Filhoses de Abóbora (Portuguese Pumpkin Donut Balls)
Let’s get seasonal! Time to make ‘filhoses’ a.k.a Portuguese pumpkin donut balls. We can glide over the fact that these are traditionally a Christmas dessert but Portugal gets really good pumpkin still at that time of year and we don’t, sooo we’ve gotta make the most of it now whilst we can! This is originally my grandma’s recipe which includes eggs, but I’ve adapted it using aquafaba as an egg replacer. If you eat eggs, I’ve included in the bottom how you can use them as the original recipe states!
Song suggestions:
Quem Me Dera - Mariza
Assobia Para o Lado - Carlão
If you eat eggs, you’ll need 4 of them for this recipe! Use the yolks in step 2 instead of the milk and vegetable oil. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks instead of aquafaba (and you won’t need the cream of tartar or 1 tbsp sugar) and follow the process as stated.
Ingredients:
400kg pumpkin flesh
1 juicing oranges + zest (not the satsuma/tangerine type)
120ml milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
300g self-raising flour (or plain with 1/2 tsp baking powder)
Pinch of salt
1 cans worth of aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp sugar
Cinnamon sugar to roll
Recipe:
Peel and steam the pumpkin until soft. Drain using a sieve.
Mashing: my grandma used to place the sieve on top of a mixing bowl and mash the pumpkin using the back of a wooden spoon. Pass it through a blender briefly to get rid of any big lumps out. Small lumps of pumpkin are not a problem but try and get it as smooth as you can to extract as much liquid out as possible.
Place in the fridge to dry out overnight. This will let as much liquid drip out as possible. (My Grandma used to swear by this, but I never found too much extra liquid would drip out).
When you’re ready to make them:
Combine the pumpkin with the zest and juice of the orange.
Mix in the milk and vegetable oil until a smooth batter forms.
Add the flour and a pinch of salt. Mix well until combined. The consistency should be like a slightly lumpy, really thick, pancake batter. It should look quite bitty, and shouldn’t run off a spoon easily.
In a separate bowl, whisk up the aquafaba with the cream of tartar and add 1tsp sugar at a time, until you reach stiff peaks. This should take about 7-9 minutes.
Very gently fold in the aquafaba to the pumpkin mix until combined.
Fry immediately after folding. Fry roughly 1 tbsp of mix at a time, transferring it gently into the oil. They will float! Fry one side until golden brown, then flip to fry the other side.
Keep a plate on the side lined with kitchen roll so that once you’ve fried one, you can set it down to absorb any excess oil.
Coat in cinnamon sugar and enjoy!
Note: when forming the dough (before adding the aquafaba/egg whites), it should be a sticky, wet but coherent dough. If you need to, add an extra tbsp of oil to help bring it all together.
Also, if you have a look of pumpkin, e.g. 1kg worth of flesh, you can steam it all and squeeze every inch of water out in a nut milk bag to make a pumpkin concentrate - briefly pass it through an immersion blender to get any big lumps out. Then, just add an extra 75-100ml milk (roughly), 200-250g flour and the juice of 1 extra orange. This may require some eyeballing!
A Bite Out of Life
The photo on the left shows my grandma making this traditional Portuguese Christmas dessert (and on the right, looking for a traditional Portuguese recipe for dinner). At Christmas, it’s common to eat “filhoses de abóbora”: it’s essentially a doughnut ball made with pumpkin purée, fried and coated in cinnamon sugar. They’re one of the few things I remember from Christmases in Portugal from when I was younger and growing up and learning how to make them with her has been a true privilege. They’re simple, delicious and unfortunately for me taste so much better when they’re made by her…! The little time we’ve been afforded to spend together has been mostly spent in the kitchen. I won’t always have her but I’ll always have her recipes and to me that’s everlasting love in itself.
