Fish burikas with squash harissa

SERVES 4 PEOPLE AS AN APPETISER

FOR THE SQUASH HARISSA

650g calabaza or butternut squash

1 tablespoon sea salt

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

½ teaspoon caraway seeds

½ teaspoon chilli flakes

20g pickled lemons

1 clove garlic

4½ teaspoons sugar

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons harissa

FOR THE BURIKAS

300g white fish fillet without skin (wild-caught tarakihi, mid-water trawl hoki or pot-caught blue cod)

1 small spring onion, trimmed and finely chopped

1 cayenne chilli pepper, deseeded and finely diced

½ onion, finely chopped

1 sprig dill, finely chopped

3 sprigs coriander, finely chopped

4 sprigs flat-leafed parsley, finely chopped grated zest of 1 lime

2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons olive oil canola oil, for frying

50g plain flour

4 spring roll wrappers

4 egg yolks

Preheat oven to 220°C. For the squash harissa, peel and deseed the squash and cut into 3cm cubes. Mix with the salt in an ovenproof dish, cover with foil and bake in the oven until the squash is soft and golden brown, 20-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and pour off the liquid.

Dry-roast the spices in a frying pan until they release their aromas, then finely grind them in a mortar. Blitz half of the squash together with the pickled lemon in a blender or with a stick blender to make a cream. Coarsely mash the remaining squash with a fork. Peel and finely chop the garlic, then mix together all the ingredients for the squash harissa.

For the burikas, cut the fish into a very fine dice. Combine the fish, spring onion, pepper, onion and herbs with the lime zest, dry breadcrumbs, salt and olive oil and chop again until very fine or put through a meat grinder.

Heat an ample amount of canola oil in a deep saucepan. Whisk the flour together with 50ml of water until smooth. Lay out the spring roll wrappers flat. Place a quarter of the filling on each wrapper. In the middle of the filling, make a well and carefully place one egg yolk in it. Brush the edges of the wrappers with the flour-water mixture and fold into triangles. Press the sides firmly together so that no oil can penetrate during the frying process. Carefully flatten the filled wrappers a bit.

Fry the burikas in the hot oil until golden brown and crisp. Remove from the saucepan with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels and serve with the squash harissa.