Qabuli Pulao

Growing up in Minnesota we were very close with a family from Afghanistan and the aunty made the most divine food! And it was by far the most authentic Afghani food I've ever had. We just can't forget that food! This was one of her regular dishes which I tried today for the first time and I'm very excited about it!

Ingredients:

1 lb of beef, goat, or lamb in cubes
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
1 jalapeño, cut into big chunks
Garam masala:
1 bay leaf
4-5 cloves and whole black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 elaichi/cardamom pods
1 teaspoon of zeera/cumin seeds
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups rice
salt to taste

Fry the sliced onion until brown. Add the meat, stir and cook for a couple minutes to brown all sides. Add ginger-garlic paste, the garam masala, jalapeño and salt. Stir and cook for just 2-5 minutes. Add enough water to cover the meat, cover and let the meat simmer until tender. You can do this in the slow cooker or pressure cooker also.

While the meat is cooking, add the carrots and sugar to another pan and sautee just for a couple minutes until it begins to look tender and slightly darker than its original bright orange color. Remove the carrots from the oil and set aside and then add the raisins to the oil. Sautee the raisins for about a minute or two just until they start to plump up. Remove these and set them aside with the carrots.

Wash the rice and keep that ready. When the meat is cooked through and tender, take it out of the stock and set aside. Measure how much stock is left from the meat. (You need twice as much stock as rice, so for 2 cups rice you need 4 cups stock. If you don't have enough just use water) Add the rice to the same pot used for the meat and add the stock. Let rice simmer until 3/4 cooked and most of the water is gone. When the rice is almost cooked, mix in the meat, carrots and raisins, cover tightly and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is cooked and the moisture is gone.

Borani Banjan

This is an afghani dish featuring eggplant in a savory tomato sauce garnished with yogurt. It's light but hearty and went perfectly with the Qabuli pulao I made.

Ingredients:

2 large eggplants, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup water or chicken broth
2 tbsp tomato paste
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
Pinch of turmeric powder
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp smoked Paprika
1/2 tsp crush red pepper
1 cup of yogurt
1 tsp dried mint leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Turn the oven to broil. Arrange the eggplant slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and broil for about 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Flip them over, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and broil for another 5 minutes. Remove, and set oven to 375.

In a saucepan, heat a couple tbsp of olive oil, add 3 of the the minced garlic cloves and sauté for a couple minutes until it just starts to turn golden brown. Add the tomatoes, paprika, turmeric, curry powder, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper and cook until the tomatoes start to break down. Add the water or chicken broth and tomato paste, reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 10 minutes.

Pour a small amount of the sauce onto the bottom of a baking dish and spread it around. Arrange the eggplant slices in a single layer over the sauce. Pour sauce over the eggplant, then repeat another layer of eggplant. Repeat this process until you're out of eggplant and sauce. The top layer should be sauce. Sprinkle the chopped cilantro on top, cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Whip the yogurt in a bowl with the remaining 2 cloves of minced garlic, salt and pepper. Just before serving pour the yogurt over the eggplant and sprinkle with the dried mint leaves.

Chicken kabsa

Ingredients:

1 skin on chicken cut in 8 or 12 pieces
Lemon juice
Vinegar
2-4 cups of basmati rice, depending on how many you're feeding
4-6 cups chicken broth
1 large onion, chopped
2 large or 4 plum/roma tomatoes chopped
1 jalapeño, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon
1 can tomato paste or sauce
4-5 whole dried lemons/limes
Kabsa spices
Salt and Pepper

Fill a large bowl with cold water, a couple tbsp of salt, and a couple splashes of lemon juice and vinegar. Soak the chicken in this brine for 30 minutes. Remove, rinse, pat dry and toss with 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tbsp adobo seasoning, 2 tbsp kabsa spice, and a pinch or two of salt. Loosely cover the chicken with foil and cook in oven on 375 until cooked through. When it's done, rove the foil and set the oven on broil so the skin becomes crispy.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive, and sauté the onion, tomato, bell pepper, jalapeño and garlic for a few minutes, until they become soft and the tomatoes start to break down. Add 2 tbsp kabsa spice, the dried lemons, salt and tomato paste and fry for a minute. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the rice and the juice of half a lemon. Reduce to a simmer, cover and let cook until most of the liquid is gone, lower heat to low, cover tightly and cook until rice is done. Place chicken on top of rice and serve.