[ENG] Korean Pumpkin Porridge

This korean pumpkin porridge is more a dessert than an appetizer. Unlike the pumpkin soup, it doesn't used any chicken/vegetable stock, so the flavor is pretty much pure pumpkin flavor, and it's also a lot sweeter than a pumpkin soup. The first time i ate this was at a korean restaurant. It has a gooey, thick texture, sweet with some small mochi on top. And i really like it!

This is actually the 2nd time i made this, the 1st time didn't turned out really well. I used two kinds of pumpkin and i don't know why one of the pumpkin (the left one) is not getting tender at all even after two hours roasting in the oven, and it also doesn't taste good.

So i ended up with only 1 little pumpkins, and i messed up the recipe, and my phone battery died so i couldn't shot the whole process. So i try to make it again and this time it's a success! Be sure to make the mochi rice ball too, since the mild chewy texture really balance the sweet porridge. The roasted pumpkin seeds not only serve as garnish but also add a really good crunchy texture. Overall it's really good, and i think i'm gonna make this again, next time i'll even double the recipe!

This time i used 2 small pumpkins that i bought at the local fresh market because it's cheaper. It was only 25.000 rupiah (about 2 dollars) for these 2 little pumpkins.

Original recipe from Aeri's Kitchen - Korean Pumpkin Porridge

Ingredients:
1 1/2 kg pumpkin (3 cups of pumpkin flesh)
3 cups water
3 tbsp sweet rice flour + 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1/2 tsp salt

for the rice balls:
2/3 cups sweet rice flour
4-5 tbsp hot/warm water

1. Line your baking pan with foil or parchment paper, place your pumpkin and roast them at 180 C for about 1 hour.

I use the whole pumpkin roasting method from the SortedFood (link below post) since it's easier to cut the pumpkin when it's become soft, plus it's said that this method intensify the color and the sweet flavour. I used 2 small pumpkins that weigh 1.6kg in total, and it took about 2 hours in the oven at 200 C (because my oven's kinda lame -.-).

2. While your pumpkin roasting in the oven, prepare your rice ball. Combine your sweet rice flour and the hot water until it forms into a pretty still dough. Knead it for about 5 minutes, form into little balls.

I can't find korean sweet rice flour so i just used regular indonesian glutinous rice flour. I don't know if it gonna work, so i test 1 ball, boil it for few minutes and see how it goes. And it works pretty good!

3. After 1 hour in the oven, test with a fork to see if your pumpkin is tender, if it's not tender enough, throw them back in the oven for another 1/2 or 1 hour (mine took 2 hours total, it's depend on your oven and the size of your pumpkin). Get them out of the oven and let it cool until just warm.

4. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the fibers and the seeds. Then, scoop out all the pumpkin flesh. You can wash the seeds and sprinkle with salt & cayenne pepper, roast them back in the oven to get a really nice garnish.

You don't have to throw away all the fibers near the flesh, if it tender enough it'll be smooth when you blend them anyway. The skin is pretty thin so make sure you scoop out the flesh all the way to the skin. I only got about 2 cups of the flesh, so i reduced all the amount of other ingredients in the recipe.

5. Puree the flesh in a blender or food processor, add in the water and blend until very smooth.

6. It's time to cook the porridge! Prepare all the other ingredients, like the sweet rice flour water and the rice ball, and have it near the stove because it's gonna be quite a quick process.

Pour the pumpkin+water mixture into a sauce pan, and stir in the sweet rice flour water, cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until it's thicken, bubbling and turns a bit translucent.

The original recipe said to heat the pumpkin+water first then add the rice flour water, i tried this but it turned out all lumpy even when i stirred it immediately. So it think it's better to put the rice flour water before heating the mixture.