potato kaloor / kufteh /kibbeh
Vegan food is getting more and more attention these days as our notoriously
nutritionally bad typical American diet motivates an increasing number of people
to try eating more healthy, and then there is the ethical treatment of animal
issue. We love vegan food, but are not ready to give up dairy and occasional
meats. This vegan version of a Middle Eastern favorite has multiple names:
kaloor (Anjarian), kufteh (Armenian), kibbeh (Arabic), at least I think that is
the situation, apart from multiple English spellings of these foreign words. We
call them informally "bombs" because of the little football shaped form they
have, and the original non-vegan version often finds itself floating in yougurt
mint soup or in a flat layered version which is portioned out in triangular
servings from a large round pan format and served with (plain) yogurt on the
side. The potato version is also delicious to eat with your fingers, perhaps
with some hummus.
The magic ingredient is always bulgur, a healthy form of wheat.
ingredients
- shell dough:
- 4 medium (russet?) potatoes, boiled, skinned,riced (about 1.5 lbs),
set aside 1 cup
- 3 nedium onions, finely chopped
- 1/2 c light olive oil
- 1 T red pepper paste
- 1 t cumin
- salt, pepper to taste.
- filling:
- 1/2 c bulgur #1 cut (fine)
- 1/2 c all purpose flour
- 1/2 c semolina flour
- 1 T red pepper paste
- 1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
- 1 t cumin
- salt, papper to taste
- vegetable oil for frying
instructions
- Prep the veggies. Rice the boiled potatoes, etc.
- Saute the onions in the olive oil until they are golden, lightly
browned.
- Add the red pepper taste and spices and stir in, cook a bit with the
onions.
- Add the potatoes and cook together until they absorb the remaining
ingredients.
- Set aside.
- Mix together the bulgur, flours and red pepper paste.
- Add water a bit at a time until the dough "comes together" (this is a
judgement call).
- Add the reserved potatoes and oil and spices and kneed together.
- Separate into egg-sized balls to make the shells to fill with the
filling.
- Gently open up each ball to form an open shell, put in some filling and
then work the shell around the filling to close it up.
- Repeat until all the balls are processed.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350° F for 10 minutes to firm up the kaloor so they absorb less oil in frying.
- Fry the kaloor in vegetable oil.
- Cool.
notes
- Isgouhi's recipe for yogurt mint soup (with kibbeh).
- Illustrations available.