Even though we still haven’t said goodbye to summer in these parts (we were on the beach this past weekend), pumpkins have already made an appearance on our green grocer’s shelves.
As I’m a massive pumpkin aficionado, I had to get one, I couldn’t help myself. Instead of making my favourite autumn pasta with it, I decided to marry it up with Middle Eastern flavours to make pumpkin kibbeh balls. Kibbeh is one of these dishes that is typically made with mince meat, but there are vegetarian versions, which are usually consumed during the period of fasting. All the recipes I’ve seen incorporate pumpkin purée into the shell dough, but I wanted a more decisive pumpkin flavour so I added chopped pumpkin (together with chickpeas) to the filling instead. It took me a few goes to get the balance of flavours right, but I am really pleased with how these crispy beauties turned out. I fried mine but if you are not keen on that idea, you can also bake them in the oven instead 🙂 .
200 g / 1 cup extra fine bulgur wheat* 2½ tsp fine sea salt 2½ tsp baharat spice** 4 tbsp / ¼ cup plain flour ½ onion, grated finely (optional) 1-2 tbsp reduced aquafaba (optional, SEE INSTRUCTIONS)
KIBBEH FILLING
2 tbsp olive oil 1 small red onion, diced finely 1 heaped cup of baked pumpkin cubes (approx. ¼ medium pumpkin), chopped ¼ cup cooked chickpeas, chopped salt, to taste 2 tsp baharat spice ½ tsp hot chilli (optional) 1 tsp sumac OR lemon juice, to taste 1 heaped tbsp walnuts, toasted (optionally) and chopped 1 heaped tbsp sultanas, chopped 2 tbsp fresh coriander OR parsley, chopped finely sunflower oil for frying
ASSEMBLY
