KADDO BOURANI (PUMPKIN WITH YOGURT AND MEAT SAUCES)

KADDO BOURANI (PUMPKIN WITH YOGURT AND MEAT SAUCES) image

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 18

Ingredients

-- 2 Sugar Pie pumpkins, each about 3 pounds
-- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons corn oil or other neutral oil
-- 2 cups sugar
-- 2 cups plain yogurt (do not use nonfat)
-- 2 garlic cloves, minced
-- 1 teaspoon dried mint
-- 1/2 teaspoon or more salt
-- 1/4 cup corn oil or other neutral oil
-- 1 large onion, finely diced
-- 1 1/2 pounds ground round
-- 1 large tomato, finely chopped
-- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
-- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground coriander seed
-- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
-- 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
-- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
-- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
-- 1 1/3 cups water

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Using a vegetable peeler, pare the rind from the pumpkins, digging the peeler down a little to remove more than just the superficial layer of rind. Cut the pumpkins in half through the stem end, and cut out the long stringy fibers. Cut each pumpkin half into 3- to 4-inch pieces. There should be about 8 pieces from each pumpkin. Toss pumpkin pieces with oil then sugar and place the pumpkin pieces hollow sides up in a baking pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Pour leftover sugar evenly over the pieces. Cover the pan. Bake the pumpkins until the color turns darker orange and becomes nearly translucent, and the texture is extremely tender, about 3 hours and 15 minutes. Baste the pieces once with the pan juices after 2 1/2 hours of baking. Stir together the yogurt, garlic, mint and salt. Cover and refrigerate until serving time. Just before serving, taste and add more salt if necessary. Heat the oil in a heavy, medium-sized saucepan until it ripples. Add the onions and saute over medium-high heat, stirring, until they are golden brown, about 18 minutes. Add the beef and saute, stirring constantly to break it up into tiny pieces, until the meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato, garlic, coriander, salt, pepper and turmeric. Cook for 5 minutes. Blend in the tomato paste. Add the water and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Use 2 to 2 1/2 cups of the sauce for the Kaddo Bourani. Cool, cover and refrigerate the remaining sauce for use throughout the week. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the yogurt sauce onto a plate. Using the back of the spoon, spread the sauce a little. Using a slotted spoon, Center some pumpkin on the sauce. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the meat sauce over the pumpkin.