If you have been following this blog, you would have known by now that I am a big fan of pumpkin.
Simply because it is a versatile nutritional powerhouse.

I have used it in curry, porridge, stir fried and my favourite way - as a dessert.

I first come across this dessert in a Chinese restaurant in China many many moons ago.
The restaurant uses hollowed-out pumpkins for their house speciality, and the flesh was not wasted but put to good use in this dessert.

It is one of the most painless and pleasing desserts to make in a home kitchen.
Just need to combine the sliced pumpkin and rock sugar and boiled till soft, the cooked sago is then added for the jelly-like texture.
Taking a clue from the mango sago dessert, I have added pomelo; substituting the coconut cream with coconut ice cream.

The combination of warm golden pumpkin sago with the burst in the mouth pomelo crowned with the cold, rich, creamy coconut ice cream is so satisfying and appropriate for this glittering CNY festive season.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

What you need:

500gm of pumpkin, peeled and sliced thinly
200gm of rock sugar
1 - 1.5-litre water
150gm sago
pomelo
Coconut ice cream or coconut cream


Methods:

1. Cook the peeled, sliced pumpkin with rock sugar in a pot with of water.

2. When the pumpkin is soft, use a potatoes masher or hand-held grinder to blend until smooth and creamy.

3. Add in the cooked sago and stir. (The mixture will appear thick, and you may add or reduce the amount of water to your preferred consistency)

4. To serve - spoon pumpkin into bowl, top with pomelo and coconut ice cream



Cook's  Notes:

1. Add or reduce the amount of water to your preferred consistency
2. Rock sugar is preferred for Chinese dessert, it is said to nourish the body.
3. Always cook the sago separately from the dessert and to rinse it through a sieve before adding to the dessert. Otherwise, the dessert will become too thick and gluey.


To cook sago
1. Add the sago to the pot of boiling water, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. To prevent it sticking to the pot, stir it occasionally.
3. Turn off the heat and cover the pot with lid after the sago had turned partially translucent with some white dots (after the 10 minutes)
4. The sago will continue cooking in this heat (about 15 minutes)
5. When the sago turned entirely translucent, rinse the cooked sago through a sieve.
6. Keep sago in a bowl of water until ready to use.