The Great Pumpkin Cholent

So, All Hallow's Eve (Halloween for those into marketing) is over - celebrated by pagans and unfortunately some of our co-religionists, such as those at an Orthodox Union affiliated Shul near me that had a dinner with "Jewish Ghost Stories"  led by their reform-ordained "Kiruv Rabbi." Oh well, I don't go there.

Next up is Thanksgiving. I have no problem at all with Thanksgiving. In fact, I think that American Jews really should honor our holidays - I risked my life in combat for this country, and our national holidays do have a level of Kiddusha as long as we can freely practice Judaism here, which hopefully will be never ending.

So ... between the carved Pumpkins of All Hallow's Eve, and the luscious pumpkin pie (which CAN be made pareve, by the way, but with extra effort) of Thanksgiving ... I've been urged (okay, ordered by my significant other) to post about this wonderful recipe for Cholent in a Pumpkin.

Now remember a Pumpkin is, after all, another kind of squash. It's kosher. Period, end of sentence.

So, some years ago, the day after All Hallow's Eve, our local King Soopers was simply giving away all of its unsold pumpkins. I chose a couple from the pile, went home, and started looking for creative things to use them for.

I found an answer in this lovely little cookbook I bought years ago, entitled "Come for Cholent."  A tip of the hat to the author - Kay Kantor Pomerantz - for wonderful recipe ideas. (The book, by the way, looks to still be available at about $9. I checked at Amazon.). This book is a compendium of nothing but Cholent recipes, many of which I've made (you just GOTTA try her recipe called "Death By Cholent).

I haven't been able to reach Ms. Pomerantz, so I hope she doesn't mind my repeating what she suggests for Pumpkin Cholent, which she says is a dish of Syrian origin.

She suggests you take a pumpkin, cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff from inside, and then stuff the pumpkin with a chicken mix. She lists a pound of chicken to a half cup of diced onions, which you can brown if you'd like. Then she adds a half cup of rice, a can (10 ounces) of stewed tomatoes, a cup of kidney beans, a quarter cup of oil, four cubed potatoes, some cinnamon, salt and pepper, and water to cover. The stuffed pumpkin goes into a pan, a couple of inches of water are added around the outside, and the whole thing is wrapped tightly in foil and put in the oven. (I'd say if you have a cast iron Cholent Pot that's the right size, forget the foil and use the pot).

Whatta recipe!

Now I would suggest that the ingredients have to be scaled to fit the size Pumpkin the pagans celebrating All Hallow's Eve left over for us. I've also some suggested changes, ranging from the use of lamb to using sweet potatoes for the potatoes. Of course kidney beans are great, but a mix of almost any type of beans you like works too. And soak them, overnight, or at least cover with boiling water and let sit a few hours. Organic brown basmati rice would be a good choice for that part of the recipe. Indeed it might even be possible (though I haven't tried this) to leave out the meat and make a vegetarian or even Vegan cholent.

Cook as any other cholent, overnight.

And...the pumpkin becomes the pot for almost any variation of cholent you'd like to stuff in it, and you get to EAT THE POT!. I love it!!