Stir Fried Pumpkin and Egg : Pad Fak Tong

I always forget how delicious this dish is until the end of each year when pumpkins are everywhere. Although a little late in the game since Halloween is long gone, you can still find pumpkin at the grocery store and farmers' market until the end of winter. This is a great side dish for Holiday Parties. If you haven't thought of what to cook for your Christmas dinner, this is definitely a winner.

My favorite winter squash to use for cooking is kombucha squash. The meat of kombucha squash is dense and it stands up to cooking very well. This is one of my mom's favorite dish. My brother who was a picky eater, and still is actually, loves this dish. I recently taught a Thai twist Thanksgiving class and this was one of the dishes on the menu. It was well loved by all. You can also use butternut squash in this dish too.

When preparing the squash for it, I don't even peel my squash at all. The skin cooks down pretty easily and I love the color of the skin in the dish. It is the most beautiful color combination in food. If you prefer, you can peel the skin off as well. Sometimes my mom would partially peel it so you won't lose the beautiful colors entirely. My trick is to cut them into small pieces first and then stand them up on the side and peel them. A very sharp peeler like OXO will also do the trick peeling it whole.

Stir Fried Pumpkin w/ pork and eggs

3 tbsp Vegetable oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1/2 cup ground pork

2 eggs

4 cup sliced pumpkin, bite size

6 tablespoons soup (or water)

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoon oyster sauce

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Heat oil in a wok over medium heat. Add garlic and fry until fragrant. Add pork and stir fry until pork is done. Add eggs to the pan, break the yolks (don't scramble)and cook until eggs are firm. Mix the eggs in with pork. Add pumpkin and chicken stock and cook until pumpkin is soft. Season with oyster sauce, fish sauce and sugar. Check seasoning and turn off the heat.