Fiery Pumpkin Dip

BBQ last night in a friend's place, and I made 2 dips for the bread & chips. Salsa, as usual, is always welcoming and is a dip that never goes wrong for a party. I didn't expect everybody love this pumpkin dip. So decided to share the recipe here :)

This orange color dip offers a rich combination of sweet, spicy and fiery flavours. My cookbook actually had a warning line on this page: Be Warned - once you start dipping, it's hard to stop!

Original Recipe

• 600 gram / 1 lb 5 oz butternut squash or pumpkin. seeded, peeled, and cut into chunks
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt & grounded black pepper
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 teaspoon granted fresh root ginger
• 1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lime

My Recipe (with variation in ingredients, served 10+ people in the party)

• half Chinese pumpkin (around 2.5 lbs), seeded, peeled, and cut into chunks
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt & grounded black pepper to taste
  
• 1 garlic clove, crushed & peeled
  
• 1 big cube fresh ginger, peeled
  
• 1 red dried chilli (the mini one from Southeast Asia), seeded and finely chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lemon

Method

1. Preheat oven for 5 mins.
2. Put pumpkin in a baking dish, drizzle over 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Roast for 20 minutes, 10 mins each side, or until tender.
4. Put the pumpkin, garlic, giner, chilli, and remaining oil into a blender. Process until smooth.
5. Squeeze in lemon juice and check the season to taste.
   

Cooking Tips

• The thinner chunks of pumpkin you cut, the less roasting time. I used microwave oven instead of real oven. With the microwave + grill function, it only took 15 mins to soften the pumpkins, while 20 mins with the grill only function.
• Why I use Chinese pumpkin? 2 reasons: It's easy and cheap to get in fresh market here, and it taste better for dips & soups compared to Japanese pumpkins.
• Can serve hot, warm or cold. It will thicken on cooling. Give a good stir before serving.