Filled Pumpkin – Authentic German Recipe

The Filled Pumpkin is another pumpkin recipe for your fall menu – a very special dish indeed using Hokkaido pumpkin or squash. It contains a special dried mushroom, the boletus or porcino (Steinpilz in German). You would need a flat pumpkin to make this dish. We found out that pumpkin is a good vegetable for dieting. It contains a lot of Vitamin C and has only 25kcal on 100g. Happy Cooking!

Benefits of the Hokkaido Pumpkin

The Hokkaido pumpkin is rich in vitamins and contains many minerals: calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, beta-carotene and vitamins A, B, C.
Pumpkin is a healthy vegetable. It helps with illnesses of the pancreas, spleen and stomach. Eating Hokkaido pumpkin is also very suitable for diabetics, and the roasted seeds help ease men’s prostate problems. The Hokkaido pumpkin is good for the diet as it has a high fiber content and detoxifying effect.

Ingredients Filled Pumpkin

(serves 6-8)

1 English cucumber
40 g dried boletus or porcino (Steinpilz in German); if you cannot find porcino use dried brown mushrooms
3 onions
2 tbsp dill, chopped
5 slices toasted bread
650g ground meat (half pork and beef)
4 eggs
salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste
1 Hokkaido pumpkin, about 1,2 kg
3 tbsp oil
150 g creme fraiche or sour cream
150 g natural Greek yogurt

Cooking Instructions Filled Pumpkin

– Peel cucumber, remove seeds, cut in small cubes, salt to taste.
– Soak mushrooms in 150ml hot water.
– Peel onions, cut in small cubes.
– Chop dill fine.
– When mushrooms are soft squeeze them out, chop them fine, keep the water.
– Remove crust from the bread, cut in  cubes and soak it in the mushroom water.
– Place cucumber on kitchen paper so all liquid gets soaked, mix  with mushrooms, onions, half of dill, bread, meat, and eggs until you have a smooth dough.
– Spice with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.
– Cut a lid from the pumpkin,  remove seeds plus all fibers.
– Squeeze the meat dough with wet hands into the pumpkin.
– Brush oil over pumpkin and meat.
– Place it on a baking tray which is covered with parchment paper.
– Bake it in pre-heated oven on lowest level on 180 degrees C or 355 F for 2 hours; you might want to cover the pumpkin after 1,5 hours with some aluminum foil.
– Mix remaining dill with sour cream and yogurt, add salt and pepper to taste.
– Serve the pumpkin with the cream.