We Started with Afghanistan

AFGHANISTAN

I don’t know if the taste is more wonderful in Afghan cooking or the smell. We ate at the table with forks but we talked about sitting on the floor and eating with our hands. My kids had been out mowing lawns all day and they followed their hunger into the kitchen…”What’s that wonderful smell?” We talked about leaving food on the plate, but no one did. We served it with brown rice and pita bread.

Afghan Winter Squash Serves 8

Ingredients

½ cup sliced onion
2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 Butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about 3 cups)

Instructions:

Sautee the onion in olive oil. Place in a small pan.
Stir in salt, cumin, coriander, cardamom and cloves.
Add the squash.
Cook over medium heat until tender.


Afghani Lamb (or beef) with Spinach – 4 servings

Two things about this recipe. First I couldn’t find lamb stew meat so I substituted beef stew meat – which was excellent even if not completely 100% correct. I think I could also have substituted chicken. I could have bought a leg of lamb but I didn’t want to cut it up myself. I sometimes have to go to three or four supermarkets to find the ingredients for my recipes. The less expensive supermarkets are really low on variety of fresh foods. It’s quite amazing how limited our diets have become. Second, I learned the BEST way to cook spinach from this recipe. I have used it again and again. You just add it to the stew after you finish cooking and it cooks perfectly between the stove and the table and doesn’t leak all it’s goodness out into cooking water. Also, it doesn’t taste bitter if you cook it this way.

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds – Lamb stew (preferably leg) (beef or chicken may be substituted)
1/3 cup virgin olive oil
1 lg. onion, chopped fine
4 teaspoons crushed garlic
2 teaspoons Turmeric
¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (less if you’re cooking for American kids)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
6 chopped tomatoes
1 cup beef or chicken stock (I used canned…because there is a danger of the soup
companies having added MSG, it’s best if you get a bunch of bones and cook them for a
couple of hours)
1/3 pound fresh spinach, wash and drain
½ cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
Salt to taste I usually don't cook with salt and let everyone add their own)
¼ cup pine nuts

Instructions:

If you are going to serve this over rice. Make certain that you prepare the rice in a rice steamer at the same time you are cooking the stew – use brown long grain rice. The steamer makes lovely rice and can be used to steam vegetables as well – a great tool for your kitchen. If you're going to bake your own Pita Bread - start it 3-4 hours before you plan to serve dinner.

Preheat the oven to 350 o F. ( If you're going to make Pita bread you have to work around a conflict with your oven)

Sear the lamb in the olive oil in a cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven.
Add the onions – sauté them for 2 minutes
Add garlic – sauté for 1 minute.
Add turmeric, nutmeg, cardamom, crushed red pepper and cinnamon and sauté the mixture for 1 – 2 minutes, being careful not to burn the onions or garlic.
Add tomatoes and beef or chicken stock and stir.

Cover the dish and bake at 350o F. for about 1 hour, until the meat is tender and begins to break up. Remove the dish from the oven and add the spinach, stirring until the spinach is wilted and blended in.

Allow the stew to cool slightly. Add the yogurt, lemon peel and salt to taste (I usually let my guests do their own salt and pepper). Sprinkle with pine nuts.

Serve over rice.

OR, if you don’t want to use rice. You can steam up one head of cauliflower. Mash it with a potato masher and serve the stew over the mashed cauliflower. It’s excellent and a certified vegetable not a starch.

If you want more recipes just google “Afghan Recipes” and you’ll find tons of them However, I think some of them have been Americanized (as have recipes from other countries) because they use corn oil, shortening and margarine in some recipes. Don’t! Never use anything that says hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated on the label. Use butter and virgin olive oil. I have a cuisenart to do most of the chopping and a juice squeezer and a rice steamer. There’s nothing like a well-equipped kitchen to make things faster and easier when you’re cooking from scratch.

Pita Bread

Ingredients

1 package of yeast (or tablespoon of yeast if you get a jar of it)
1/ 2 cup warm water
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 cup lukewarm water

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.
Combine flour and salt in large bowl.
Make a small depression in the middle of flour and pour yeast-water in depression.
Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, and stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until thoroughly mixed.
Place dough on floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes.
When the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic, it has been successfully kneaded. Coat a large bowl with butter and place dough in bowl.
Coat the dough with butter and allow to sit in a warm place for about 3 hours, or until it has doubled in size.
Place a cookie sheet on a rack at the very bottom of your oven.
Preheat oven and cookie sheet to 500o F.
Divide the dough into 10-12 small pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Place balls on floured surface. Let sit covered for 10 minutes.
Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Each should be about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick.
Bake each circle for 4 minutes until the bread puffs up. Turn over and bake for 2 minutes. Remove each pita with a spatula from the baking sheet and continue adding additional pitas for baking until you have baked all 10-12.
Take spatula and gently push down puff. Serve hot with your meal.