AFGHAN POTATOES WITH SPICY YOGURT SAUCE - BURANI KATCHALU

Burani Katchalu in a whole wheat pita pocket

By Humaira

Today I have fabulous vegetarian Afghan recipe from Turmeric, The Wonder Spice an e-cookbook.

I served this dish in pita pockets, lathered with the creamy yogurt sauce from the recipes and a freshly tossed salad.

FreshSalad

Fresh veggies and garbanzo beans

Here is how authors – Helen Saberi and Colleen Taylor Sin recommend you make this dish.

Afghan Potatoes with Spicy Yogurt Sauce

Burani Katchalu

In Afghanistan, this dish is called Burani Katchalu. Burani is the name given to a vast range of dishes across the Islamic heartland, from Spain to the Balkans and from Morocco to India. Burani can be made with any variety of vegetable, including eggplant, potatoes, and spinach, but no matter the main ingredient, it always has a yogurt sauce.

There are many legends about this dish’s origin; one is that Burani was the nickname of the princess who married the Caliph of Baghdad in the 9th century, and burani the food has evolved from a special yogurt dish served at her lavish wedding celebrations. Whatever the true origin, this recipe makes a tasty midday snack. Enjoy it with freshly baked naan.

4 tablespoons cooking oil

1 medium to large onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 tablespoon tomato purée

1/2 cup (120 mL) water

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro

4–6 medium to large potatoes, peeled, washed, and cut into 1/2-inch (1-cm) thick slices or chunks 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed or finely chopped

2 cups (475 mL) plain natural Greek yogurt

Chili powder, to taste

1. In a large skillet, warm the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and fry gently until golden brown. Add the tomato purée and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes, until brown. Add the water and chopped cilantro. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the sauce has thickened a little. Add the potatoes and turmeric and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir carefully, until the potatoes are coated with the sauce. Add more water if necessary—the sauce should be thick, not watery.

BuraniKatchalu

Just tossed the potatoes in the sauce

2. Cook gently over low heat, stirring carefully from time to time so as not to break up the potatoes. Add more water as needed if the sauce is becoming too dry. This will very much depend on the type of potatoes you use. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender.

3. In a small bowl, combine the garlic and yogurt. Season to taste with salt and chili powder. Spread about 1/2 of the yogurt over a warm serving dish, then arrange the potatoes on top. Top with spoonful of the remaining yogurt and serve any extra in a separate bowl.

You may purchase Turmeric - The Wonder Spice  on Amazon.

We love to hear your thoughts on this recipe and your experience cooking Afghan food. Leave your thought in the COMMENTS section of this post.

TURMERIC - THE WONDER SPICE

By Humaira

Aside from Jeja, my mom, Helen Saberi would be the next person I would go to for Afghan cooking advice.  Helen is the author of Afghan Food and Cookery, the one and only published Afghan cookbook. 

When Helen told me about her newest project, an e-cookbook co-written by Colleen Taylor Sen, about Turmeric, I readily agreed to contribute a couple of my own recipes.

Helen who lives in England and Colleen in Chicago - first met in the mid 1990s at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, and have since met nearly every year at the same event. They have a lot in common despite living on different sides of the Atlantic.  Colleen’s expertise is food history of India and Helen's is Afghan and Central Asian food.

Below is an excerpt from their e-cookbook, published by Agate Publishing, about medicinal benefits of Turmeric. I have also included one of 70 delicious recipes from the book - Afghan Fish Stew.

Turmeric - the Wonder Spice an e-cookbook

Turmeric is one of the most versatile and ancient spices. It is used in a variety of ways: as a dye, a ritual and ceremonial item, a medicine, an antiseptic, and, above all else, as a flavoring. The English name for the spice is thought to come from the Latin terra merita, which means “worthy (or meritorious) earth”—and the name is well deserved, for turmeric is truly a wonder spice!

From time immemorial, spices have played an important role in Indian, Chinese, and Indonesian medicine, and none was more important than turmeric. It was used to treat gastrointestinal and pulmonary disorders, diabetes, atherosclerosis, bacterial infections, gum disease, and skin diseases. Even today, South Asians apply a paste of turmeric and water as an antiseptic to cuts and strains; take a teaspoon in warm milk or yogurt, either after a meal as an aid to digestion or to relieve the symptoms of a fever; and breathe steam infused with turmeric to relieve congestion.

A couple of decades ago, medical researchers began noticing an interesting phenomenon in countries such as India, Singapore, and Malaysia, where turmeric and curry powder are dietary staples. Compared to countries where turmeric-rich dishes are less common, these countries had (and continue to have) significantly lower rates of certain ailments, including: breast, prostate, lung, and colon cancers; childhood leukemia; and Alzheimer’s disease.

To follow up on these epidemiological observations, scientists conducted thousands of studies, mainly controlled laboratory tests on cell cultures and animals. The results have been so promising that the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, the National Institute on Aging, the UK Medical Research Council, and other agencies are supporting additional investigations, including clinical trials of human patients.

According to ClinicalTrials.gov, a registry of US clinical studies, nearly 80 clinical trials of the effectiveness of turmeric have been or are being conducted to date. In mid-2013, PubMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s database of articles from medical and biological science journals around the world, contained nearly 6,000 references to turmeric and cur-cumin—compare this to 2005, when there were just 300 references. Around the turn of the century, large pharmaceutical companies attempted to patent cur-cumin and turmeric, but were denied by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2001 on the grounds that its medicinal properties were not patentable.

TurmericBowl

Although much of the research is in its early stages, the results are so promising that physicians are recommending everyone add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric to their daily diet. Health-food companies are jumping on the turmeric bandwagon by producing expensive supplements, whose purity and efficacy are not easily verifiable since they are not subject to government regulation in the United States. A much more pleasant, inexpensive, and safe way to bring turmeric into your life is to incorporate it into your meals, and the purpose of this book is to show you ways of doing this via fun, tasty, and easy-to-make.

You may purchase Turmeric - The Wonder Spice  on Amazon.

Afghan Fish Stew

Qorma e Mahee

In Afghanistan, the large river fish called mahi laqa is used for this dish; however, cod or haddock can be substituted. Traditionally, mooli safaid (known in the West as white radish or daikon) is cooked with the fish, but it can also be prepared without and is still very good.

2 pounds (900 g) fish, such as cod or haddock

1/4 cup (60 mL) vegetable oil

1 pound (450 g) mooli (white radish or daikon), peeled and sliced into thin rounds

1 teaspoon turmeric powder, divided

7 ounces (200 g) onions, peeled and chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1 (14.5-ounce [411-g]) can chopped tomatoes

1 cup (240 mL) water

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

Red pepper flakes and salt, to taste

Cooked Challaw (white rice) for serving

1. Cut the fish into large chunks and pat dry with paper towels.

2. In a large skillet, warm the oil over high heat and fry the fish quickly on both sides, until golden brown. Do not cook through. Remove from the heat, transfer the fish from the skillet to a plate, and set aside. Reserve the oil and set aside.

3. Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add the mooli and 1/2 teaspoon of the turmeric. Boil gently until soft, then drain and set aside.

4. Filter the oil, then place it into a deep saucepan. Reheat the oil over medium heat and fry the chopped onions and crushed garlic, until soft and reddish-brown. Mix in the tomatoes and fry vigorously, until the tomatoes brown and the liquid is reduced. Add the water, the coriander, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of the turmeric. Season to taste with red pepper flakes and salt. Stir, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for about 30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, place 1/2 of the reserved mooli in the bottom of a large saucepan. Add the fish, then top with the remaining mooli.

6. Once the tomato sauce is cooked, pour over the fish and mooli. Gently simmer for 5 minutes. Do not overcook or boil vigorously, or the fish will disintegrate. Serve hot, with white rice.

Here are Colleen and Helen's favorite recipes from their book:

Colleen: Alu chcechki (my favorite Bengali dish), bobotie, and Kerala-style shrimp in coconut milk.

Helen:   Spicy fish cakes, bobotie and burani katchalu.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome!

DE AFGHANAN KEBAB HOUSE IN SF RIVALS FREMONT ORIGINAL

The Examiner Article  - Sunday April 27, 2014 

By Alex Hochman

Urban-dweller confession time: I have a bit of a Fremont problem. Wife out of town with the kids? I'll just scoot across the Dumbarton Bridge to Fremont. Need to buy some new clothes? Let's head to the Great Mall near, um, Fremont. Saturday afternoon with no plans? Fremont.

The real reason for my fascination lies not in the town's beauty or culture (sorry, Fremont.) It's the kabobs. The Afghan kabobs, to be exact.

Closet-sized De Afghanan Kabob House has been one of my secret hideouts ever since my longtime friend, Afghan cooking blogger Humaira Ghilzai, told me about it years ago.

To say that I was excited to learn that Da Afghanan Kabob House was opening a new branch on Geary Street, a mere 2 miles from my house, would be an understatement. But with the niece and nephews of the original owner in charge, would it be as good? I asked Humaira to join me to find out.

We began with potato bolani: slightly crispy, a tad greasy and totally addictive. Swabbing each rectangular slice with a bit of the accompanying tart, housemade yogurt, I plowed through the large order almost on my own while thinking aloud to Humaira how much this onion-laden flatbread reminded me in flavor of a thicker, denser potato knish I once devoured in Brighton Beach, N.Y.

Mantu, the ravioli-like dish of pasta stuffed with spiced ground beef and capped with yogurt and mint, made for another stellar starter, as did the little complementary bowls of shor nakhad, diced potatoes and garbanzo beans tossed with a shocking green cilantro sauce. This alone would make for a perfect lunch on a hot day.

The undisputed stars of the show, though, were the kabobs. Humaira considers a kabob's tenderness to be the main indicator of whether the kitchen is in good hands, and the meats here passed with flying colors.

I rarely get turned on by poultry, but at this spot, the char-broiled, orange-hued hunks of chicken breast were impossibly juicy, the result of an overnight marinade.

Equally luscious was the tekka kabob, tender wedges of tri-tip cooked to a perfect pink on the inside and aggressively seasoned. Co-owner Jay Fedaiy played coy when questioned about spices and marinades, revealing only that, "Over the years, some things have been added and some things have been subtracted." He at least admitted to using plenty of onions and garlic.

For the ultimate taste test, I drove one night to the Fremont location (yes, again) to sample my favorite, the chaplee kabob, patties of ground beef, egg and chopped onion with a dash of red pepper flakes. The following evening, I had the same item for dinner on Geary. Both versions would be the hamburger of my dreams if stuffed between a few slices of bolani (mental note: idea for food truck?), but, if pressed, I'd give the slight nod to the newcomer. Its kabobs were a bit moister with a more pronounced fiery kick.

A sense of deja vu comes with good reason. A few years ago, another relative also opened an outpost of De Afghanan Kabob House just around the corner on Polk Street that quickly shuttered. Here's to a more successful run for this new incarnation. It's saving me some serious gas money.