One of the kids' favourite dishes at the Tze Char stalls (Local chinese eateries serving wide variety of home-style a la carte dishes) is Pumpkin prawns. I successfully replicated the prawn dish yesterday at home upon Audrey's request for her birthday dinner (but did not have the time to take photo as I was really busy cooking up a storm in the kitchen).
I topped the pasta with slice of pan-fried salmon fillet. It was an instant hit. Ashley immediately said that she wanted this again for her coming birthday.
Simple and nice. Try it.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
500g Butternut Pumpkin
50g Butter
100ml Evaporated Milk
250g Pasta of your choice
1/2 Onion (Finely chopped)
2-3 slices bacon (Slices into cm pieces)
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Directions
Skin the Butternut pumpkin and cut into thin slices. Steam pumpkin over high heat for 10 minutes or until pumpkin becomes soft.
Place steamed pumpkin in a mixing bowl. Add butter and evaporated milk. Blend the pumpkin using a handheld blender until a smooth paste is formed. (You can use any food processor)
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente.
Add the diced bacon to a cold sauté pan and cook slowly over a low heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon and put aside.
Heat the same pan with olive oil, cook and stir chopped onion until tender, before brown. Pour in the butternut pumpkin sauce and bring to slight boil. Salt and pepper to taste. Add water if sauce is too thick.
Drain pasta, toss with the pumpkin mixture, then add the cooked bacon. Serve immediately.
I'm going out for a grocery shopping soon. I need to get butternut squash and make this soon. The salmon on top will attract my kids attention too. I love this simple but delicious meal!
ReplyDeleteHi Nami! Happy New Year! Yes, kids will love this recipe.
DeleteHi Alvin,
ReplyDeleteThis is so different from Tze Char! Your pumpkin dish looks so classy like a special treat while tze char food look so routine and domestic.
Zoe
Hi Zoe! Thanks for the kind words but some Tze Char stalls in Singapore/Malaysia can be really good.
Deletegood morning chef, i enjoy eating pumpkins a lot tho i never tried making sauce out of them. I think i will like this too. Pumpkin prawns must be finger licking good de!
ReplyDeleteHi Lena! Pumpkin prawn dish is excelente! Golden crispy prawns in rich, creamy and slightly spicy (curry leaves and chili padi) sauce. Yes, Excelente!!
DeleteI am planning to cook that again for CNY, will share the recipe then.
Your pasta looks so creamy and delicious! And that beautiful piece of fried salmon is spectacular, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lizzy!
DeleteHi Alvin, look simple yet the presentation look very classy. My sis just went groceries shopping and took a pic standing behind a huge lot of butternuts, what a coincidence. Your pasta must be super delicious with that slice of salmon.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mel! The salmon is optional but yes it does give the pasta dish a classy look and provides the protein for a more complete meal.
Deleteyou had me at bacon ^~^! bet it tastes delish, even without the salmon! ^^
ReplyDeleteHi Hui! So you are a bacon person! Check out my bacon wrapped cream cheese roll recipe:
Deletehttp://chefandsommelier.blogspot.sg/2012/02/bacon-wrapped-cream-cheese-roll.html
Alvin, looks and sounds delicious! Just not too thrilled about peeling and slicing pumpkins :) Love the pan fried salmon fillet on top.
ReplyDeleteHi PH! Peeling and slicing are part of the cooking fun?!
DeleteYes, the fried salmon fillet is good. You can use any fillet...
Spectacular dish ! The butternut squash sauce sounds really heavenly :D Another one that you should serve when you have your own resto ;D Love the photo though it's a bit dark compare to some of your previous fantastic pics or maybe I need to wear my eyeglasses ? lol
ReplyDeleteHi Anne! Thanks for believing in my resto dream...
DeleteRe the points on the photos.. It was the lighting... Noted. :)
I try to cook simple pasta for lunch nowadsys, you just give me an idea but of course without the luxury piece of salmon on top, hehehe..
ReplyDeleteHi Sonia! I know why you are cooking simple meals lately.... busy baking CNY cookies right? :)
DeleteThat sounds fantastic, Alvin! I love butternut squash but have never thought of making it into a sauce. Love the addition of bacon, butter and milk. The pumpkin prawns sounded delicious but the salmon topped pasta must be better.
ReplyDeleteHi Adora! They are different... One is a one-meal dish while the other goes very well with rice. If I have to choose one, it has to be the prawn dish...
DeleteOh wow pumpkin pasta, I have never thought of that. My kids will be sure to like this. Think I will replace the evaporated milk with fresh milk, you think that will be ok? Sometimes I can find the Australian pumpkin on sale at the supermarket which is super sweet and I will use that to make this dish.
ReplyDeleteHi Mich! What happened to your rainbow cake profile pic?
DeleteI have never tried making this sauce using fresh milk. It definitely would be a heathier version but would not be as good in my humble opinion. Evaporated milk is actually the "secret" ingredient that they use in Tze Char stall for this sauce... as told by a Tze Char Master!
Oh yum, this looks delicious! I could eat a plateful, and along with your delicious salmon!
ReplyDeleteThanks Joyce!
DeleteHi Alvin, you sure can cook very well. And your presentation is superb, like those from 5 stars restaurant. Very elegant.
ReplyDeleteYour this dish look so mouthwatering. Nice click!
Have a great evening.
Hi Amelia! You are so very kind with your words... :)
DeleteLove this dish! Great idea to use pumpkin as the base sauce. Nw i cant wait for your pumpkin prawns recipe :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Esther! Will post the pumpkin prawn recipe.. In fact I was planning to submit that to Sonia's CNY event.
DeleteGotta give this a try! I love pumpkin...but other than my simple village-style recipes or just baking in the oven and eating it like that, I've yet to try anything like yours. Looks good!
ReplyDeleteTry it, Arthur!
DeleteYour pasta looks so good. So sad that we cannot get evaporated milk in KL though :(
ReplyDeleteHi Yen.. No evaporated milk in KL? Why is that so?
DeleteHats off Chef! Your dishes always so elegant and restaurant standard! By the way, you should really let us know where in Sg that's serves Tze char pumpkin prawns...sounds yummy! I love pumpkin/butternut squash, so sweet and nutritious too!i think I can eat that salmon pumpkin pasta like everyday, looks so good!
ReplyDeleteHi Bee! I'll bring you there when you visit Singapore!
Deletehey that's a bottle of Kim Crawford in the background!
ReplyDeleteYes Eiliing... Kim Crawford is quite a decent everyday wine.
Delete