Pumpkin Fried Rice

I started out making this from a recipe I found online. I baked the pumpkin for 20 minutes to parcook it and cooked up a big pot of rice. But as I got to reading the recipe more, I saw that was about it for ingredients: pumpkin, rice, scallions, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Hmm sounded really boring. Looking around in my cookbooks I found Guy Fieri's BBQ Duck Fried Rice in Guy Fieri Food. Not having any BBQ duck handy, I adapted it to this fabulous veggie pumpkin fried rice. It made a huge platter, and we all loved it.

Pumpkin Fried Rice

Adapted from BBQ Duck Fried Rice by Guy Fieri

Ingredients
3 cups cooked brown or white rice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 cups fresh pumpkin, parcooked and diced
1 sweet onion, diced
1 cup green cabbage, thinly sliced
1 cup shitake mushrooms, diced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Parcook the pumpkin by baking at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. When cool enough to handle, dice into 3/4 inch cubes.

Combine the soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil in a small bowl.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the canola oil in a skillet or wok over high heat until the oil almost begins to smoke. Add the ginger, onion, cabbage, pumpkin, and mushrooms and stir fry for 7 minutes until the vegetables are softened. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Transfer vegetables to a plate and heat 1 tablespoon more oil in skillet or wok, add the rice and cook for 6 minutes to allow it to crisp. (Do this in batches if your pan will not hold all the rice without crowding.)

Add the eggs and mix rapidly so that the eggs do not stick to the sides of the pan. When the eggs are cooked, add the soy sauce mixture. Mix thoroughly, then add the reserved vegetables. Stir to combine and warm thoroughly.

Garnish with the green onion and sesame seeds.