Name: Brazilian shrimp stuffed pumpkin (Camarão na Moranga)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 20 min
Total time: 1 h 35 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Brazilian
Ingredients: 1 medium pumpkin; 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided; 1 pound wild caught large shrimp, prawn, cleaned and deveined; 1 medium onion, finely chopped; 1 jalapeño pepper, chopped; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped; 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped; 1 cup cream cheese; salt and pepper

Brazilian stuffed pumpkin recipe (Camarão na Moraga) is the perfect comfort fall Sunday dinner idea!

Brazilian shrimp stuffed pumpkin recipe (Camarão na Moranga)

Before starting this blog, Brazilian food meant one thing to me.

Meat.

Generous quantities of delicious, juicy grilled meat coming out of those big skewers onto my plate.

Especially beef. Yes, more beef, please!

Today, I want to share with you this amazing traditional Brazilian food recipe – Shrimp (Prawn) stuffed pumpkin, that Brazilians enjoy all year round!

Brazilian shrimp stuffed pumpkin (Camarão na Moranga)

Delicious, moist baked pumpkin filled with sautéed shrimp (prawn), onion, garlic, and fresh tomatoes!

I am going to tell you a little secret 🙂

I knew from my first bite that this dish will be on my Thanksgiving table!

Lucky me, my guests are not reading my blog…hopefully 🙂 and the surprise will not be ruined.

It is such a perfect dish to serve at any fall dinner party next to roasted stuffed turkey recipe or prawn risotto! You can never have enough seafood and rice 🙂

The traditional recipe uses a Brazilian ingredient requeijao, a loose, creamy cheese to be spread inside the scooped pumpkin prior to filling it with the seafood stew. In Brazil, they use Catupiry but here, in US it is quite difficult to find it.

What to use instead of Catupiry cheese?

Don’t worry! I have used cream cheese as a substitute and it turned out perfectly!

This Brazilian Shrimp (Prawn) stuffed pumpkin is really easy to make. Serve it over rice, trying to scoop out some moist pumpkin flesh too.

Give it a try! You are going to love it!

More stuffed pumpkin recipes that you’ll love

Try These Recipes Too

Yield: 4 servings

Brazilian shrimp stuffed pumpkin (Camarão na Moranga)

Savory Stuffed Pumpkin with Shrimp. Perfect fall dinner recipe, these roasted whole stuffed pumpkins are so delicious! Perfect for Thanksgiving table. Serve with rice on side

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

1 medium pumpkin
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound wild caught large shrimp, prawn, cleaned and deveined
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 cup cream cheese
salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C.
Wash the pumpkin and cut off the top. Scoop out the flesh and remove all seeds. Wrap it in aluminum foil and place it onto a baking tray, cut-off side down. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, until it is nearly soft. Remove it from the oven and unwrap from alluminium foil. Set aside.
In a large pan, heat olive oil on medium heat. Sauté the onion for 2-3 minutes, until golden. Add garlic, chopped jalapeño and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add shrimp to the pan and continue cooking for another minute. Add chopped fresh tomatoes, season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are soft, for approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add fresh cilantro. Set aside.
Using a spoon, spread the cream cheese inside the pumpkin, trying to coat all the inside area. Pour shrimp stew into the pumpkin and return to the oven. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until cheese melts and pumpkin becomes really soft inside. Remove from oven, sprinkle some more fresh cilantro on top. Serve warm with white rice on the side.