AFGHAN RISOTTO SLOW COOKER - SHOHLA-E-GOSHT

By Humaira

This is the last of our slow cooker series recipe. We have really enjoyed experimenting with the recipes to make them slow cooker friendly. Your positive comments have encouraged us to do slow cooker recipes in the future.

Ever since starting this blog I find myself obsessively talking about Afghan food and recipes with any Afghan who happens to cross my path. In one of those sessions, my friend Yasmene mentioned that her aunt makes shohla, Afghan risotto, in a slow cooker. So, I thought we should give it a try too.

This dish is not most photogenic, but it tastes heavenly. Shohla e goshtee is definitely one of my favorite Afghan dishes. I remember on cold winter days when our cook would make shohla, and I would eat spoonful after spoonful until I couldn't move. It’s a warm, hearty dish, perfect for fall or winter dinners.  

I have served this dish at my last few dinner parties and I must say it has been a big hit with the first timers as well as the scary crowd, Afghans Serving Afghan food to my mom or other Afghan guests always makes me a little uneasy (they have many constructive “comments”). But I bit the bullet last November and when I did some of the cooking for my sister Nabila’s birthday party, which we hosted at my house. The menu consisted of numerous dishes and since I have only four burners on my stove, I made the shohla in the slow cooker. I didn’t have to worry about it burning or not being ready on time -- a dream for entertaining.

There are different kinds of shohla; some are sweet, others are savory. Shohla e goshtee is savory and like most savory shohlas it is cooked with meat and beans. Sweet shohlas such as rice pudding are usually served as dessert. I make my shohla e goshtee with boneless beef stew meat since my husband Jim hates to futz around with bones. You can also use lamb or choose a cut that does well slow cooked on the bone. Cooking the dish low and slow really brings out the flavors of the meat and adds rich dimension to the soft, chewy rice, mung beans, and split peas. I like to eat the shohla with a dollop of plain yogurt and a salad.

Afghan Risotto

Shohla e Goshtee

2 large yellow onions, peeled and quartered

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 lb. beef or lamb stewing meat, cut into medium chunks

1 cup dried mung beans, rinsed

1 tbsp. tomato sauce

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cups beef broth

¼ cup yellow split peas

2 cups short-grain white rice, rinsed and drained in a colander

1 jalapeno pepper, stem removed, quartered and seeded

3 tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground black pepper

2 ½ tsp. dried dill

¼ tsp. turmeric

6 cups water

Plain yogurt

Large oval or round slow cooker

Puree the onions and garlic in a food processor. Put the onion/garlic puree, meat, mung beans, tomato sauce, olive oil and beef broth into the slow cooker. Mix well and cook on low for 4 hours until the meat is cooked through and most of the liquid is absorbed.  The sauce be aromatic and it will have a rich brown .

Add all the rest of the ingredients except the yogurt to the slow cooker. Stir thoroughly; continue to cook on low for 2 more hours. Cook until the meat is tender enough to easily cut with a fork and all the water is absorbed.  If all the water is absorbed but the rice is still crunchy, add another cup of water, stir well, and cooks for another 15 minutes. Serve hot with a spoonful of plain yogurt.

Serves 8

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SLOW COOKER BRAISED SQUASH - KADOO

By Humaira

We have been cooking up a storm recently, testing recipes for our slow cooker series. It’s been fun and challenging to adapt recipes for the slow cooker. We have picked recipes that we love and that we thought would work well in a slow cooker. I found out the hard way that our choices don’t always pan out: my cauliflower dish is too tender for the slow cooker and found a home in the compost instead of a dinner plate.

I thought it fitting to pick everyone’s favorite Afghan recipe, kadoo, for the slow cooker. Made with either pumpkin or butternut squash, it’s a great winter dish to serve as an appetizer at a dinner party. Guests are always dazzled by its sweet and savory flavors. Kadoo cooks fast for a crock pot recipe (around three hours). What I love is that you don’t have to watch the pot and can safely focus on the rest of the meal. Just throw it all in the slow cooker three hours before the party starts and you will have a delicious appetizer ready when everyone arrives. Of course it is also perfectly suited to be part of the main course as well.

The photo shows how I would typically serve kadoo as an appetizer. But I must admit that after I took the photos I gobbled it up without bread or other accompaniments. It was delicious!

Sweet and Savory Squash with Yogurt

Borani Kadoo

¼ cup olive oil

1 large yellow onion, pureed in food processor or finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (about 1 tbsp.)

1 tbsp. fresh ginger, peeled and diced

2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 3 to 4-inch large chunks

1 small jalapeno pepper, halved, seeded and cut in 6 pieces

1 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. ground turmeric

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ cups chicken or vegetable broth

Yogurt sauce (recipe below)

Nan or pita bread for dipping

Large oval or round slow cooker

Heat the oil in a 14-inch sauté pan or medium casserole over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger to the pan and sauté until tender and golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. Once the onion mixture is tender, add jalapeno, tomato paste, turmeric, sugar and broth. Stir, bring to a boil and let it boil for 2-3 minutes.

In the meant time, arrange the squash pieces in the slow cooker; place the larger, thicker pieces in the bottom and the thin pieces on top. It’s o.k. if the pieces overlap. Tuck the pieces snugly in the slow cooker. Pour the sauce over the squash so all the pieces are covered with the sauce. Place the lid on the pot and cook on low for 3 hours. The squash should be fork tender but still hold its shape. If it is not cooked enough, let it go another ½ to 1 hour in the slow cooker.

To serve as an individual appetizer, pour a generous spoonful of yogurt sauce on the serving plate and swirl it around the plate with the back of the spoon. Place one large piece of the squash on the yogurt; finish with a large dollop of yogurt on top of the squash.

To serve as a main dish, arrange the pumpkin in a large shallow bowl. Spoon the yogurt sauce over the pumpkin and pour any remaining yogurt around the outside edges of the pumpkin. 

 Serve with warm Nan or pita bread.

Yogurt Sauce:

1 cup full fat plain yogurt

1/2 to 1 ½ tsp. dried garlic (depending on your personal taste)

1 tsp. salt

In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients.

Serves 4 to 6 as a main course, 6 to 8 as an appetizer.

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SLOW COOKER AFGHAN SPINACH - SABZI

By Katie

This past fall I made a valiant effort to become a fan of the slow cooker. It makes so much sense for a busy mother of three: throw a bundle of ingredients into a pot in the morning, come home to a hot meal at night. Done. I dutifully tracked down a neighbor who lent me her trusty cooker and borrowed a couple of crock pot recipe books from a friend. I spent two weeks working my way through slow cooker recipes, from the traditional to the exotic. I wanted to love it, I tried to like it; neither happened.  In the end, I returned the crock pot and the cookbooks and got reacquainted with my trusty range once again.

So why is it that I am now adapting my beloved Afghan recipes for the crock pot? Because Humaira is making me. No, just kidding. The truth is that even though the crock pot is not my “go-to” kitchen tool, it is a Godsend for a lot of home cooks. I get it. Plus, I’ve found many of our stewy Afghan dishes lend themselves to crock pot cookery. I want to share the good news.    

Take this sabzi: the Afghan spinach dish that is my current food obsession. Done in a crock pot, it measures up just as well as on the stove. Best of all you just have to stir everything (frozen spinach and all) in the pot, turn it to low and let it do its magic. No advance cooking required.  Serve with a dollop of Greek-style yogurt and warm nan or pita bread.

This all has me back on the fence about the slow cooker. I’ve borrowed it again from my neighbor and am wondering if I should have one of my own after all.   

Slow Cooker Afghan Spinach

Sabzi

2 lbs. frozen, chopped spinach, in a bag, not a box

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 large bunch green onions (white and green parts), chopped

1 tbsp. dried dill

2 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 ½ cups Greek-style, plain yogurt

Empty the bags of frozen spinach into the crock pot, breaking up any frozen chunks that are stuck together. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the yogurt into the crock pot and stir well. Turn the crock pot to low and cook for four hours.  Serve with yogurt and warm pita or nan bread. 

Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish; great as a leftover.

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