Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
This page is unashamedly borrowed from my cute landlady's favourite recipe site 101 Cookbooks.
We tried out these little morsels for our Night of Many Pumpkins and they turned out quite well.
Oh, and Heidi Swanson is American, so you'll have to excuse all the mis-spellings and bear in mind that temperatures are only measured in Fahrenheit there!
From her site:
Oh, and Heidi Swanson is American, so you'll have to excuse all the mis-spellings and bear in mind that temperatures are only measured in Fahrenheit there!
From her site:
If you have more time and patience, you can boil the seeds in salted water for roughly 10 minutes before draining
and proceeding with the rest of the instructions (scale back on the salt called for in the individual recipes).
Your seeds will have a nice crunch to them, and more balanced salt distribution. That being said, I usually skip this step.
There are a million ways to season your freshly toasted pumpkin seeds in addition to the ones I suggest below - raid your spice drawer, and use your imagination.
There are a million ways to season your freshly toasted pumpkin seeds in addition to the ones I suggest below - raid your spice drawer, and use your imagination.
Sweet & Spicy Pumpkin Seeds
side veg
Makes one cupIngredients
- 1 egg white
- 1/4 cup natural cane sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grained sea salt
- 1 cup fresh pumpkin seeds
Preheat oven to 375.
In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the egg white, sugar, cayenne and salt. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss well.
Drain off any excess egg white (using a strainer) and place seeds in a single layer across a baking sheet.
Bake for about 12 minutes or until seeds are golden. Sprinkle with a bit more sugar and cayenne pepper when they come out of the oven.
Taste and season with more salt if needed.
In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the egg white, sugar, cayenne and salt. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss well.
Drain off any excess egg white (using a strainer) and place seeds in a single layer across a baking sheet.
Bake for about 12 minutes or until seeds are golden. Sprinkle with a bit more sugar and cayenne pepper when they come out of the oven.
Taste and season with more salt if needed.
These were awesome - beautifully crunchy and sweet with just a hint of fire.
Curried Pumpkin Seeds
side veg
Makes one cupIngredients
- 1 egg white
- 2 teaspoon curry powder
- scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grained sea salt
- 1 cup fresh pumpkin seeds
Preheat oven to 375.
In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the egg white, curry powder and salt. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss well.
Drain off any excess egg white (using a strainer) and place seeds in a single layer across a baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes or until seeds are golden.
Sprinkle with a bit more curry powder when they come out of the oven. Taste and season with more salt if needed.
In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the egg white, curry powder and salt. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss well.
Drain off any excess egg white (using a strainer) and place seeds in a single layer across a baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes or until seeds are golden.
Sprinkle with a bit more curry powder when they come out of the oven. Taste and season with more salt if needed.
Despite using a commercial curry powder (Sharwood's Madras) the flavour was pretty nice.
Unfortunately this round of seeds didn't get the crunch of the sweet ones. Difficult to say why, we didn't do anything especially different, but the oven was in high demand so things had to move around quite a lot to make space so perhaps these ended up not being cooked long enough for hot enough?
Unfortunately this round of seeds didn't get the crunch of the sweet ones. Difficult to say why, we didn't do anything especially different, but the oven was in high demand so things had to move around quite a lot to make space so perhaps these ended up not being cooked long enough for hot enough?
Black Tea & Butter Pumpkin Seeds
side veg
You can use many different types of tea here.
I opted for a smoky black one, but you can go for one infused with other flavors,
or even tisanes (I have a dried lime tea that I be would be interesting in this recipe).
Choose a tea that is fragrant and has a pronounced flavor for best results.
Makes one cup.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon (black) tea
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted or less
- scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grained sea salt and this means scant
- 1 cup fresh pumpkin seeds from one large pumpkin
Preheat oven to 375 that's Gas Mark 5 or 190°C.
Using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, grind the tea into a fine powder. Set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl combine the butter and salt. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss well. Place seeds in a single layer across a baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes and the rest... or until seeds are golden.
Using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, grind the tea into a fine powder. Set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl combine the butter and salt. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss well. Place seeds in a single layer across a baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes and the rest... or until seeds are golden.
I would drain off the butter here and dry on paper towels before continuing - they seeds are quite greasy
Sprinkle with the ground tea. Taste and season with more salt if needed.
Made these for another pumpkin evening, and though they were well received the flavour is really quite subtle.
In fact they tasted mostly of butter and salt.
I used Orange Pekoe tea - maybe something a bit more tasty like Earl Grey?
Oh, and there was rather a lot of butter. So go easy.
I used Orange Pekoe tea - maybe something a bit more tasty like Earl Grey?
Oh, and there was rather a lot of butter. So go easy.
Second time I used Early Grey - and I thought they had more taste.
It's definitely worth giving the seeds a good wash though, at the very least.