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.