Butternut pumpkin stuffed with savoury chicken and rice

4 servings
1 hour 20 min

After I stuffed the pumpkin, I was left with a couple of tablespoons of filling, so next time I'll take a little less rice or breast (and broth accordingly) per kilogram of pumpkin. The dish turned out to be very fragrant and tasty!

How do you bake a nutmeg pumpkin stuffed with savoury chicken and rice? First of all, prepare all the products. Take a butternut squash weighing 1kg or two weighing 500 grams.

Wash the pumpkin and dry with paper wipes. Cut off the places where the peduncle was attached and divide each fruit into two parts (as in the photo).

Using a tablespoon, remove the core and seeds.

Brush each half with vegetable or olive oil, it is convenient to do this with a silicone brush. Sprinkle salt and allspice (or black ground) pepper on top.

Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place the pumpkin halves flesh down and send to an oven preheated to 180 degrees. Use the & quot; top-bottom & quot; mode and bake for approximately 30 minutes (the baking time may increase slightly or vice versa depending on the possibility of your oven). Check the readiness of the pumpkin with a toothpick.

At this time, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Peel the onions, garlic and zucchini. Halve the pepper and remove the seeds. Rinse everything under running water and dry.

Finely chop onions and garlic with a sharp knife.

Cut zucchini and pepper into small cubes.

Turn the finished pumpkin over and gently remove the flesh using a spoon. You should get some kind of boats. Do not throw away pumpkin flesh, it will still come in handy.

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan. Send to fry chicken breasts, pre-cut into small cubes. Over a high heat, stirring sweetly, cook the chicken until golden. Remove the breasts, and send the onions and garlic to the pan. Fry until soft, a few seconds will be enough.

Add the zucchini, pepper and softened pumpkin flesh.

Add the same fried breasts, rice and tomato paste. Salt, pepper to taste.

Mix everything well, add seasonings.

Pour stock over the contents of the pan. Which one is better to use broth? Chicken or vegetable are ideal. If there is neither, then you can use ordinary water, it will also work tasty.

Bring the stock to a boil, then reduce the stove and cook until the rice is cooked. I covered the pan with a lid, but every 2-3 minutes the lid opened and mixed the rice mass well so that it would not burn to the bottom. After 10-12 minutes (when the rice was practically ready), I removed the lid and cooked until there was no liquid left in the pan (about 3 minutes).

Fill the pumpkin with rice filling.

Top with grated cheese and parmesan.

Send again to the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the cheese melts and takes up the golden crust.

Sprinkle the finished pumpkin with finely chopped herbs and allspice as desired.

Done! Serve hot.

Keep in mind that everyone has different ovens. The temperature and cooking time may differ from those indicated in the recipe. To make any baked dish successful, use useful information about the features of the ovens!

To keep the oven warm to the desired temperature, turn it on in advance (10-20 minutes before the start of cooking).