Recipe #3 - Jamaican Rice

I had my doubts the whole time I was making this, but it turned out to be fabulous. Well worth the effort!

Jamaican Rice (from Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons)

1 small (2 pound) sugar or pie pumpkin or 1 small butternut squash
2 cups water
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 medium onions, minced
1 TBSP minced fresh ginger
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1 TBSP curry powder
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
2 cups thinly sliced collard greens, mustard greens, or beet greens
1 can black beans
salt and black pepper to taste
2 ripe plantains or bananas (optional)
1 tomato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the pumpkin or squash in half, remove seeds, and bake on a cookie sheet face down (the recipe says for an hour, but mine was overdone at 50 minutes, so just pull it out when it's easily pierced with a sharp knife). Remove from pan and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan, add rice and salt and return to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. (Here, the recipe says to steam rice for 20 minutes, but I used brown rice and steamed for 30 minutes - worked fine.)

While rice cooks, heat the oil in a large skillet (I used my trusty wok). Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown. Add the ginger, garlic, allspice, curry powder, and jalapeno. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes more and then remove from heat.

When cool enough to handle, scoop pumpkin out of the skin and chop into large pieces (mine was too mushy to really chop, but it tasted good)

When the rice is done, reheat the onion spice mix over medium heat. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Add the greens, toss well, and cook five minutes more. Add the pumpkin and beans, toss, and heat enough to warm. Add salt and pepper to taste.

If you want to garnish with plaintain or banana, cut in half lengthwise and pan-fry over medium heat for 2 minutes on each side. Spoon rice onto plate and top with a generous handful of tomatoes. Serve the plaintain / banana on the side. Serves 4 - 6.