Pumpkin Curry Chicken with Pumpkin Pie to Follow

Recipe from and by: Anjanette S.

This was inspired by/adapted by Michelle Palmer, who has been been inspired to create new recipes while making everything from scratch in Uganda.  If you are not familiar with their story, go here.

Here's my recipe, which is kind of not exact in measurements, but that's how I roll.

Ingredients:

1 "pumpkin Pie" pumpkin or sugar pumpkin
1/2 sweet yellow onion diced
1 apple chopped.
1 can chicken broth
3-4 chicken breasts cut into chunks
curry powder
poultry seasoning
nutmeg
salt/pepper
Stevia or sugar
Hot cooked Jasmine Rice

Take 1 "pumpkin pie" pumpkin (says so on the label) and get a heavy-duty serrated knife. Kick your kids out of the kitchen, in case the knives don't stay put. I needed a second knife to pry against and finally pull the pumpkin apart. (Basically, cut it in half however you can...I think it's really hard to do...maybe I'm just weak). Then scoop the seeds out (save to salt and toast in the oven later. 6-year-olds love these!) Take an ice cream scoop and scrape the extra stringy orange gooba out. Then place shell side up on a foil-lined and oiled cookie sheet, and bake at 375 for about 45 mins until tender (not the shell of course). Remove and let cool, and the pumpkin will pull away from the shell.

When it's time for dinner:
Dice 1/2 of a sweet yellow onion, and dice one apple and soften them in olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. When soft, remove and put in a bowl.

Add a little more oil, and brown 3-4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks.

Once cooked through, put apple/onion mixture back in, and add curry powder, poultry seasoning, nutmeg, and salt to taste. I probably had more Curry than the other ingredients, but I couldn't say how much. I added about 1 1/2 tsp Stevia for a little sweetness, but you could add a few TB of sugar instead. Put half of the pumpkin in the pan, and add a can of chicken broth. (I'm guessing this would be about 1 can pumpkin if you were wanting to skip the real pumpkin step).

Cover and let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Before serving, add about 1/2 cup half-n-half and warm through. Serve over Jasmine Rice.

With the other half of the pumpkin, I threw together a pie with what i had on hand. I had a Jif boxed pie crust (which rivals most homemade, and beats all ready-made crusts). I took the pumpkin and mixed it with my mixer, added 4 eggs, 3/4 c. sugar, 1/4 c. honey, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp cloves, and a 5 oz can of evaporated milk. Poured in the crust, baked for 30-40 mins at 375 until knife came out clean. Yummy!