Beetroot Cutta with Kubba

Name: Beetroot Cutta with Kubba
Yield: Serves 6–8
Cuisine: Iraqi
Ingredients: ½ carrot and 1 celery stalk, grated; 55 g (2 oz) butter; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 1 tbsp finely chopped garlic; small handful each of mint and coriander leaves, chopped; 2 tbsp olive oil; pinch each of salt, garam masala and chopped coriander; handful each of mint and coriander leaves, plus extra for garnish; 6 celery stalks, roughly chopped; 1 kg (2¼ lb) raw beetroot, sliced; ½ onion, puréed; 250 g (9 oz) semolina; juice of ½ lemon; handful of soft breadcrumbs; salt and black pepper; 125 g (4½ oz) rice flour; 1 garlic clove, crushed; 1 medium potato, diced; 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh root ginger; 2 tbsp sugar; small knob of fresh root ginger, grated; 1.5 litres (2¾ pints) vegetable stock

Preparation info

Serves
6–8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Gate Vegetarian Cookbook

By Adrian Daniel and Michael Daniel

Published 2004

About

The term “cutta” comes from “cutter”, meaning “sour” in Arabic. This traditional Indo-Iraqi soup is served with or without kubba (semolina dumplings). The kubba filling can be made a little ahead or frozen (freeze any left over for your next soup). If you have time, half-freezing the filling makes it easier to work with.

Ingredients

55 g (2 oz) butter
1 large onion, finely chopped

Method

Melt the butter in a large pan and gently sauté the onion, garlic, ginger and mint until softened. Add the remaining ingredients with seasoning to taste and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, or until the beetroot is completely soft.