Watermelon Rind Seitan Curry

Pickled watermelon rind was an invention of the Great Depression, where they used what was available and cheap to make delicious food. After receiving a watermelon as a gift from someone and wanting to make the most of it, I chanced upon WatermelonRind.com, a great website with many recipes using watermelon rind.
Watermelon rind is very nutritious and delicious, and is actually in the squash family. It is no wonder watermelon rind resembles squash in taste and can be used similarly in recipes.

Watermelon Rind Seitan Curry

Ingredients
Watermelon rind- from half a watermelon
1.5 cups pumpkin
1 large onion
1.5 tsp turmeric
3 tsp curry powder
3 tsp garam masala spice mix (I made my own using this recipe)
Water to cover
Oil for sauteing

Instructions
1. Remove as much of the red as possible from the watermelon. Its ok if a bit remains.
2. Use a peeler to remove the green outer part of the rind.

3. Chop up the watermelon rind into little cubes.

4. Dice an onion, and cube the pumpkin.

5. Fry the garam masala, curry powder and turmeric until it starts getting aromatic. Add onions and sauté until translucent. 

6. Add watermelon and sauté for 5 minutes.

7. Add pumpkin and sauté a few more minutes.

8. Add salt and enough water to cover. 

9. Adjust the heat to low and simmer until soft.

10. Take cooked seitan and cube it. (I recently discovered new tricks on making phenomenal seitan and will share them with you shortly.)

11. When the watermelon rind and pumpkin are soft, add the seitan, mix, and serve over rice.

YUM!

Would you ever cook with watermelon rind, or does that sound too daring to you?

This is part of my "Don't Throw That Out Yet" series. 

If you liked this post, you might also like these other posts in this series:

Spoiled Milk Pancakes

Chicken Scrap Soup

Vegetable Scrap Soup

Wilted Cucumber Salad