This very refreshing salad is easy and fast to make! The taste of the raw pumpkin is a nice change from the usual pumpkin soup or pie.
To me, raw pumpkin doesn't have a whole lot of flavor and it does have a bit of an odd texture, so at first I didn't find this appealing at all. And I'm not sure if the type of pumpkin makes a diffference - I used sugar pumpkin. I thought it definitely needed something else, so I added just a little chopped sweet onion and a dash of nutmeg and I liked it a little more. I think this is a good base recipe, and you could head in a sweet or savory direction with it by adding various ingredients. Some of the ones I thought about were orange segments, honey, scallions and dried cranberries or fresh ginger, a little rice vinegar, dijon mustard and sliced fennel. As is, this is a take it or leave it recipe, but I'm very intrigued by the idea of using raw pumpkin in a salad.
Read More To me, raw pumpkin doesn't have a whole lot of flavor and it does have a bit of an odd texture, so at first I didn't find this appealing at all. And I'm not sure if the type of pumpkin makes a diffference - I used sugar pumpkin. I thought it definitely needed something else, so I added just a little chopped sweet onion and a dash of nutmeg and I liked it a little more. I think this is a good base recipe, and you could head in a sweet or savory direction with it by adding various ingredients. Some of the ones I thought about were orange segments, honey, scallions and dried cranberries or fresh ginger, a little rice vinegar, dijon mustard and sliced fennel. As is, this is a take it or leave it recipe, but I'm very intrigued by the idea of using raw pumpkin in a salad.
Nice ideas. I compared mincing vs. grating since pumpkin isn't really great on texture. I agreed w/sarahmagali: grating is best. I'd prefer using butternut squash but had pumpkin on hand. Have you tasted the difference between fresh pumpkin & fresh butternut squash? Butternut is somewhat carrot-like, juicy & bursting w/flavor. Pumpkin is lacking in flavor and stringy. While processing an oversized pumpkin, having read this recipe in the past, I looked it up & started grating about a cup of pumpkin. THEN I realized that someone had eaten all of our decent eating apples, so I threw in about 2/3? C quartered, fresh cranberries plus extra raisins. Since cranberries are not as sweet as apples, & I wanted something akin to apple anyway, I opted for apple-cider vin & raw sugar for the dressing, though I put in a spoonful of fat-free sour cream for richness. I shook the salt shaker over the salad just a tad just because I usually do (& I was glad I did). After tasting the salad, I agreed w/Christine that fresh, minced onion (about a quarter of a medium sized onion) & a small sprinkling of nutmeg would round things out nicely. My husband, daughter & I all loved this. My daughter's eyes popped open at the strong bursts of flavor. They both asked about nutmeg, tasting it strongly even though I only lightly dusted the salad with it, so go light if you use it. To me apples, pineapple, etc. sound like good options as well. With my accidental changes, this is a six-star recipe, pretty too!
