Zhu Huifang/Noodle Pumpkin
The orange pumpkin is like the leaves that fly with full eyes and turn yellow, marking the seasonal color, which represents harvest and reminds people to be content and grateful. In the past, the American local farms brought beautiful pumpkins larger than basketballs. Tourists are welcome to buy them directly at the farm. After the pumpkin season, the farm enters the hibernation period and various foods are purchased in supermarkets. After the Thanksgiving Day, the price of various edible and decorative small and medium-sized pumpkins dropped significantly, and they looked like toys, less than NT$30. Some pumpkins are not common in Taiwan, such as the "spaghetti squash" that looks very similar to yellow melons.
In Taiwan, the Italian noodles pumpkin, called "golden melon", has a very good relationship with Italian noodles. After heating and cooking, the melon meat inside will become noodles. Scrape the noodles with a fork. The long strips are like cooked Italian noodles, paired with red tomato sauce, sprinkle some cheese powder, and place it on the dining table to definitely have the effect of mixing fish with beads.
{9 99}The name is very Italian and looks like noodles, but the sweet taste is still very honest: "I am a pumpkin." This melon actually comes from northern China. During the Second World War, there was a shortage of food. The US government encouraged the public to cook their own vegetables at home. The foreign pumpkin that replaced noodles became popular in view. It was not until the food was too much to be eaten after the war, and the trend of eating noodles gradually faded away. After several decades of silence, the noodles pumpkin began to spread in the hippie circle where healthy diets are popular because of its low calories, low carbohydrates, high fiber, vegetarian, leaf acid, and other quality characteristics.
Although the skin of this melon is thin, it is hard like a wooden head, protecting the silk noodles inside the melon. With hard protection, it is resistant to shelter and storage. It can be bought in the market almost all year round. After moving home, it can be put on a meal before eating. More importantly, it is cheap. In the past, the pumpkins are in full bloom. Generally, there are about NT$30 in the market, and even if there are organic species, it does not exceed 100 yuan. I hope that one day when it becomes popular in Taiwan, it will not be praised as super food or super price.
To cut a noodles with pumpkin, you need a sharp knife and strong control of the overall melon. Fortunately, just cut a piece of the hole and you can cut it smoothly. The sound of brushing is a bit like the touch when cutting a big watermelon. After cutting the half, remove the seeds in the middle, put the melon upside down on the baking pan and bake it in the oven at high temperature (200 degrees), or steam it in electric water. The meat will cook and softly in just half an hour. The taste of steamed with electric pot is more humid, and it is not easy to roast. It also has a caramel aroma, which is similar to the flavor of charcoal-grilled sweet potatoes. The purpose of turning the pumpkin upside down is to avoid the moisture squeezed out during cooking and the scraped noodles will not get stuck. When I tried it for the first time, I didn't master the script and turned the noodles into a wet noodles line.
No matter how you cook the pumpkin, use a fork to scrape the melon meat and remove the soot bars, drizzle them with a little olive oil, sprinkle a little salt, and eat them directly, or process them into various meals.
My daily lifestyle is to mix half directly into the vegetable salad and enjoy its most natural flavor and texture. The other half adds milk, fruits and beans, and taste them with Indian spices, and cook them into a slightly spicy fruit pumpkin soup. In North, where the chill is getting heavier, drinking warm soup and fresh salad, I feel romantic and healthy, and the simple food is really good.
