POTATO WRAP - QORMA E KACHALOO

By Humaira

This fall family dinners have become challenging with our busy schedule of soccer carpools, music lessons and various evening work commitments. I have had to become innovative by creating meals that are prepared at 3pm and eaten at seven. My go to dishes are stews, wraps and soups.

Qorma e kachaloo is a slow cooked potato stew, traditionally made with meat and eaten with challaw, the Afghan white rice. I have taken a modern approach to making a healthy, nourishing and vegetarian Qorma e kachaloo by adding kale instead of meat. If you don’t like kale you can substitute frozen peas, green beans or spinach.

Instead of serving this dish with rice I opted for whole wheat Lavash bread, which is lower in calories and fat than your run of the mill Middle Eastern flat bread. Fresh Lavash is soft and rolls easily but they can dry quickly. To remedy stiff Lavash, rub a tiny bit of water on the bread and heat in a toaster oven for around 10 seconds. It will be as good as new.  The wraps may be made several hours ahead of a meal, which makes them convenient for late dinners, lunches or entertaining.

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 Qorma e Kachaloo Wraps

Potato, Kale Stew in a Wrap

2 tbsp. olive oil

4 medium red potatoes cut

in 2-inch cubes with skin on

2 cups densely packed,

chopped kale

4 Roma tomatoes, quartered

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 medium onion peeled and

quartered

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground paprika

½ tsp. black ground pepper

1 ½ tsp. salt

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded

and roughly chopped

1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro

Yogurt sauce:

1 cup Greek yogurt

½ cup diced mint leaves

1/3 cup peeled and diced

cucumber

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

2 cups arugula or lettuce

5 whole-wheat Lavash bread

Add the tomatoes, onion, garlic and all the spices in a food processor or blender. Process until the ingredients are pureed into a smooth mixture. Heat olive oil in a deep, heavy pot on medium-high. Add potatoes and kale, sauté for around 5 minutes.  Add the content of the food processor to the pot, mix well and bring to boil, around 5-8 minutes. Add jalapeno pepper, cilantro, salt and pepper to the pot, stir well, turn down heat to low, cover with a lid and simmer until the potatoes are soft and the sauce has thickened, around 35-40 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking you may prepare the yogurt sauce. Pour yogurt in a bowl, stir with a fork until creamy. Add all ingredients to the yogurt bowl and stir until mixed well. You may adjust the salt to your taste. Once the potatoes are ready, remove from burner and let it sit for five minutest before roughly mashing the potatoes while still in the pot. 

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To assemble the wraps create a work station with the following lined up in order: Lavash, yogurt, mashed Qorma e kachaloo and arugula.

KchalooWrapOpen

Smear two spoonful of yogurt on the Lavash within a ½ inch of the ends of the Lavash. Pile on 2-3 large spoonsful of potatoes in the center of the wrap and spread evenly. Place a handful of arugula before rolling the wrap. Fold in one side of the Lavash and then roll from the bottom up. Cut the wraps in half. Makes five large wraps

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SURVIVAL OF A VEGETARIAN IN AFGHANISTAN

By Humaira,

Eva is on the board of Afghan Friends Network the non-profit I started. She has become a dear friend over the short period we have known each other. Eva exudes positive energy, relentless charm and unconditional love for everyone she meets. I am not surprised that every Afghan she met fell in love with her. This is true public diplomacy at work, now we just need 100 Evas to "win the hearts & minds of Afghan". 

By guest blogger: Eva Vander Giessen

Last September, when San Francisco was finally warming up and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere was cooling down, I was given the opportunity to go to Afghanistan. “A dream come true” was my response. Despite the fact that no one would name Afghanistan a holiday paradise, this complex country has drawn me for many years.  Afghanistan shines the light on humanity in its widest varieties. Two boys hauling crushing loads of rocks uphill on Eid in Kabul. A woman with a cracked tooth smiling and children walking two hours to attend literacy classes in Ghazni, a province of Afghanistan. Some people look at Afghanistan and see hopelessness. I meet Afghans and hope is unavoidable.

Eva, the natural diplomat

One reason for this is the kindness of the Afghans. Three minutes in a taxi and I’m suddenly being invited to have chai (tea) with my driver’s sister, mother, aunt and uncle. I’ve experienced hospitality when traveling, however, Afghans wear their hospitality with a pride that reflects their rich history and surpasses harsh realities of their every day lives.

In the face of this regal generosity, humorous situations can arise. I, for instance, am a card-carrying vegetarian. Being somewhat familiar with Afghan cuisine, I studied three different ways to politely decline meat when offered in Dari (one of the main languages of Afghansitan). They included vague medical reasons, equally vague religious reasons, and even “I to meat am allergic” mutterings. They lasted me six days and countless meals, until the mayor of Ghazni City personally placed a succulent skewer of lamb on my plate as the guest of honor. When a Mayor places a skewer of lamb on your plate, and you are painfully aware of the effort it has taken on the part of five diplomats and twelve military personnel to get you – and it – there… well, no convoluted mutterings of allergies seemed sufficient. I appreciated the lamb for all our sakes.

On the other end of the spectrum was a feast served by a colleague and her family that lasted four hours. This was just the eating. The cooking took ten hours prior and the cleaning another three. How this 22-year old does this while studying medicine, working with an NGO and running a business at the Women’s Garden had me amazed. Plate after plate of tender kadoo drizzled with yogurt, steaming qabili palau dark with seasoned meats and savory aushak plump with juices came out of the tiny kitchen. She had made a special effort to include a variety of vegetarian dishes, of which there are plenty. All were placed on a rolled out mat on the floor, accompanied by mounds of nan fresh from the nanwayee (bakery).

It was a magician’s trick: rather than pulling a rabbit from a hat, she pulled an 8” x 3” feast out of a 2” x 3” kitchen. Then came the melons, grapes – legendary from Ghazni province – and pears, all sweeter than anything you would find in a California grocery. Although candies feature prominently in any social gathering, the real desserts are Afghan fruits. I had no idea the wealth of pomegranates, apples, grapes and alike that I would find in the backyards of Kabul and Ghazni.

The fruit, like their gardeners, have seeds of sweeter futures inside. I cannot wait until my next cross-legged meal with Afghan friends.  Perhaps, after a few more cooking sessions with Humaira jan, I can host one of my own with Afghan hospitality.

Eva at a restaurant in Kabul

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GOOD FOOD AND GOOD BYES

by Katie

A few weeks back, Humaira talked about how she and I are parting ways, at least as far as this blog is concerned.  Having been drawn into my own work on Mom's Kitchen Handbook, along with writing a cookbook, I stepped back from things here some months ago.  It makes beautiful sense to me that Afghan Cooking Unveiled morph into something broader, with Humaira fully at the helm.  I'm excited to watch it all evolve.

It's funny... even though I haven't been writing or developing Afghan recipes for many months, I still find myself craving the food.  My kids know that when the counter is stacked with spice jars and Greek yogurt, they can expect something a little more exotic than the norm. This recipe for Sabzi is always a favorite and I thought it worth sharing as part of this final post.  A braised spinach dish accented with loads of dill and lemon, it's  everything that classic Afghan cooking should be: nourishing, comforting, clever in its simple use of seasonings, inexpensive, and immensely easy to make.

Today as I sat eating leftover Sabzi for lunch with a spoonful of yogurt and warm pita bread, I thought about what I have loved best about collaborating on this blog (besides the fun of working with Humaira).  It's been the deep realization of how food connects us all.  Researching and writing about the cooking of Afghanistan has given me an appreciation for its people, history and culture, that you can't get from watching the news or reading the paper.  When I make a big pot of Aush, I think of all the Afghan moms across the planet doing the same for their children.  When I bring Kadoo to a potluck, I share a taste of a culture that is so different from our own.

Truth? I think food is the best way to bring people together.  Enough talk about drones and diplomacy. We'd probably all be a whole lot better off if we just got together and started cooking.

Afghan Braised Spinach

Qorma e Sabzi

6 tablespoons olive oil

6 ounces green onions, white and green parts, chopped (2 to 3 bunches)

1 teaspoon ground fenugreek (optional)

2 pounds frozen, chopped spinach, not defrosted (ideally organic leaf spinach)

1 tablespoon dried dill

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

In a large deep pan, heat the oil over medium-high and saute the onions until tender, about 7 minutes. 

Add the fenugreek if you are using it, and cook for another minute.   Add the frozen spinach and cook on medium heat, stirring regularly, until it defrosts and the liquid comes to a boil, about 15 minutes.  If the defrosted spinach doesn't produce any liquid, add a few tablespoons of water to pan.  Once the liquid boils, add the remaining ingredients, stir thoroughly, and drop the heat a bit so the liquid bubbles gently. 

Cook for another 10 to 15 more minutes until the liquid is largely absorbed and the spinach very tender.  Keep an eye on the spinach as it cooks, stirring occasionally. If the pan dries up, add little more water and continue cooking.

Note:  If you want this dish to be extra flavorful and super creamy, after you've followed this recipe, add 1 cup of vegetable or chicken broth to the spinach and continue to cook it for another 30 minutes

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