The pumpkin rice recipe is a healthy and delicious vegetarian delight loaded with nutritional pumpkin and a rich flavorful coconut. The pumpkin rice is prepared using herbs and spices that perfectly blend the sweet taste of pumpkin. This rice tastes so yummy that you will never underestimate the pumpkin power. A healthy, satisfying, and crowd-pleasing weeknight meal!
Check these healthy, low-calorie, and super delicious mains for more inspiration!
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It was the first time when I tried the pumpkin and rice recipe. I could not imagine it to be so tasty with ripe orange pumpkin. Seriously, it’s a big hit at my place. It’s too delicious, and my kitchen is insanely fragrant with pumpkin-infused aromatic spices.
I prepare this pumpkin with rice recipe using coconut meat and aromatic spices that perfectly balance out the sweetness of the ripe pumpkin. And this dried coconut meat adds a lovely crunch to the recipe. The rice grains come out perfect, non-sticky, and fluffy with a crunch of coconut meat and yummy pumpkin chunks. Also, look at the color in the image, It's a beautiful golden yellow with orange pumpkin slices peeking from inside the rice. It will surely win your heart. All these ingredients together give this recipe a unique blend of sweet and spicy taste that you will miss if you don’t try this recipe.
I think the pumpkin is the most underrated because of its sweet taste. We should not limit the use of pumpkins to Halloween only. Instead, use this healthy, power-packed nutritional veggie to make tasty and healthy recipes as I use in this recipe.
Love coconut? Check these energy balls, pineapple matcha, to uplift your tiredness. Cream-filled rolls, lamington bites, and chocolate bars to satisfy your sweet cravings!!
Reasons to💖pumpkin rice
- Gluten-free and vegan-friendly.
- It’s an irresistible, so delicious, and crowd-pleasing dish.
- The pumpkin rice is loaded with full of nutrition.
- One-pot meal, so less mess up in the kitchen.
- It’s so satisfying that you won’t need anything along with them.
- Perfect for weeknight meals, parties, picnics, potlucks, etc.,
Ingredients
To make this pumpkin rice recipe Indian, you need these ingredients:
- Pumpkin- I use ripe orange pumpkin to make this one-pot pumpkin rice recipe. I prefer peeling the skin as it is too hard to cook. So peeling saves time while cooking it. The other reason for peeling is to get the mushy consistency of the pumpkin I like the most about eating it.
- Rice - I use long-grain basmati rice for this recipe. Use whatever you have, but carefully add water to it. It varies with the quality of the rice you use.
- Coconut- I have used desiccated coconut to prepare this pumpkin and coconut rice recipe. It gives a rich, versatile flavor and crunch to the rice.
- Onions - freshly chopped onions are a must for this rich delicacy. Cut them as you like: long, thin, big, or small chunks, etc.
- Ginger - use fresh if you have.
- Garlic- use fresh if you have it.
- Green chillies- add spice to the recipe.
- Spices include salt, red chilli powder, cumin seeds, garam masala, cloves, bay leaf, star anise, and black cardamoms. These provide flavor to the rice.
- Oil & water - for cooking.
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to cook pumpkin rice?
For the full recipe, check out the video below. Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel to stay up to date on all my new videos!!
- Wash the rice and soak them for about half an hour.
- Chop the pumpkin into small chunks, removing the outer skin. Thoroughly wash them and set them aside.
- Prep veggies by chopping onions, garlic, ginger, and green chillies. I have slit chilies from the center instead of chopping them. Do whatever suits you.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and turn them aromatic. (color changes to dark brown)
- Stir in onions and stir-fry for 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and ginger, and fry for 2 minutes.
- Next goes in green chillies, pumpkin and all spices. Saute for 2-3 minutes to combine all the spices. (image below)
- Stir in a cup of water to cook the pumpkin slices for 5-10 minutes, covering them with a lid. (Image below)
- Once the pumpkin is soft, mash some chunks and keep some. Stir in desiccated coconut and saute it for a minute. (Image below)
- Add rice and stir well to combine all the spices. Pour in water, cover with a lid, and cook rice with occasional stirring. (image below)
- Garnish with freshly chopped mint leaves or cilantro leaves. The pumpkin coconut rice smells so fragrant with aromatic spices that you won’t mind eating them again!
Substitutions
- If you don’t have coconut meat, replace it with 1 cup of coconut milk. Here, add less amount of water to the rice.
- Substitute the spices according to their availability.
Variations
- The vegetable broth could be the other healthy option instead of water.
- Use green onions to add versatile flavor to the dish.
- Garnishing with fresh herbs takes the dish to the next level.
Storage
- Store pumpkin rice in the refrigerator, as the pumpkin gets spoiled easily at room temperature.
- You can store them for 2-3 days in the fridge.
- To reuse pumpkin coconut rice, microwave it for 1 minute before use.
FAQ
Pumpkin rice is a flavourful delicacy prepared using rice, pumpkin chunks, coconut, and spices that perfectly balance the sweetness of the pumpkin. Pumpkin gives the rice a unique, beautiful golden yellow color, whereas coconut adds a rich flavor.
Yes, you can make pumpkin rice in a rice cooker. Saute all herbs, spices, and pumpkin in oil on the stove and then transfer it to a rice cooker. Add rice and water. Stir well and cook until the rice gets ready.
It depends upon the quality of rice and pumpkin you use to cook pumpkin rice. For this recipe, initially, I add 1 cup of water to cook chopped pumpkin slices and, later on, 2 cups of water to cook rice. So, I add 3 cups of water (in total) to this recipe. If you use coconut milk instead of coconut meat, you will require less water.
Yes, you can use brown rice. Brown rice usually takes more time to cook than white.
Tips
- For this recipe, I soaked rice for half an hour.
- Peeling of pumpkin is optional.
- Don’t skip spices, as these bring an exceptional flavor to the rice.
- Add more water if you like sticky, mushy, vegetarian pumpkin rice.
- Chop pumpkin slices to the size you like.
- Don’t mash pumpkin slices if you won’t mind big chunks.
- Use less water if you use coconut milk.
- The coconut meat gives this recipe a unique crunchiness and rich flavor. Substituting this with coconut milk won’t give you that specific crunchy taste. It is worth trying!!
……Before you go ……………
And if you try this recipe for pumpkin rice, please share your views and let me know what you think!
You can also leave a comment or share a picture on Instagram with the Hashtag #tipsnrecipes to let me know how it goes!
More Recipes
Other recipes you can try:
Recipe
Pumpkin Rice Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Knife
- 1 Pan/skillet/cooker
Ingredients
- 200 g Pumpkin
- 1 cup Rice
- 2 onion
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 1 inch Ginger
- 2 Green chillies
- 3 tablespoons Dessicated coconut
- 3 tablespoons Oil
- 1 tablespoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Red chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon Garam masala
- 2 Bay leaf
- 3 Cloves
- 2 Star anise
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 Black cardamom
- 3 cups Water
Instructions
- Wash and soak the rice for about half an hour.
- Chop all the vegetables.
- Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Let them turn aromatic.
- Saute onions first, then garlic and ginger.
- Add green chillies, spices, and pumpkin. Saute for a minute.
- Stir in water (1 cup) and cover with a lid to cook pumpkin for 2-3 minutes.
- Once it is soft, mash some pumpkin chunks.
- Stir-in desiccated coconut, and fry it for a minute.
- Next, go rice, and for a minute. Add water (2 cups) and cook it while covering it with a lid.
- Garnish with fresh herbs.
- Serve warm, delicious pumpkin rice.
Video
Notes
- Soaking rice is optional but it gives you the best results.
- Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to stay up to date on all my new videos!!
Camilla says
Excellent dish! I love all the spices and coconut flavour. I will make this regularly now when it's pumpkin season!
Giangi Townsend says
Looks amazing and look forward to making it. I love all the ingredients but will keep the heat down a bit for me by using only one chili pepper.
Thank you for sharing
Abhi says
Thanks Gaingi!
Melissa says
This is such a good idea. I was looking for something new to try with fresh pumpkin. Thank you!
Abhi says
Thanks Melisa, I am sure you would love it!!