Family attending a wedding in Tashkurgan, Afghanistan, circa 1975, photo by Kate Fitz Gibbon. Our end-of-year gift to you is a compilation of unusual recipes to read… and to cook, collected from our own travels and those of friends.
A Dastarkhan from Afghanistan
Bread and pastry seller, Kabul, Annemarie Schwarzenbach, summer 1939.
The Afghan dastarkhan, literally ‘tablecloth’ is a word used to describe the multiple dishes, a table setting , for an enormous meal served to family and guests on special occasions. The first step in any Afghan meal is to taste a bit of bread from a flat loaf of unleavened bread, nan, that accompanies every meal. In this way you tell your host that even a little bread would be enough!
At which the host gives a self-deprecating nod, claps his hands and the cloth you are seated before is quickly filled with victuals sufficient for a small army. There are no set entrees in the dastarkhan, though some consider a big pilau a must, but there are always lots of little dishes of beautifully cut and arranged fresh tomatoes, onions and salad greens to accompany the main meal. Don’t forget to bring out bowls of almonds (sugared and plain), walnuts, pistachios and raisins, grapes and sliced melons to fill in the corners at the end. The following are simple foods that make up the main dishes of a dastarkhan.
Sabse (Spinach) Borani – a favorite appetizer
- 4 cups fresh spinach leaves, well-rinsed and chopped
- 1 medium onion – thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic – minced
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 cup drained plain or Greek-style full fat yogurt (drain at least 1 hr – as easy way is to place the yogurt in a coffee filter and let it stand)
Place damp spinach in a saucepan, cover and cook until wilted. Drain and squeeze to remove excess water. Heat oil in a large skillet, sauté onion at low heat until golden, add garlic and sauté briefly, then add spinach, and cook for a minute or two more. Let cool. In a bowl, smooth yogurt and add spinach mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Serve cold with crisp hot bread or nan.
Qaubili or Kabuli Pilau
Baker pulling nan from oven, photo Françoise Foliot, 1974-1975, CCA-SA 4.0 Int’l license.
A classic rice meal considered by many to be Afghanistan’s national dish – made for festive occasions by women at home and in vast quantities in giant copper pots at weddings by men – this recipe will serve 6-8 people, enough for a large family meal.
- 1/2 c vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 lb. beef or lamb, generously cubed
- 2 c water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1½ tsp mixed spices to taste (ground cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and cumin)
- ½ c vegetable oil
- 2 carrots, julienned
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 c dark seedless raisins or sultanas as preferred
- 2 tsp of silvered, toasted almonds and/or pistachios
- 1/8 tsp. saffron or cumin (optional)
- 2 c long grain rice
Kabuli Pilao, Afghanistan, Jost Wagner, 12 December 2004, CCA-SA 1.0 Generic.
Heat 1/2 cup vegetable fat in a Dutch oven or pressure cooker, add 1 medium onion, diced, and fry until lightly browned. Add 1 lb. of beef or lamb, cut in 1 inch cubes, and brown. Add 2 cups water, 1 tsp. salt and 1 1/2 tsp. mixed spices (equal parts of cinnamon, cloves, cumin and cardamom, ground). Cover and simmer, or cook under pressure until the meat is tender. Remove the meat and set aside – save the juice for cooking the rice. Cut 2 carrots into toothpick size pieces. Heat 1/2 cup vegetable fat in a saucepan. Add 1 tbsp. sugar and the julienned carrots and simmer until tender. Remove carrots from fat, add 1 cup dark, seedless raisins, and cook until they swell up. (You may also brown a couple of tablespoons of slivered, toasted almonds or almonds and pistachios mixed.) Remove each and set aside. To cook the rice, boil the meat juice and add 2 cups long grain rice, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, and sufficient water to bring the liquid 2 inches above the rice. Add the oil in which the carrots were cooked and 1/8 tsp. saffron or ground cumin (optional) to the cooked rice. Put meat and rice in a large casserole, cover and set in a 300-degree (F) oven for 20-30 minutes. Place meat in the center of a large platter. Mound the rice over the top and sprinkle with carrots, raisins, and almonds. Serves 6-8.
Gosh i Fil (Elephant’s Ear) Dessert
- 3 lg. eggs
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 cup milk
- 3 3/4 cup sifted white flour
- 2 cups vegetable fat
- cooked syrup of 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water
- mix of 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp. cardamom and 1/3 cup ground pistachio nuts
Three men, with infant and baby goat, photo Françoise Foliot, 1974-1975, Creative CCA-SA Int’l license.
Beat eggs, then add and beat together salt, sugar, oil and milk. Add sifted flour, turn out on lightly floured board and knead for 10 minutes until smooth. (Add a little water if necessary). Roll out small sections of dough to paper thin circles or squares. For ears, pleat in one side of a circular piece. You can make these up to a foot in diameter – whatever your pan will accommodate.) Heat fat in a large shallow pan, and fry ears a few at a time until lightly brown, turning once. Remove from fat and drain. Pour dribbles of syrup over pastry and dust at once with generous amounts of powdered sugar, cardamom and pistachio.
And of course, you will drink black or green tea, chai siah or chai sabs, perhaps with dried and sugary mulberries in your cheeks to sweeten the tea, and snack on nuts and fruits at the end!
