Sautéed Pumpkin with Crunchy Baby Anchovies is a dish that transforms plain vegetables into a dish with complex flavours. The sweetness of the sautéed pumpkin is enhanced by the vinegar-soy flavour of crunchy baby sardines as a topping.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 300-350g/0.7-0.8lb pumpkin deseeded
- 1 tbsp olive oil or normal oil
- 20g/0.7oz chirinmen jako (dried baby anchovies, note 1)
- 1½ tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 pinches salt
- 2 pinches pepper
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Cut the pumpkin into thin wedges with a thickness of about 1.5-2cm/⅝-¾"(thickest part). If your pumpkin is large, you may want to halve each pumpkin in the middle perpendicular to the first cut (note 2).
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Put oil in a frying pan and heat over medium heat.
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Place the pumpkin slices without overlapping and cook for about 3 minutes (note 3).
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Flip them over, place a lid on and cook further 3 minutes.
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Transfer the pumpkin onto a plate. Repeat for the second or third batch if all of the pumpkin slices cannot fit in the pan at once.
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Lightly wipe the frying pan with kitchen paper if there are pumpkin pieces on the pan. Put the dried anchovies into the same frying pan and cook for a couple of minutes over medium high heat.
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Turn the heat off. Add the Flavouring ingredients and mix well quickly (note 4).
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Place the pumpkin slices on a serving plate, staggering slightly, then scatter the anchovies on top.
1. TheJapanese version of dried baby anchovies is called chirinmen jako. I couldn’t find it, so I bought a Korean brand of dried small anchovies that is similar to chirimen jako (see the photo in the post).
2. I sliced my pumpkin this way for better presentation. But you can cut your pumpkin into bite-size pieces if you want. You can either cut each pumpkin slice into 3-4 small pieces or cut your pumpkin into small cubes.
3. You will need to cook the pumpkins in batches unless you have a very large frying pan. I cooked them in two batches.
If you are cooking thinly sliced small pieces or small cubes, the time required to cook through your pumpkin pieces may vary.
4. The quantity of the liquid is so small that it will burn if the pan is too hot.
5. You can bake your pumpkin in the oven instead of sautéing them in a frying pan.
i) Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/392°F.
ii) Place baking paper on a tray and brush the surface with olive oil.
iii) Place the pumpkin on the tray without overlapping and brush the surface of the pumpkin with olive oil.
iv) Bake for 10-15 minutes until the thickest part of the pumpkin is cooked through.
6. Nutrition per serving, assuming that 300g of pumpkin is used.
serving: 93g calories: 67kcal fat: 3.6g (5%) saturated fat: 0.5g (3%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 0.4g monounsaturated fat: 2.5g cholesterol: 7.6mg (3%) sodium: 638mg (28%) potassium: 346mg (7%) carbohydrates: 5.1g (2%) dietary fibre: 0.4g (2%) sugar: 2.1g protein: 4.2g vitamin a: 107% vitamin c: 11% calcium: 2% iron: 5%