STARTERS


These roulade-style open dumplings were inspired by a visit to Pumpkin House (a ‘museum’ located in a private home in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent). The dough, rolled out so thinly that it’s almost see-through once steamed, is shaped to resemble the petals of a rose. Filled with seasoned pumpkin flesh, these pretty dumplings are best served with yoghurt and a piquant, red-hot sauce.


Steamed pumpkin khunon by Caroline Eden MAKES: 16 SMALL KHUNON TAKES: 45 MINS PLUS 1 HR RESTING


INGREDIENTS 1 large carrot, roughly chopped 100g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped


½ red or yellow pepper, roughly chopped


2 spring onions, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 tbsp dill fronds, finely chopped ½ tsp sea salt flakes 1 tsp freshly ground pepper


pinch of chilli powder ½ tsp dill seeds (optional) 1 tbsp sunflower oil sour cream, to serve hot sauce, to serve dill fronds, to garnish (optional)


FOR THE DOUGH 250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting


½ tsp fine salt


METHOD Start by making the dough. Combine the flour, salt and 100ml


water in a bowl and mix with a spoon to form a shaggy dough. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 mins until smooth (a dough scraper helps here). Shape into a ball and transfer to a lightly floured bowl. Cover with a clean, damp tea towel and leave to rest for 1 hr. Meanwhile, make the filling. Put the carrot and pumpkin or squash


into a food processor and pulse a few times, then add the pepper and whizz everything together until you have a very finely chopped mix (if you don’t have a food processor, just grate the vegetables as finely as possible). Tip the vegetables into a large bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix it all together well. Prepare a steamer with the water boiling, so that it’s ready to go.


Lightly flour a work surface, then flatten out the dough and divide it into 16 pieces. Use a rolling pin to roll out each piece to rectangles roughly 15 x 5cm (the dough should be paper-thin); do this one by one, covering any dough you’re not yet working on with a clean damp tea towel to prevent it from drying out. Spoon 1½–2 tbsp of the filling onto the first dough rectangle,


spreading it evenly down the middle and leaving a 1-2cm border around the edge. Roll up the rectangle, starting at one of the shorter ends. As you roll, tuck the dough of one of the longer edges in towards the middle — this will seal in the filling and form the base of your dumpling. Stand the dumpling on its newly formed base; it should look like a slightly open rose. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling, arranging the dumplings on non-stick parchment paper. Transfer the dumplings to the steamer (depending on the size of


your steamer, you may need to cook them in batches). Make sure the dumplings are well spaced to prevent them sticking to their neighbours. Steam for 10 mins until the dough is almost translucent, then carefully remove from the pot using a spoon. Serve with the sour cream and hot sauce on the side and sprinkle with black pepper and a little extra dill, if you like.


Taken from Red Sands: Reportage and Recipes Through Central Asia from Hinterland to Heartland by Caroline Eden (Quadrille, £26)


NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.CO.UK/FOOD-TRAVEL 37


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