Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Don’t throw away those seeds. They're not only tasty with soups and salads and a convenient snack, they're also a superfood; very rich in zinc. They contain plant compounds known as phytosterols, and free-radical scavenging antioxidants, which can give your health an added boost. Here's a recipe to preserve them and make them super tasty.

Serves [X]

Ingredients

• 1 pumpkins worth of seeds (if you have more or less that’s fine, just adjust flavour combo amount)

Flavour combos

Curry Mix

• 1 tablespoon oil (coconut or vegetable)

• 1.5 teaspoons curry powder

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Pumpkin pie mix

• 1 tablespoon oil (coconut or vegetable)

• 1.5 teaspoons of mixed spice

• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Tasty Thai mix

• 1 tablespoon oil (coconut or vegetable)

• 1.5 teaspoons of Thai seven spice

• ½ teaspoon of salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190 celsius.

2. To prepare the pumpkin seeds for roasting you have to remove all pumpkin flesh. We would recommend putting all pumpkin seeds into a colander, running them under water and separating the seeds from the stringy stuff which then goes into the compost.

3. When the pumpkin seeds are clean, they can then be simmered. Follow the ratio of 2 cups of water and one tablespoon of salt per ½ cup of pumpkin seeds and then place the seeds and the salt water in a saucepan over a medium heat.

4. Simmer the pumpkin seeds in the water for 10 minutes, then drain off the water.

5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix the pumpkin seeds with the flavour mix of your choice (or get creative and come up with your own).

6. Then spread the seeds out on the lined baking sheet and roast for 15 to 20 minutes. You know they are ready when they are crisp and some of them have popped a bit, but not blackened.

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