Kibbeh

Kabocha Kibbeh with lacinato kale and tofu tahini mint dip (and Totally Vegan and Basically No Sugar Incredibly Delicious German Chocolate Fruit Cake)

I am just realizing the website credit I initially included in this posting got edited out!! My apologies. I found this recipe at a wonderful website called The Vegan Feast which is written and published by Bryanna Clark Grogan, an accomplished vegan chef and cookbook author. Her website/blog is superb and please check it out!! I read about her kibbeh recipe the morning I made this dish. It was inspiring and I can report first hand that it is wonderful, too!! Check out the site! http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com. The recipe was for something I'd never heard of, called "Kibbeh." It's a middle eastern dish that is quite common - it is often made with meat and bulgur but apparently there are a number of vegetarian versions as well. Sometimes they are made with potato and sometimes with sweet squash or sweet potato. Bryanna's recipe called for pumpkin, which we have already eaten up for the season, but I did have a Japanese pumpkin (aka kabocha or hokkaido pumpkin) on hand given to us by a friend. I cooked it up this morning with some potatoes (also from a generous gardening friend) that we enjoyed at lunch. After working at a project just around the corner, we came home and after a nice cup of Assam, I had a huge burst of energy and started cooking. I modified Mrs. Grogan's recipe somewhat, but barely. She called for allspice, which I neither have nor like, so I omitted it, and I had no chickpea flour (or chickpeas to grind, either!). I used a soft wheat, fresh ground. You can go straight to her website for a clearer and more elegant presentation if you like! It's a fantastic website with lots of inspiration available.

Ingredients:
One squash of your choice. Roast till soft and if it's juicy, sit it in a sieve and drain it well so the consistency is drier. Kabocha works really well for this. They always seem to have a lovely drier consistency.
one T olive oil
one medium onion
four garlic cloves
one cup bulgur wheat
one tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
red chile flakes
1 tsp paprika
one tsp coriander, ground
one cup of flour
The recipe was super easy. Soak a cup of bulgur in two cups of boiling water. Allow it to sit till it absorbs all the liquid. Then strain it and press out extra water. Meanwhile, rough chop the onion and mince the four garlic cloves. Saute them in the tablespoon of olive oil till soft. Put the cooked squash in a mixer or mixing bowl, add spices and onions, mix well. Then add the bulgur. Then add the flour. Mix well. Press this wonderful smelling mixture into an oiled and floured 9 by 13 pyrex pan. Drizzle a bit of oil over top and spread to a thin layer with your fingers. Cook about 25 minutes at 350 and then allow to broil briefly to brown the top. Remove from oven and either serve right away or as it cools. We ate it at room temp, or a bit warmer, which was suggested, but Shawn commented that he would like it even more right out of the oven. Next time!!

The sauce is AWESOME!! This recipe I copied verbatim from Grogan's offering at the website and it needs nothing added or omitted in my opinion.

I made my own tofu. It was about 6-8 ounces, medium in consistency.
The other ingredients are simple, too.

2 T tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp dried mint
salt to taste
2 minced garlic cloves.

Blend it all together till smooth. That's it! It's phenomenal tasting. I liked it much more than tzatziki as it's thicker in consistency and the tahini is a really lovely addition. The mint is nice, not overwhelming. Excellent!!

I briefly boiled some nice lacinato kale from a neighbor's seaside garden, it's done wonderfully this year and is still holding up perfectly and wonderfully sweet and fresh. I tossed it in some olive oil, balsamic & minced garlic and served it alongside the wonderful kabocha kibbeh and mint sauce. This is a super dish. Totally vegan, too!