Filhoses de Abóbora

This recipe came directly from my grandmother Maria Menezes. According to her, it's an old Christmas recipe originally from the Coimbra region. Large pumpkins are boiled and drained until a big pumpkin concentrate, almost like a jam, is fried and transformed into an all day ready sweet. As far as I can remember, there was always a big bowl of Filhoses on the Christmas table, ready to enjoy, whether it was for breakfast, lunch, dinner or just an anytime snack.

Ingredients

Pumpkin (a big one)

Self Raising Wheat Flour

Wheat Flour (yeast free)

Salt for boiling

Vegetable oil (for frying)

Brown Sugar and Cinnamon for garnish

Preparation

boil me

1 - Cut and peel pumpkin and remove rind.

The pumpkin was around 20 pounds before peeled and cut in small chunks and boiled in a large pot. You only need enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, as the pumpkin will lose liquid. Add some salt to the water and boil until done - soft. Taste the water before removing the pumpkin, it should be a little salty. If more salt is needed add it during the boiling process. After boiling the pumpkin, it must be dried in cheesecloth. Wrap in cheesecloth and hang or put in a strainer overnight.

post cheesecloth pumpkin

mash me

2 - Mash with hands to remove any fibers or balls

After draining comes the removal of the fibers, done with the hands. Squeeze and knead to get the right consistency before adding the flour mixture. Use your fingers to take away or to break the fibers in such a way that a smooth "jammy" texture is acquired.

flour me

3 - Add the Flour

You will need about 3 kitchen spoons of regular flour and 1 spoon of self-raising flour. The quantity of flour is much less than might be expected. Combine with hands until no traces of flour are visible. Work the mixture until a stiffness develops. It must be firm enough to hold together during frying, if necessary add more flour.

Heat the vegetable oil. The amount you will need depends on your pan size. We used a medium sized pan (see photo) and ended up with about an inch and a half of oil. It needs to be enough to cover half of the filhós.

shape me

4 - Forming the filhoses

Use a table spoon to form the filhós into a small ball, in a size similar to a walnut. Once the oil is heated and ready, gently lower the filhos into the hot oil. Be sure that they stay formed. It's important that they're not too big or too small, work to develop a consistent size. If too big, they will end up with a raw core, and too small will be easily burned.

fry me

5 - Managing the frying

The time in the oil is defined by the color that will develop. About 2 min on each side is usually enough. Let cook on one side a bit and then flip, making sure to cook each side until they reach a golden brown. The rotation of the filhoses in the frying pan is an exercise in space management. Remove them from the pan as they cook and continue to add new ones. This helps the temperature of the oil remain hot and the batch gets done as soon as possible.

manage me

6 - Adding the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture

Transfer from pan to serving platter and garnish with the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture. It is not necessary to use paper or fabric to dry the filhoses after frying. The sugar and cinnamon goes on every layer of filhoses as they come out of the oil. But do go light on the sugar. It's important that too much sugar doesn’t overpower the taste of the pumpkin flavor that the cinnamon enhances. The sweetness of the pumpkin is enough.

garnish me

The nights selection:


Enjoy the Filhoses de Abóbora with some good Espumante from Bairrada like the Baga from Luis Pato, while you listen to Coimbra native Carlos Paredes and his Guitarra Portuguesa.

Maria Menezes says: "Bom proveito!"