TENDER AFGHAN LAMB KEBAB WITH CINNAMON - KEBAB DAYGEE

Please accept my apology for the repetitive emails you received from my blog. I know the problem, user error, and it has been fixed. Thank you for not unsubscribing.

Now let’s learn a little about cinnamon, a great addition to Afghan kebab.

Tis the season for healthy, hearty comfort foods. What I love about this kebab dish is that it’s easy to make and full of healthy benefits of cinnamon which is loaded with antioxidants that helps with inflammation, heart disease and high blood sugar levels. This is my sister Nabila’s recipe, who is a talented home cook in her own right. It is distinctly un-kebab-like according to Western definition in the sense that the meat is not a skewer.

Sliced onions and hefty chunks of lamb marinate a good long while in Greek yogurt, fresh garlic and coriander, and then bake in the oven at a high heat until fork tender. The juicy results are sprinkled with cinnamon and served with nan bread and hopefully something crunchy like a crisp salad or sliced cucumbers. It’s a completely no-fuss dish.

Tender Lamb Kebab with Cinnamon

Kebab e Deygee

½ cup Greek yogurt

2 tbsp. olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp. dried ground coriander

½ tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. Kosher salt

2 lbs. lamb stew meat, cut into 2-inch chunks

2 large onions, peeled, sliced thin

Ground cinnamon

In a large bowl mix together the yogurt, oil, garlic, coriander, pepper and salt and stir well. Add the lamb and onions and coat evenly with the yogurt mixture. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour, preferably overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pull the lamb out a half hour before you a ready to cook. Put the lamb into large pot or Dutch oven and cover with a lid. Put it into the oven and cook until the lamb is very tender (about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours). Remove the lid, give it a stir, and continue to cook another 20 to 30 minutes until some of the liquid has reduced and you have a thick, oniony sauce.

Sprinkle the meat lightly with cinnamon and serve with warm nan bread and plain yogurt. You can season the yogurt with a little salt and stir in some grated cucumbers or chopped mint if you like.

Serves 4

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

MY FAVORITE AFGHAN RESTAURANT IN SAN FRANCISCO

I’m often asked about my favorite Afghan restaurant in San Francisco and without hesitation I recommend De Afghanan Kebab House, a low restaurant in an unexpected block of Geary Street, which serves what I call Afghan street food. Over the years, we’ve hosted my son’s graduation party, family gatherings and out of town guests at this small yet quaint restaurant. In case you missed it, I’m reposting my friend Alex' Hochman’s review of this restaurant so you get a non-Afghan’s perspective on this unique eatery.

The Examiner Article  

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 complimentary bowls of shor nakhod, 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.

KUKU: AFGHANISTAN'S ANSWER TO THE FRITATTA

By Humaira

Winter is the time to have lazy Sunday mornings and family gatherings over brunch. Kuku is Afghanistan’s answer to the Spanish tortilla and the Italian frittata. Eggs are beaten, mixed with vegetables and cooked either on the stove top or in the oven, or a combination of the two, until the eggs are just tender. Seasoned Afghan cooks prepare the dish entirely on the stovetop, flipping it part way through. However, this can be tricky. The method my friend and food blogger Katie Morford Sullivan is a bit more forgiving.

The seasonings for kuku are distinctively Afghan. This particularly dish is flavored with an abundance of cilantro and turmeric, along with potato, spinach and scallions. The result is a brightly colored and boldly flavored egg dish suitable for a brunch or lunch or light supper. It can certainly hold its own against even the best from Spain and Italy.

Afghan Frittata

Kuku

1 Russet potato (about 8 ozs.), peeled and quartered

Salt

8 eggs

1 bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed, finely chopped

1 bunch scallions, white and light green parts, finely chopped

4 ozs. spinach, chopped

1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced

1 tsp. ground turmeric

1 ½ tsp. Kosher salt

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp. olive oil

Immerse the potato in a small pot of cold, salty water.Bring to a boil and cook until tender. Drain and mash with a fork.

Turn your oven on to broil.

Crack the eggs into a medium bowl and beat them with a whisk.Be sure the herbs, scallions and spinach are thoroughly dry (a salad spinner can help with this).Add the mashed potato, cilantro, scallions, spinach, jalapeño, turmeric, salt and pepper to the eggs and whip until combined.

Drizzle the olive oil in a 10-inch, non-stick skillet and set over medium heat. Add the egg mixture and cook for 6 to 8 minutes until the outside browns lightly and the eggs begins to set in the middle.It will still be quite runny across the top.

Set the skillet under the broiler until the eggs are firm, though still tender.Remove the skillet and allow it to cool for a few minutes.You can cut wedges directly from the pan or run a knife around the edge, put a dinner plate over the top of the skillet and quickly invert the kuku onto the plate.Serve warm or cold.

The kuku cooking in the pan as the eggs are just beginning to set around the edge

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