Borani Kadu (Afghan pumpkin with meat sauce)

Directions

I combined a few different online recipes for this version. Next time I am going to add more tomato sauce, but otherwise was great.

One 2 to 2.5 pound sugar pumpkin
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup plain yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt & pepper to taste

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 ts Ginger root, chopped fine
1 tablespoon Freshly ground coriander Seeds
1/4 ts Black pepper
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water

Set the oven at 350.

Cut the pumpkin into quarters. Remove seeds and strings, peel the skin with a vegetable peeler, and cut down into about 2-inch chunks.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a cast iron dutch oven. Brown the pumpkin pieces, turning frequently, until golden brown (about 5 minutes.)

Mix sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over pumpkin. Cover and bake for 30 minutes, or until tender.

While the pumpkin is baking, make the yogurt sauce and the meat sauce.

Yogurt sauce: mix together yogurt with one clove of crushed garlic in a bowl; season to taste with salt & pepper.

Meat sauce: in a skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and cook the onions until lightly browned. Add ground beef (or turkey, in this case), the second clove of crushed garlic, and salt & pepper. Mix well and cook until meat is browned. Add tomato sauce and water, mix thoroughly and bring to a simmer, lower heat, and cook about 20 minutes until it cooks down to a thick sauce.

To serve: cover pumpkin with meat sauce and spoon yogurt sauce over the top of both. Serves 4. Serve with bulgur pilaf.