Stuffed pumpkin with chicken breast and rice (baked in the oven)

Stuffed pumpkin with chicken and rice!

In winter, many housewives store beautiful, delicious pumpkins in their basements. Which are very tasty to stuff and bake with some hearty filling. And then surprise your family with a fabulous dish in a vegetable saucepan, because the dish is served right on the table in this magical pumpkin.

Usually, a baked whole pumpkin with filling makes a stunning impression on those gathered at the table and, undoubtedly, strengthens the authority of the hostess who fed them such an outlandish food. Although, in fact, baking pumpkin is quite simple. Let's try!

What you need to bake pumpkin

for 4-5 servings

• Medium sized pumpkin;
• Chicken breast – 1 piece;
• Short grain rice – 1/2 cup;
• Onion – 1 piece;
• Sweet pepper – 1 pod;
• Lemon – 1/2 piece (piece);
• Seasoning for pilaf – 1 teaspoon (or just pepper, you can take basil with oregano, a mixture of herbs de Provence, suneli hops);
• Vegetable oil – 1/3 cup;
• Salt.

How to bake stuffed pumpkin

Prepare the pumpkin filling

• Cut the chicken breast into small pieces. Season with salt, pepper, lemon juice and leave to marinate.

Preparing the breast for marinating for a delicious filling

• Rinse the rice in warm water. Boil 1 cup of water in a saucepan, add a pinch of salt and rice. Bring the rice to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes over low heat. Drain the water and place the rice in a bowl.
• Cut the onion into half rings and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Stir so as not to burn. Add to rice.
• Cut the sweet pepper into small cubes and add to the rice.

Place the marinated chicken breast with the rest of the filling (along with the marinade). Season everything with seasonings (you can set aside some of the seasonings and sprinkle the inside of the pumpkin). Salt carefully.

Prepare pumpkin for baking

• Wash the pumpkin thoroughly. Place the stalk up (or the place where it is attached) and cut a circle around it (10 cm in diameter). This will be the lid that opens the pumpkin in order to take out its insides and stuff it with chicken and rice filling.To make the hole neat, you can take a plate or bowl of the same diameter and trace it, marking the cut line directly on the pumpkin with a simple pencil. You need to cut through the pumpkin with a sharp knife, carefully and slowly.

How to remove the pulp from a pumpkin. The spoon should be round and not pierce the walls of the pumpkin.

• Afterwards, remove the top and scoop out the seeds and some of the pulp using a tablespoon.You cannot do this with a knife - if you pierce the pumpkin, all the filling juices will flow out of the pumpkin pan through the hole.The walls of the pumpkin should be approximately 1.5 cm. The remaining pulp should be carefully removed with a spoon.

Now the pumpkin pot can be filled with delicious chicken and rice filling!

Stuff the pumpkin

• Grease the inside of the pumpkin with vegetable oil, lightly salt it (also from the inside) and put the filling in it. Close the lid.

Combine the filling and fill the pumpkin with it.

• Place 2 sheets of baking foil on a baking sheet - crosswise. And carefully wrap the pumpkin in it.If an orange pumpkin is half-opened, it will darken and become inexpressively brown, but a pumpkin wrapped in foil will retain its beautiful original color.

Pumpkin must be well covered before baking.

This is how you close the pumpkin before cooking in the oven

Bake stuffed pumpkin in the oven

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Place the pumpkin in the oven and bake for 2 hours.

Baked pumpkin with filling is ready!

Features of preparing and eating stuffed pumpkin

I recommend eating the baked pumpkin and filling in one sitting. After standing overnight, the rice absorbs moisture and sweetness from the pumpkin. If you can’t handle the pumpkin right away, then transfer the rice and breast into a regular saucepan.

The pumpkin is baked, now we’ll put the filling on plates!

Pumpkin stuffed with chicken and rice is a very tasty and satisfying dish. Stuffed pumpkin is very easy to prepare, and the dish looks very impressive. contains vitamins B1, B2, C, E, PP and minerals - silicon, iron, zinc, calcium, fluorine, magnesium. In addition, pumpkin contains fiber; anyone on a diet can safely eat pumpkin without fear of gaining weight. I really love pumpkin and cook many different dishes from it:, and others.

Ingredients

• 1 pumpkin (I have about 1.2 kg)
• chicken breast
• 2 onions
• 200 grams of rice
• salt, black pepper
• vegetable oil

Cooking method

Boil the rice until half cooked. Any rice will work for this recipe. Cut the chicken fillet into small pieces and fry until golden brown. Salt and pepper to taste.
We take out the chicken and fry the onion cut into half rings in the same oil.
Mix onion, rice and chicken. If necessary, add salt, you can add your favorite seasonings.
Wash the pumpkin and cut off the top. Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds and wash the inside of the pumpkin well.
Place the filling into the pumpkin. Cover with a “lid” (cut off top). Lubricate the pumpkin with vegetable oil so that it does not dry out. Bake the pumpkin at 200 - 220 degrees for about 1.5 hours. Check the pumpkin for doneness with a toothpick; it should pierce easily.
We cut the finished pumpkin like a watermelon, into slices.

Pumpkin stuffed with rice and chicken is a very tasty, aromatic and satisfying stand-alone dish that can be prepared for lunch or dinner. Baking stuffed pumpkin is quite simple. But as a rule, this dish always makes a stunning impression on the family gathered at the table and undoubtedly strengthens the authority of the hostess, who decided to feed her loved ones with such outlandish food.

List of ingredients

• medium pumpkin - 1 piece
• chicken breast - 1 piece
• round rice - 1/2 cup
• onions - 1 pc.
• sweet bell pepper- 1 PC
• lemon - 1/2 pcs
• seasoning for pilaf- 1 teaspoon
• vegetable oil- 1/3 cup
• salt - to taste
• ground black pepper- taste

Cooking method

Wash the chicken breast, dry it and cut into small pieces. Salt, pepper and sprinkle with lemon juice. Leave for some time to marinate. Meanwhile, rinse the rice in warm water. Heat 1 cup of water in a saucepan until boiling. Salt and add rice. Stir, heat to a boil and reduce heat. Cook for about 5 minutes over low heat. Then drain the water and place the rice in a bowl.

Peel, wash and cut the onion into half rings. Place in a frying pan and fry with vegetable oil until it has a characteristic onion aroma. Add onion to rice. Add sweet bell pepper cut into pieces and marinated chicken. Add some of the seasoning, a little salt and mix well.

Wash the pumpkin, cut off the top and remove the seeds and part of the pulp using a tablespoon, leaving the walls of the pumpkin about 1.5 cm. Grease the pumpkin with vegetable oil, add a little salt and sprinkle with the remaining seasoning. Place the prepared filling into the pumpkin and cover with the cut-off lid. Place 2 sheets of foil crosswise on a baking sheet. Place the stuffed pumpkin on top and carefully wrap it in foil.

Place the pumpkin in an oven preheated to 180 degrees and bake for about 2 hours until done. Unwrap, place on a flat plate and serve.

Bon appetit!

Pumpkin can be used to prepare countless dishes - from soups, stir-fries and salads to delicious desserts and baked goods.
Stuffed pumpkin is always very elegant. The very contemplation of a bright beauty, adapted for edible utensils, is pleasing. Beauty! But the taste of chicken pilaf, when cooked inside a pumpkin, always turns out to be unusually interesting!

In preparing this pilaf, I used chicken, two types of rice, and seasonings - turmeric and aromatic garlic. The pumpkin in which this miracle was baked became very tender, giving the products a slightly sweet, even caramel-like flavor.

Garlic is added to this dish unpeeled, making its aroma especially subtle and delicate. But keep in mind that pilaf with chicken in pumpkin will take time: for the pumpkin to be thoroughly baked, it needs to spend almost 2 hours in the oven.

Cooking time: about 2.5 hours

Ingredients

(based on stuffing a pumpkin with a diameter of 20-21 cm):

• 2 chicken thighs
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 onion
• 1 third cup wild rice
• 2 thirds cups long grain rice
• 1 whole head of garlic and another 3-4 cloves
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• salt, pepper - to taste.

Preparation

First you need to boil the rice until half cooked. To do this, boil a liter and a half of water in a small saucepan, adding a little salt to it.
When the water boils, add rice to it.



Cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Then drain the rice in a colander to drain all the water. Place it in a deep bowl.



Heat the frying pan.
Cut the meat from the chicken thighs and cut it into pieces about 2 cm in size. There is no need to remove the skin - it will fry and give the required amount of fat, which will make the dish juicier and more nutritious.
Fry the meat over high heat until it begins to turn golden.



Then transfer the meat to a bowl with rice. Try to remove the meat so that the fat remains in the pan - it will come in handy later.
Peel the onion, cut it into cubes and fry in the fat remaining after cooking the chicken.



Grate the carrots on a fine grater.



When the onion turns golden, add the carrots to the frying pan and fry over low heat for 2 minutes.



Place the finished fry in a bowl with rice and chicken. Mix the ingredients thoroughly, then season them with salt, pepper, turmeric, and also add unpeeled garlic cloves (don’t touch the whole head yet).



Now is the time to prepare the “shape” - the pumpkin. Carefully remove seeds and fibers from the fruit. It is most convenient to use a spoon and a small knife. If the pumpkin is not very stable, cut a small layer off the bottom to prevent it from flipping over while cooking in the oven.



Stuff the pumpkin with half the prepared pilaf, compacting it a little inside. There is no need to add water - the pumpkin will give the required amount of liquid.



Once the rice and chicken are in place, insert a head of garlic into the center, making it a little deeper.



Wrap the pumpkin in foil and place in the oven preheated to 200 degrees. Bake the dish for 1.5 hours, then remove the foil and increase the temperature to 220 degrees.
Bake pilaf with chicken in pumpkin for another 20-25 minutes.
Serve the finished dish directly in the pumpkin, adding your favorite herbs. Bon appetit!