Pumpkin Glace – Kabak Tatlisi

I thought for Valentine’s Day, I should post something sweet. This is one of my favorite non-chocolate desserts, one that is based on a vegetable, figure that out!

Pumpkin Glace is the Turkish version of the American Pumpkin Pie. It is a popular dessert throughout Turkey. Unlike pumpkin pie, there’s no crust, thus much easier to prepare.  It is always served with grated walnuts. In Antalya, Turkey, they serve it with a drizzle of sesame sauce called tahini. A few years ago, when I made this dessert, I gave a plateful to my neighbor and explained to her what it was. Later she told me that they enjoyed it with their meat. It turned out that they served it with the main dish like you would serve yams or sweet potatoes. I thought it was too funny. This is not a side dish to accompany turkey or meat, it is simply a dessert.

There are two ways of cooking this dessert. You can either cook it over the stove or in the oven. I cook it both ways. Taste is very similar, oven cooked one slightly better.  It takes about 30 minutes to cook it on the stove versus 1 hr plus in the oven. So you decide…

Wash and cut pumpkin into slices.

Peel the thick skin. Place in a pot for stove top cooking or in a Pyrex dish for oven cooking. Pour sugar over the pumpkin pieces.

Place in refrigerator overnight. Pumpkin will release its juices. By morning pieces will be covered in syrup.

Place pot over medium heat, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, let it simmer until pumpkin slices are tender, about 30 minutes. There will be some syrup in the pot. Let it cool to room temperature. Serve chilled with a generous spoon full of grated walnuts as garnish.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the Pyrex dish with pumpkins in the oven.  Do not cover. Cook until pumpkin slices are tender, about 1 hour. There will be some syrup in the dish. Remove from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. Serve chilled with a generous spoon full of grated walnuts as garnish.

Pumpkin cooked in the oven