www.ntnews.com.au Thursday, June 13, 2013. NT NEWS. 31

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Baked stuffedmini pumpkinsIngredients2-3 medium pumpkins, cutin half, seeds scooped out2 tablespoons vegetable oil1 cup onion, chopped2.5cm fresh ginger, finelychopped2-3 garlic cloves, finelyminced1 tablespoon fresh basil1 medium sweet corn1 package firm tofu, mashed¾ cup tahini1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon tamari (or moreto taste)pepper½ cup fresh parsley, chopped

Method1. Cut tops off pumpkinsand carve out seeds. Dryand roast seeds and add tothe stuffing, if you like.2. Preheat oven to 180C.Place pumpkins (with topson) on a baking tray anddrizzle with olive oil. Put acouple of tablespoons ofwater into it.3. Bake for 20-30 minutes oruntil soft. Remove fromoven and let cool slightly.

4. While pumpkin is baking,saute onion, then add gin-ger, garlic, corn, tofu, herbsand spices. Remove fromheat and allow to cool.5. In mixing bowl, combinesauteed ingredients with ta-mari, tahini and flour.6. Stuff the pumpkin when itis baked.7. Lower oven temperatureand bake on a baking sheetfor about 30 more minutesuntil stuffing golden.

Get forked

COOKING RECIPES FOODIE EVENTS

THE COOK’S CORNER

EMILY GRAY SNAKEBEAN COMMUNITY GARDEN

Learn aboutpermacultureTHIS wet season we hadpiles of pumpkins, so wehad to get creative withhow we cooked them.

One of our vines wasvery productive, but pro-duced mini pumpkins —perfect size for stuffed ba-ked pumpkins.

The Snakebean Com-munity Garden, was cre-ated in 2009 to give localsthe chance to grow theirown food when may nothave space for their ownveggie patch.

The garden is is a placewhere people of all agescan learn through practi-cal, hands-on experience.

The garden, open dailyfrom 7am-7pm, is at theGeorge Brown BotanicGardens, it has 29 privateplots and two educationplots for schools.

You’ll see a big varietyof tropical fruits, veg-etables, herbs and spicesincluding sugar cane, cof-fee, cardamom, ginger,gotu kola, sweet leaf, aloevera, lemon grass, egg-plants, tomatoes, pump-kins, bananas, pawpaws,and chilies. You can alsosee the Chook Hilton,home to happy hens pro-viding fresh eggs.

The Snakebean Com-munity Garden is hostingpermaculture workshopswhere people can learnabout organic gardeningand how to cook deliciouslocal produce.

Workshops are held onthe third Sunday of eachmonth from 4.30-6pm.

The workshops are alsoa great chance to relax andmake new friends.

ROOT OF THE WEEKWITH EMMA LUPINwww.tasteofthetopend.com

CASSAVA is easily grownin the Darwin area and canbe made into sweet andsavoury dishes.

This recipe was trialledand adapted by Grusha Lee-man during a cassava foodcare workshop, and was abig hit. It’s like Turkish de-light with a Territory twist.

Simply blend together 11⁄3cup of fine sugar, 50ml ofrose water, 50ml of water

and 500g of raw, grated cas-sava until smooth. Make asquare shaped packet withfoil and fill with mixture.Steam in a steamer. Cool,chop into pieces, roll inshredded coconut or chop-ped almonds and serve.

Cookingwill add spiceto festival proceedings

Alam Kabir will be serving up his special lamb curry for World Refugee Day Picture: DANIEL HARTLEY-ALLEN

When I cook curry I

cook it a long time

and it’s hot and spicy

By COURTNEY TODD

DARWIN refugees will sharetheir food, dance and cultureat the World Refugee DayFestival at Jingili Water Gar-dens this Sunday.

Melaleuca Refugee Centreis hosting the event, whichcelebrates the varied and vi-brant cultures within theDarwin community.

It also celebrates the con-tributions of the refugeeswho now call Darwin home.

Rohingya refugee AlamKabir will be sharing his cur-ries and fried rice withcrowds at the festival. MrKabir is from a persecuted

Burmese minority groupand grew up moving fromplace to place.

He lived in Burma, Bangla-desh, India, Malaysia, Thai-land and Indonesia beforemaking an 18-day boat jour-ney that ended in a detentioncentre on Christmas Island.

Mr Kabir has been in Dar-win since 2010.

The 34-year-old is a self-taught cook and often wor-ked with food in the differentcountries he lived in.

He said his cooking stylewas ‘‘hot and spicy’’ and fea-tured strong Malaysian andIndian influences.

‘‘When I cook curry I cookit a long time and it’s hot andspicy — Indian spicy andMalaysian spicy,’’ he said.

Mr Kabir will be servingup fried rice and currylamb at the World RefugeeDay Festival.

He said the food wouldbe ‘‘hot’’ compared toAustralian food.

But he thinks Darwiniteswill enjoy it.

The theme for this year’sWorld Refugee Day is Restor-ing Hope.

The day celebrates thechance for people to start anew life free of fear, violenceand insecurity.

The World Refugee DayFestival will be held at theJingili Water Gardens onSunday, June 16, from 1-6pm.

Visit melaleuca.org.au formore details.