Tikvenik (Pumpkin & Walnut Filo Pie)

105 min · Medium · Serves 8

460 kcal per serving · 7g protein

Bulgaria's autumn pumpkin pie: thin filo sheets rolled around grated raw pumpkin, walnuts, sugar and cinnamon, coiled into a round tin and baked until crisp and golden. Made with sunflower oil instead of butter, it is fully vegan and a traditional sweet for the Christmas Eve table (Badni vecher) and the Christmas fast. Torn filo is no problem: the tears disappear inside the coil.

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Ingredients

Method

  1. Heat the oven and oil the tin

    Heat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C) and brush a round baking tin about 28 cm across with sunflower oil.

  2. Grate the pumpkin

    Peel the pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and grate the flesh on the coarse side of a box grater into a large bowl.

  3. Make the filling

    Stir the chopped walnuts, sugar, vanilla sugar and cinnamon into the grated pumpkin to make a filling.

  4. Brush two filo sheets

    Lay one filo sheet on a clean worktop, brush the sheet lightly with sunflower oil, lay a second sheet on top and brush the second sheet too.

  5. Roll a filo tube

    Scatter a strip of the filling about 4 cm wide along one long edge of the filo, then roll the filo up loosely into a long tube.

  6. Coil the tubes in the tin

    Curl the filo tube into a snail in the centre of the oiled tin, then make more tubes the same way and wind each new tube around the snail until the tin is full.

  7. Bake until golden

    Brush the top of the tikvenik with the rest of the sunflower oil and bake on the middle shelf for 45 minutes, until deep golden and crisp.

  8. Sprinkle with water and rest

    Sprinkle the hot tikvenik with the cold water, cover the tin with a clean tea towel and leave to cool for 30 minutes.

  9. Dust with icing sugar and slice

    Dust the tikvenik with the icing sugar and cut the tikvenik into wedges or short pieces along the coil.

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