls collected their loot, they took off for home, looking proud. Yup, trick or treating, veggie style.
Happy Halloween!