Simmered chicken with pumpkin

Making this quick simmered dish was probably baited by a vibrant picture of the dish in a food magazine I bought recently.  The orange color of softly simmered pumpkin cubes was so bright, the cubes of chicken were so lusciously coated with a sauce thick with pumpkin puree from the simmering, that I found myself salivating from the back of my jaw ^_^  (Greedy!)

I know the Hubby likes pumpkin, but I wasn't so sure about the kids.  I've made pumpkin pilaf before, but the amount of pumpkin used was small.  It wasn't so much of a main ingredient, but this dish would really feature the soft sweet mushy pumpkin flesh.  I wonder if the girl would like it.  

Since I am writing this in retrospect, I'll just be upfront to say to that the girl did not quite take to the pumpkin in this dish.  She took the chicken, ladle some sauce onto her rice, and in courtesy, showed me that she had taken a few pieces of the orangy squash and that was about it. *Sigh*

The Tiny Man tucked into the chicken pieces too, but I don't remember him savoring the squash.  Only the Hubby appreciated the goodness of the pumpkin.  Or perhaps, he was saving the chicken pieces for the kids?

I liked this dish actually.  Some parts of those pumpkin cubes disintegrated into the sauce after simmering, forming a sort of thin pumpkin puree.  This actually coated all the chicken cubes and permeated those morsels of meat with good old vegetable sweetness. 

What ever it is, the color was still astounding.  Bright and cheery looking, like a bowl of sunshine.  I wasn't too affected by the food tasting squad's reaction to this dish, as we had apple crumble for dessert.  Yes, THAT apple crumble.  They loved it with the ice-cream, especially the kids.  On hindsight, I wonder if it was the ice-cream that saved the crumble.  Nah~  The Hubby was going "真的很好吃！", "I prefer this to the banana one."  ^_^

Simmered chicken with pumpkin

(ingredients adapted from Famous Cuisine, Issue 71, Nov/Dec 2011, cooking method entirely my own)

Ingredients

200g chicken thigh meat, cubed

300g pumpkin, peeled and cubed (I used about 400g)  

50g dried shrimps, soak in water until slightly softened

1 clove garlic, chopped

100ml water

1 tbsp oyster sauce (I use vegetarian oyster sauce)

1/2 tbsp light soy sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

Method

1. Blanched the chicken cubes in water, drain and set aside.

2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a wok, saute garlic and dried shrimps over a low heat until fragrant.  Add the pumpkin cubes and continue to stir-fry on low heat until the edges of the pumpkin appear translucent.  

3. Add oyster sauce to the pumpkin and stir to mix well.  At this point, add 50ml of water to simmer the pumpkin until 80% softened.

4. When the pumpkin is 80% softened, add the chicken cubes and stir to coat the meat well.  Add the remaining 50ml of water, light soy sauce and sugar.  Simmer until the pumpkin is completely soft and moisture slightly reduced.  

Though it is not in the original recipe, I like to add a dash of pepper before dishing out.