Pumpkin Kibbeh
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Cuisine: Mediterranean Diet
Serves: 5 people
Ingredients
For the Kibbeh dough
  • 1 Small fresh pumpkin, peeled and diced (Once peeled the pumpkin flesh needed is 500g or 2⅓ cups)
  • ½ Onion, peeled and thinly chopped
  • 180g (1 cup) Organic bulgur
  • 3 Tablespoons organic whole-wheat flour
  • 1 Teaspoon sea salt
  • A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
For the filling
  • 1 Tablespoon EVOO
  • 200g (1 cup) Fresh spinach leaves (I like to use baby spinach, but you can use any)
  • A pinch of salt
  • 2 Medium onions, peeled and thinly chopped
  • 150g (1 cup) Cooked organic chickpeas
  • 50g (½ cup) Raw walnuts, coarsely chopped
  • 2 Tablespoons pomegranate molasses
  • 1 Lemon freshly squeezed
Instructions
For the Kibbeh dough
  1. Have all the vegetables well washed and prepared as indicated in the ingredients description.
  2. Peel the pumpkin and cut it into small cubes (you should use 500g (2⅓ cups) of pumpkin flesh). In a large saucepan, cover the pumpkin with enough water and boil it for 15 minutes or until soft. Drain the pumpkin well but keep the water in which you boiled it, as we will use it for the bulgur.
  3. In a large bowl add the bulgur and pour 2 cups of the pumpkin water over it. Let it soak for 20 minutes. Then drain excess of water if any.
  4. Add the drained bulgur, the ½ onion peeled and thinly chopped and the cooked pumpkin in a large bowl and mix well with your hands. Add the sea salt, the freshly ground black pepper and the flour and mix it all well until perfectly combined. The mixture should become like dough. Depending on how watery your pumpkin is, you may need to add an extra bit of flour.
For the filling
  1. While the bulgur is soaking, wash well the spinach, remove the stems from the spinach leaves and tear the leaves into pieces.
  2. In a frying pan add 1 tablespoon EVOO, the chopped onions and a pinch of salt and sauté for 2-3 minutes until golden. Add then the spinach, the cooked organic chickpeas, the walnuts, the pomegranate sauce and the lemon juice and allow it to cook at low temperature until the juice is consumed, for about 5 minutes.
  3. Remove from the heat, allow it to cool and drain any rest of liquid.
For the final preparation
  1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).
  2. Lightly grease a non-stick baking tray with olive oil.
  3. Divide the dough in 2 parts. Knead the first part well spreading it evenly on the baking tray. Once the 1st part of dough is covering the baking tray, add the filling on top. Then lay evenly the 2nd part of dough over the filling, flattening it with your hands, until the entire surface is covered. (See the photography of the steps)
  4. Use a knife to decorate the kibbeh surface with square-shaped cuts. And spread over the surface 2 tablespoons EVOO.
  5. Bake in the middle of the oven for 35-40 min at 175 degrees C (350 degrees F) until golden.
  6. Remove from the oven and serve hot.
Notes
You can serve the pumpkin kibbeh with some pomegranate seeds, fresh mint, radish and lettuce.
Recipe by Tasty Mediterraneo at https://www.tastymediterraneo.com/pumpkin-kibbeh/