Azerbaijan: Qutabs with Sweet Potato
Qutab is one of the most popular dishes of Azerbaijan cuisine. It's made with very thin dough and can be stuffed with a whole lot of different ingredients. There are regional variations, but the most common fillings are pumpkin or squash, or mincemeat and onions, or chopped herbs. I actually found the process to be very similar to my jingalov hats recipe from Armenia, which would make sense given that the countries are neighbours. Traditionally qutab is cooked on a griddle called a saj but I used a frying pan (classic).
I definitely had to improvise on this one. Neither of us particularly like pumpkin and I had a sweet potato ready to go, so I used that with half a potato that was hanging out in my fridge waiting for an opportunity like this to come along. I would say that it worked out perfectly.
The dough was super easy to make, and the filling was simple as well. Boil the potatoes, mash them up with some salt, mix in some pomegranate. Roll the dough out into circles, put the mash onto one half, fold them over and cook in a pan. Voila. Easy.
You can also add sugar to the mash if you want it to be sweeter, but I just used extra pomegranate to sweeten it instead. I LOVE pomegranate, I think it's an excellent fruit, not least because of the interesting aspect it has to play in one of my favourite Greek myths: the kidnapping of Persephone.
The Kidnapping of Persephone (A Brief Retelling)
Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest and agriculure, and her daughter Persephone were out tending the crops when Persephone suddenly disappeared. Demeter searched and searched and searched for her daughter, and so neglected her duties on earth. The crops began to fail and ceased to grow, and then began to die, plunging earth into a famine.
Zeus, faced with the loss of all life on earth, sent Hermes to the underworld where Persephone had been taken by Hades, the god of the underworld. Hades agreed to release Persephone, providing that she had eaten nothing while she was in his realm. However, Persephone had eaten a few pomegranate seeds, and this therefore bound her to Hades and the underworld, for the number of months that corresponded with the amount of seeds she had eaten.
Different myths have different amount of seeds, but my favourite is six seeds. Persephone spent six months in the underworld with Hades, and six months above ground with Demeter, tending to the crops and bringing fertility to the world again. This myth was one of the ways the Ancient Greeks explained the seasons.
Qutabs with Sweet Potato
Makes 4
Ingredients
I definitely had to improvise on this one. Neither of us particularly like pumpkin and I had a sweet potato ready to go, so I used that with half a potato that was hanging out in my fridge waiting for an opportunity like this to come along. I would say that it worked out perfectly.
The dough was super easy to make, and the filling was simple as well. Boil the potatoes, mash them up with some salt, mix in some pomegranate. Roll the dough out into circles, put the mash onto one half, fold them over and cook in a pan. Voila. Easy.
You can also add sugar to the mash if you want it to be sweeter, but I just used extra pomegranate to sweeten it instead. I LOVE pomegranate, I think it's an excellent fruit, not least because of the interesting aspect it has to play in one of my favourite Greek myths: the kidnapping of Persephone.
The Kidnapping of Persephone (A Brief Retelling)
Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest and agriculure, and her daughter Persephone were out tending the crops when Persephone suddenly disappeared. Demeter searched and searched and searched for her daughter, and so neglected her duties on earth. The crops began to fail and ceased to grow, and then began to die, plunging earth into a famine.
Zeus, faced with the loss of all life on earth, sent Hermes to the underworld where Persephone had been taken by Hades, the god of the underworld. Hades agreed to release Persephone, providing that she had eaten nothing while she was in his realm. However, Persephone had eaten a few pomegranate seeds, and this therefore bound her to Hades and the underworld, for the number of months that corresponded with the amount of seeds she had eaten.
Different myths have different amount of seeds, but my favourite is six seeds. Persephone spent six months in the underworld with Hades, and six months above ground with Demeter, tending to the crops and bringing fertility to the world again. This myth was one of the ways the Ancient Greeks explained the seasons.
Qutabs with Sweet Potato
Makes 4
Ingredients
- 350g sweet potato
- 100g potato
- 1 medium onion
- Pomegranate seeds
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Sift flour into a bowl. Add the egg, salt and water and knead the dough until soft and elastic. Rest for 20 minutes.
- Cut the potatoes into small pieces and boil until cooked and tender. Chop the onion finely and fry in a little oil until slightly golden brown. Add to the potatoes and simmer together for two minutes.
- Drain the potatoes and onions, lightly mash mixture and add pomegranate seeds.
- Divide the dough into four portions. Roll each ball into thin circles, approximately 1-2mm thick.
- Spread the stuffing onto one half of the dough circles, then fold and cover the stuffing with the other half of the dough. Ensure that the sides are closed, using your fingers to pinch the dough together.
- Heat some oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Place qutabs on the pan one at a time and fry until golden. Flip and fry the other side another few minutes, until golden.
- Repeat with the rest of the qutabs. Serve warm with pomegranate seeds to accompany.
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