Why buy cooked pumpkin for your baked dishes, when you can steam fresh pumpkin at home for your cookies, cakes and pies? Steaming the vegetable makes it healthy as it can be used as  a filling in many dishes with minimal use of oil. If you haven’t tried out steaming the vegetable at home or you are looking forward to some easy tips, you are going to find this useful. Keep reading...

Choosing the pumpkin:

• Don’t just pick any piece for steaming – pick small and fresh ones. If you wish to steam it for pie filling, these small ones are best. The larger ones are recommended for carving.

Cut the pumpkin and make square cubes

• Cut your chosen pumpkin into half. Once halved remove its seeds and its stringy innards too. Make 2 inch squares of the pumpkin with the use of a chef’s knife.

Use steamer basket:

• These are best for steaming the vegetable cubes. Place the cubes a little distant apart from one another so that they get enough space for cooking and do not stick to one another.

Temperature:

• Pumpkin turns soft at 140-150 Fahrenheit. Let the water boil for at least 30 minutes in this temperature.

Check if cooked:

• Fully cooked pumpkin will be soft and tender. After steaming the vegetable for 40 minutes, you can check the tenderness with a spoon or a knife.

These were some time tested tips which are certainly going to help you steam the vegetable.

Image credits: jinu7, russiawithlove, herfrozenwings