Start by steaming the pumpkin and pureeing in a food processor or using a strong fork. Other recipes call for draining the pumpkin of its moisture overnight but a few minutes of pressing it in a sieve did the trick for me.
Cook the bulgur as directed on the package and season – it shouldn’t take too long as bulgur is already parboiled so keep a steady eye on it and make sure it doesn’t go mushy.
Combine the pumpkin, bulgur, spices, flax egg and olive oil in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. You should have a mixture that easily spread and not too crumbly. If it’s too “wet” add in a little more bulgur or even some breadcrumbs would do the trick.
Pre-heat your oven to 350 F/180 C, unless you plan on baking later.
For the stuffing, in a pan sauté the onions and garlic on medium heat in some olive oil for 6-8 minutes until softened. Add in the chopped tomato followed by the spinach and stir through along with the sumac, nutmeg, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Add the chickpeas (along with a little bit of water or vegetable stock if you feel the mixture getting dry – although this shouldn’t be the case if you’re using frozen spinach) and allow to simmer on low heat.
In a separate pan, toast the chopped walnuts for a few minutes, stirring frequently, then add to the rest of the spinach mixture.
Now it’s time to assemble. Grease a medium sized pan/casserole dish with some olive oil spray and start to layer the bottom of the dish with the pumpkin crust. You ideally want to split the mixture between the top and bottom layer. Spoon the stuffing on top as evenly as possible and cover with the remaining crust mixture, smoothing out with a spatula as needed.
Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper on top and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden
