AFGHAN QORMA e KHAWAR – NOT YOU’RE MOTHER’S CAPER RECIPE

By Humaira

You are never too old or too knowledgeable to learn something news. Recently, I learned about an Afghan dish called Qorma e khawar. Qorma is the common name for all Afghan meat or vegetable dishes that are slow cooked in a sauce. However, I had never heard of khawar. I called my mom, Jeja, my Afghan food encyclopedia.

This is how our conversation went in Farsi.

“What is khawar?”

“The tiny green things.” Jeja responds.

“Oh, you mean mawsh (mung beans)?”

“No, the other thing. 

It ‘s small, green, and soft. I don’t know what its called in English.”

“Do you mean karam (Brussels sprout)?”

“No.”

I spent sleepless nights, as this mystery loomed unsolved.  Finally, I got a call from Jeja that she found a jar of khawar in Trader Joe’s, which turned out to be capers. I always associated capers with smoked salmon, that is where my knowledge of capers ended. I had no idea that capers are native to

Afghanistan and that they are used in Qorma. Fresh capers are bitter but once they are dried and pickled, the bitterness dissipates. It turns out that my aunt makes the best Qorma e khawar. She lives in Orange County so I got a rudimentary recipe from her and then went to work on creating this dish. After a few tests and tweaks I settled on the best combination of ingredients and techniques. If you love capers, try this recipe.

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Afghan Qorma e Khawar

Creamy Chicken, Caper and Yogurt Stew

3 ½ cups jarred capers (four jars of Trader Joe’s capers)

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 large yellow onions diced

1 tbsp. chopped garlic

1 1/2 lbs. skinless boneless chicken breast cut in thin strips

½ cup chicken broth

½ tbsp. ground coriander

½ tbsp. ground turmeric

½ tsp. ground black pepper

1-cup full fat Greek yogurt at room temprature

Rinse capers in fresh water and soak for an hour in warm water to remove the vinegar and salt taste. Heat olive oil in a sauté’ pan on medium-high heat.  Add diced onions to the oil, sauté on high or 10 minutes until they are lightly brown.  Add garlic, chicken strips, coriander, turmeric, and pepper to the pan.  Stir well, cook for five minutes until the chicken is slightly brown.  Add the chicken broth, stir well, cover pan with a lid, and simmer for fifteen minutes until the sauce thickens. Add 2 tbsp. of the chicken sauce to the yogurt; stir until creamy smooth.  The warm sauce will neutralize the yogurt so it won’t curdle when it is added to the pot.  Add strained capers and yogurt to the sauté pan; stir well so the yogurt is distributed evenly. 

Simmer for five minutes without the lid until the sauce is fully heated. Even after rinsing and soaking, the capers retain much of it’s salt. I felt the dish was seasoned perfectly without additional salt.  You may add some salt to your taste.

Serves 4-6

Serve with challaw rice and a freshly made Afghan salata.

Except where otherwise noted, all content on this blog is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license.

AFGHAN INSPIRED MUSTARD CHICKEN

By Humaira

Ok, so this dish does not have an Afghan name since it’s not a traditional Afghan dish. Mustard Chicken, as my family fondly calls it, was created by a friend of a friend who is an accomplished Afghan cook. Although it is not an authentically Afghan dish, it uses a lot of the traditional spices. At first I was not sure if this recipe should become a blog post. But after my friend’s son, David Rupright (age 12), declared it “Afghan enough” I decided to share.

Over the years I have noticed Afghan ladies such as my mom and her friends not only adapt their cooking to their American kitchens but they have integrated ingredients they have found in the U.S. to their cooking.This is the natural evolution of food and cooking so it should be honored.

Mustard Chicken is a low-fat and very flavorful dish.I’ve experimented with different kinds of mustard but came to the conclusion that your basic, inexpensive yellow mustard works best.I like to serve it with warm pita and a simple salad.It reminds me a little bit of Mexican fajitas, only with Afghan seasonings and pita instead of tortillas.We hope you enjoy this dish.

Afghan Mustard Chicken

2 lbs. skinless, boneless, chicken breast

14 oz. yellow mustard

½ tbsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. cumin

½ tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. Kosher salt

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and sliced thin

1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and sliced thin

1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and sliced thin

After washing and drying, cut chicken in thin long strips, similar to fajita meat. Combine the chicken, mustard, coriander, cumin, pepper and salt in a bowl. Mix well, until all pieces of chicken are coated with mustard. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate for 1 hour. This dish can be marinated for many hours or overnight if you like.

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the chicken, stir well so it doesn’t stick and drop the temperature to medium high. Cooking, stirring regularly, until just cooked through, around 10 minutes. A thick sauce will form. Add the onions and peppers to the pan and stir fry in the sauce for 5 minutes or until they are slightly tender. If you like your veggies softer,you can cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with pita bread and a nice crispy salad.

Serves 4-6

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SWEET POTATO AFGHAN FLAT BREAD: BOLANI

By Katie

Bolani is Afghan unleavened bread stuffed with any number of fillings, typically potatoes, or gandana (akin to leeks). Not quite turnover, not quite crepe, or quesadilla, it’s in a category all its own, and completely worth knowing about.

The De Afghanan Kebab House, a hole-in-the wall along the strip known as “Little Kabul” in Fremont, makes the best bolani we know. Watching the cooks roll out, fill and brown the big, beautiful bolani is worth a road trip. You can also find bolani sold by the folks at East West Gourmet Foods, who set up shop at many of the Bay Area farmers’ markets and sell at Whole Foods. 

We’ve taken some liberties with the recipe here. Making the bolani dough from scratch requires elbow grease, along with an investment of time many of us don’t have. Using tortillas is a doable short cut. The sweet potatoes are also a departure from the norm. The sweet, tender flesh of the potatoes marry well with cilantro and scallions. 

Bolani are best hot out of the sauté pan, when they are still brown and crispy. Serve them cut in half as an appetizer or tucked in a lunchbox along with a spoonful of yogurt.

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Sweet Potato and Cilantro Turnover:  Bolani

1 pound sweet potatoes

1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro

1/3 cup finely chopped scallions, white and light green parts 

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons water

6 6-inch flour tortillas

Plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Roast the sweet potatoes in the oven until very tender. The time will vary depending on the size of the potatoes.

Cut the potatoes in half, scoop out the flesh and put it into a medium bowl. Discard the skin. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to the sweet potatoes along with the cilantro, scallions, and salt. Mash with a fork until thoroughly combined. You can make this ahead of time and keep it refrigerated until ready to use.

In a small dish, mix together the flour and water to make a paste. Set a tortilla on your work surface and spread ¼ cup of the potato mixture on the tortilla, leaving a half-inch border around the rim. Using your finger spread a small amount of the paste around the edge of half of the tortilla. Fold the tortilla over, encasing the potatoes into a half circle. Press the two sides of the tortillas together firmly to form a tight seal. 

Heat the remaining ¼ cup of oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Brown the bolani, two at a time, until golden on both sides. The bolani should sizzle when they hit the pan. Lay cooked bolani on a paper towel. These are best served warm but are tasty at room temperature. 

Serve with plain yogurt.

Except where otherwise noted, all content on this blog is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license.