Kabak Tatlisi

Kabak Tatlisi refers to a traditional and popular Turkish hearty dessert made by cooking pieces of pumpkin (preferably butternut squash) in syrup. Kabak Tatlisi can be served as a dessert on its own or with some clotted cream, ice cream or Tahini and a garnish of chopped nuts, such as walnuts, hazelnuts or pistachios or even grated coconut. To make Kabak Tatlisi, just follow this simple recipe: Peel pumpkin and slice into tiny pieces of 5-6 centimeter. long. Wash pieces in cold water and place in wide pan. Pour 5 hundred ml. water over pumpkin pieces, cover, and cook on medium heating. Whenever most of the water has evaporated, sprinkle sugar over pumpkin , cover and allow to simmer until the sugar has melted and syrup has a little thickened. When pumpkin is cooked, remove from heat and allow to cool. Place pumpkin on serving dish and pour remaining syrup over pieces. Sprinkle with crushed walnuts before serving. It is my first encounter with a nice dessert using pumpkin, when it is in season, I try to make them as a marmalade. In Germany,it is very easy to make marmalades and when somebody gave a a huge pumpkin I used it to make marmalade using only sliced pumpkin (Kurbis in German) and Geliertzucker (gelling sugar). In the Philippines, where squash (Kalabasa) is always available in the public markets, we also use it to make sweets Pastillas (candies)