Stuffed Pumpkin with Special Rice Filling

Ingredients

• 1 kg meat, medium pieces, with or without bone
• 2 cups long grain (mandi) rice
• 1 medium pumpkin (double the rice if it is large)
• 7 onions, sliced
• 1 head of garlic
• Knorr stock powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp biryani, mandi or mixed spice
• Whole spices (4 cinnamon sticks, 5 cloves, 7 cardamom pods, bay leaf)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil with 1/2 cup ghee
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup fried pine nuts
• 1/4 cup fried almonds
• 1 cup raisins, soaked

Method

1. Brown the meat in the oil and ghee, remove and season it in a bowl with the turmeric, black pepper and mixed spices. Fry the onions in the same oil until soft.
2. In a pressure cooker, layer meat, then onions, then meat, then onions. Add the whole head of garlic with its skin and the cup of water, close and cook about half an hour until tender.
3. Meanwhile, cook the soaked rice by boiling: 2 cups rice with 1 liter water, salt, stock powder and the whole spices, boil about 10 minutes, then drain.
4. Cut the top off the pumpkin, remove the seeds, and rub inside and out with salt, black pepper and vegetable oil.
5. Fry the pine nuts, almonds and soaked raisins in the same oil and mix them into the rice.
6. Fill the pumpkin with a layer of meat, then rice, then onions, repeating until full. Close with the pumpkin lid, wrap in foil and bake about an hour and a half until the pumpkin is tender. Rest briefly, then cut and serve with cucumber yogurt or salad.