Recipes make most of plentiful pumpkins

Halloween may have passed but it’s still the season of pumpkins. Two readers have suggestions for making the most of it.

Lee A. Tonouchi, the “pidgin guerrilla,” came up with this twist on deep-fried mochi.

“I planning on bringing ‘em to my family stuff for Thanksgiving,” he said.

This is his pidgin recipe.

PUMPKIN MOCHI BALLS

By Lee A. Tonouchi

• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1-1/2 cups can kine pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
• 1 (16-ounce) box mochiko
• Vegetable oil, for frying

>> Coating

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice

In one bowl go dissolve da sugar in da water. Add da pumpkin and pumpkin spice and mix ‘em. Den add da mochiko and mix ‘em super good.

Heat oil to 350 degrees.

Scoop da mixture into 1-inch balls and fry up until brown. Let ‘em cool little while.

Mix da coating in-gre-da-ments, den roll da balls in dat. No taste as ono when not fresh so make sure you enjoy ’em while dey hot. Kdens. Makes about 50 mochi balls.

STAR-ADVERTISER READER Mandy Blake Bowers started with a recipe for spiced pumpkin soup from “The Vegetable Market Cookbook” by Robert Budwig (Ten Speed Press, 1994), and adapted it to use curry flavorings.

“I use the pumpkin that was my front-porch decoration,” she writes.

You’ll need to clean the pumpkin, peel it, remove the seeds and loose fibers, then cut up the meat before you begin.

PUMPKIN CURRY SOUP

From “The Vegetable Market Cookbook” by Robert Budwig

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1-1/2 pound pumpkin, rind and seeds removed, flesh chopped
• 1 (5-ounce) can evaporated milk

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic, stirring frequently, 2 to 3 minutes, until tender.

Stir in curry powder, salt and pepper. Cook 1 minute.

Add chicken broth and pumpkin; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in evaporated milk. Transfer mixture to food processor or blender, working in batches if necessary. Cover, blend until smooth. Serve warm. Serves 6.

———

Nutritional information unavailable.