How To Cook Divine Pumpkin Leaves

While you’re probably very familiar with pumpkin, you might not know about the beauty of pumpkin leaves! Pumpkin leaves are eaten as a vegetable in Korea, Mexico and Africa and with a few simple tips you’ll soon be adding them to your cuisine.

Cooking Instructions:
Holding the leaf upside down by its stem, you’ll see that the stem is hollow. Use your thumbnail to split half or a third of the stem and snap it backward so that the flesh breaks cleanly, and so the outer fibres do not. Pull gently, removing the fibres from the outside of the stem and the back of the leaf. Repeat until you have de-strung a good pile, because, like all greens, pumpkin leaves will cook down quite a bit.

How to cook pumpkin
Top recipe using pumpkin leaves:
Recipe Instruction:

Pumpkin leaves can be simmered with tomatoes just for a few minutes until the leaves are tender. They can also be blanched and sautéed with oil and garlic before being tossed with chopped tomatoes. Another pumpkin leaves classic is the Malaysian dish known as Pucuk Labu. This dish combines smaller, tender pumpkin leaves with anchovies, garlic, sliced onions and a rich coconut milk.

Pumpkin leaves can be found in Fruit and Veg Super Markets (Food Lovers Market) and the Victoria Market in Durban CBD.