Pumpkin rice & apricots

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.03
  
       Title: Pumpkin  Rice & Apricots
  Categories: Fruits, Harned 1994, Rice/grains, Side dish, Russian
       Yield: 1 batch
  
       3 tb Butter
       1 md Onion; peeled & fine chopped
       6 c  Cubed, peeled pumpkin*
     3/4 c  Dried apricots; chopped
       1 ts Salt; or to taste
     3/4 c  ;Water
       1 c  Cooked rice
  
   *Or can substitute butternut or buttercup squash or sweet potatoes.
   
   Melt butter in a wide skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and cook,
   stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown.  Peel and cube
   pumpkin to about 1" pieces.  Add pieces to skillet as you prepare it.
   Stir to coat with butter.
   
   Chop apricots and add to skillet along with salt and 3/4 cup water.
   Cover and simmer the mixture 15 minutes.  Add cooked rice and cook 10
   minutes more, or until pumpkin is tender.  Stir often as it cooks.
   
   Yield: 6 to 8 servings.
   
   Fritschner writes: "In the pumpkin and apricot dish..., the natural
   sweetness of pumpkin, dried apricots and onion all play off each
   other to make a subtle side dish.  The original recipe came from
   Sonia Uvezian's _Cooking from the Caucasus_, which has several
   recipes using pumpkin as a savory side dish or addition to a main
   dish.  It isn't quick to prepare, but it's delicious."
   
   From Food Editor Sarah Fritschner's 10/19/94 "Pumpkins: Beyond Pie"
   article in "The (Louisville, KY) Courier-Journal."  Pg. C4.  Posted by
   Cathy Harned.
  
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