One of the 22 nations that border the Mediterranean Sea is Greece. These meatballs, which are made of ground beef, are seasoned with fresh herbs, garlic, and other ingredients that may bring to mind Greek cuisine. Serve these meatballs on pita bread with lettuce and tomato as an appetizer or as a main course. Whether you buy the tzatziki or make it from home using a recipe from this website, make sure to serve it with lots of other sides.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 3 cups |
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 sugar pumpkin
Instructions
- Pour water into the inner lining of a multi-functional pressure cooker (such as Instant Pot). Set trivet inside.
- Cut around the pumpkin stem to make a hole large enough to fit your hand into the pumpkin. Remove stem, then remove seeds and stringy pieces from inside pumpkin. Place pumpkin with the cut-side down on the trivet. If pumpkin is too large to fit in the pot, cut in half and arrange both halves to fit.
- Close and lock the lid; set valve to sealing. Select manual mode according to manufacturer’s instructions and set timer for 12 minutes. Allow 10 to 15 minutes for pressure to build.
- Release pressure carefully using the quick-release method according to manufacturer’s instructions, about 5 minutes. Unlock and remove the lid. Remove pumpkin from the pot and set on a rack until cook enough to handle, about 5 minutes.
- Scrape pumpkin flesh from the skin and place into a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
- Use a 3- to 4-pound pie pumpkin or sugar pumpkin for this recipe. Sugar pumpkins have more flesh and are much creamier with a less stringy texture than carving pumpkins.
- Store pumpkin puree in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or freeze for future use.
Reviews
First attempt in 40 years give or take at making pumpkin puree. Not until watching some videos/reading some reviews did the though of using the ole carving pumpkins to make puree. Too strings…..phooey…. it comes out of the instant pot like butter. Use a handheld mixer/chopper and you likely might not know the difference, at least via texture. So far so good, smells and tastes like puree pumpkins, worked like a charm, thank you!
It helps to use a trivet with handles! I used the trivet that came with my IP and couldn’t get the pumpkin out without it falling apart and falling into the water.
I made this using two hubbard squashes (2 kilos and 1.1 kilos). I followed the recipe exactly for the smaller one. Excellent, not dried out nor too wet. It had a lovely roasted taste and smell. For the larger, I cut in half, left the seeds in and cooked it open side down. Not only was it perfect, but the seeds were steamed and easily came out with a gentle scrape of a spoon. I put them in my air fryer til just crispy. They were delicious. How many times have I thrown away the seeds because rinsing, boiling then baking was just too much trouble for a handful of seeds. Not anymore! Nothing could be easier. Keep this recipe handy for the holidays to save time and have real pumpkin any time.
Worked great, thanks
I had to use my carving pumpkin, but this recipe works perfect even for that type. I had to cut mine into 4 chunks, but it still worked perfectly for the time. Super Simple Recipe!