Pickled pumpkin, also known as kõrvitsasalat in Estonian is a holiday staple. You will usually find this served as a side dish on every Christmas table. This recipe, however, is a twist to the classic recipe with the addition of the bird's eye chili pepper. The heat really elevates this dish and it will be talk of the party.
INGREDIENTS
1 kg / 2.2 lbs cleaned pumpkin
1 l of water
3 tbsp 30% vinegar
250-275 g / 0.55-0.6 lbs sugar
6 cloves
10 allspice peppers
1 bird's eye chili
Peel and deseed the pumpkin. You can clean and leave the pumpkin seeds for another recipe.
Cut the cleaned and deseeded pumpkin into small cubes. Put the cubes into a pot, add the water and vinegar. Leave this to set overnight. This helps the pumpkin to stay crispy.
Cut the bird's eye chilli into very thin slices. Be careful around your eyes and use gloves just in case if you have them.
Add the sugar, spices and chili to the pot.
Heat until boiling and lower the temperature until it's just simmering. Cook on low heat for 30-45 minutes. The pumpkin will turn translucent and will soften a bit. Be careful not to overcook it as you want your pumpkin to have a little bite and be crispy. Overcooking it will turn your pumpkin into a mush.
Once you're happy with the texture of your pumpkin, pour your pumpkin into sterilised jars. Try to get some spices and peppers into each jar you use. Cover with a sterilised lid.
NOTES
If you want to make a completely traditional pickled pumpkin, leave out the chili and add one cinnamon stick instead when cooking the pumpkin. Remove the cinnamon when you're pouring the pumpkin into jars as it might affect the colour of your pumpkin.
This recipe can be customised a lot. I usually like mine to be sweeter so I add more sugar. I know people who have used a sugar substitute like stevia if you want to replace sugar to make it healthier.
The taste gets more stronger the longer it stands.
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