20 March 2024

To celebrate Navruz this year, KCC has gone for a Kazakh mashup with a loose variation on Kazakhstan’s national dish, Beshbarmak. Lurking at the back of the cupboard was a pack of zhaima, the pasta sheets used in the dish.

Beshbarmak refers to the method of eating this meat and pasta dish, using your hand, or “five fingers.” There are iterations such as “Fishbarmak,” so we decided it was time for a variation on the theme of “Vegbarmak.”

On closer inspection, the pasta sheets looked good for a lasagne-style dish, but the dish that eventually emerged was closer to Turkey’s su böreği. This consists of layers of boiled pastry sheets with a cheesy filling. We used different layers of vegetables and pulses to achieve something between a veg barmak and a su böreği. 

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

• 300 g cooked chickpeas
• 400 g roasted pumpkin
• 50 g spinach
• 50 g rocket
• 50 g tahini
• 50 ml chickpea water (aquafaba)
• 16 pasta sheets (the ones used were 6 cm x 11cm)
• Sprinkling of pumpkin seeds
• Three teaspoons dried oregano
• One teaspoon dried sage
• One teaspoon cumin seeds

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 c. Put 150 g of chickpeas in a blender with the tahini, aquafaba and one teaspoon of oregano and blend until smooth. Mix with the remaining chickpeas and then put this mixture into the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Place the pasta sheets in hot water for a minute and then arrange over the chickpea mixture.

• Put the washed greens on top of the pasta, sprinkle another teaspoon of oregano over the greens and then put another layer of sheets on top of the greens. Mash the pumpkin and mix with the sage and cumin seeds and oregano. Smooth this over the pasta sheets and decorate with pumpkin seeds.

• Bake in the oven for one hour at 180 c – cover with tinfoil for the first 40 minutes and then cook uncovered for the last 20 minutes. Cut into four slices – it can be served either hot or cold.