AFGHAN PASTA WITH KOFTA MEAT SAUCE AND GARLICKY YOGURT - NO BAKING

By Humaira

Last week my whole family gathered at my sister’s house in Los Angeles to celebrate Thanksgiving. On my night to cook, I doubled this recipe to feed everyone. After six years of testing Afghan recipes and writing about Afghan food, I still feel nervous presenting an Afghan dish to Jeja, my mom. She’s not one to mince words when it comes to giving a detailed critique of one’s cooking. To my relief, the picky eaters at the table, Jeja, and my daughters loved the dish and had seconds.

In Afghan cooking, we hardly ever use cheese, butter, and eggs. If one can afford them, they are eaten in small portions at breakfast. However yogurt is a dietary staple. It always has a presence whether poured over, stirred into, or resting atop a cooked dish. Growing up, yogurt sprinkled with a spoonful of sugar, accompanied by a piece of nan, was one of my favorite afternoon snacks.

It should come as no surprise to you that thIS Afghan pasta dish uses yogurt instead of cheese. The pasta is layered with green onions, meat sauce and garlicky yogurt. You will need a spoon, instead of a fork, to scoop up the slippery pasta covered in the flavorful meat sauce and tangy yogurt sauce.

With Jeja’a seal of approval, I share this unique dish with you. It takes less than 30 minutes to make.

Afghan Culture Unveiled

Afghan Pasta with Meat Kofta and Garlicky Yogurt Sauce

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

4 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided

8 cloves garlic, chopped and divided

1 pound ground beef, or ground turkey can be a fine substitute

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon cumin, ground

2 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

¼ cup warm water

2 cups green onions chopped

16 ounce box of Farfalle or Fusilli pasta.

2 cups greek yogurt

2 tablespoons dried or fresh mint

Saute the yellow onion in 2  tablespoons of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan on low heat until tender and golden. Add half of the chopped garlic and sauté another 2 minutes. Add ground beef, use a spoon to break it up as it cooks so it is loose and separated (like taco meat). Drain pan of fat. Once the beef is browned add the coriander, cumin, paprika,  one teaspoon salt, pepper, water and tomato sauce. Mix well and continue to cook over low heat for about 15 minutes until the sauce thickens.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the pasta according to the package instructions. In a non-stick saute pan add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and saute the green onions on medium-high until wilted, around 8-9 minutes. Set aside.

Heat a small saute pan on medium heat, add the two teaspoons of olive oil and remaining garlic. Saute until golden. In a medium bowl whisk together yogurt, sauteed garlic, and remaining salt until yogurt is creamy.

Afghan Culture Unveiled - First layer

To assemble, pour half of the pasta into a deep dish serving pan, perhaps a 9x13 lasagna dish or roaster. Evenly spread half of the sauteed green onions, meat and yogurt sauce. Repeat layering in the same order. As a final touch, sprinkle with dried mint evenly before serving. Do not bake, this dish is ready to be served with a side of fresh salad.

Afghan Culture Unveiled - Almost ready to eat

Serves 6

AFGHAN MEAT DUMPLING - MANTOO

by Humaira

For many years I hosted an Afghan dinner as an auction item for my daughter’s school fundraiser.  I found myself slaving over the meal for many days and at the end there was nothing to show for my hours of labor except for a kitchen full of dirty dishes.  After someone mentioned that they wanted to learn how to cook Afghan food, a light bulb went on.  Why not do a “Cook Your Own Afghan Feast” auction item? That is exactly what I have done in the past two years and I must say it has been lots of fun sharing the cooking with my guests. 

Jeja, my mom and all her friends would be horrified to find out that I have my guests cooking the whole meal. It is against all the rules of Afghan hospitality. So, when I told Jeja about this dinner party, I left out this minor detail. Instead I focused on my mantoo dish, which is a conglomerate of various recipes that I tested over and over until I got just the right flavors. Normally, Jeja is my source for recipes, but she prefers aushak to mantoo and rarely makes this dish. The basic difference between the two dumpling dishes is that the aushak is boiled and served with a meat sauce on top while mantoo is steamed with the meat mixture inside the dumpling. You would think this is not a big deal but the meat is cooked differently in each recipe, which of course makes the dishes taste very different.

I tinkered with this mantoo recipe until it ended up tasting like the dish I was served in in Ghazni, Afghanistan two year ago when a warlord brought dinner for us on the NATO forward operating base (a story that will be revealed in a different post).

My conclusion after various versions of the recipe is that lamb meat is key in getting the best flavors with mantoo. I have said many times that I don’t like lamb but what can I say, it is the only way to go with mantoo.

When I was little girl in Afghanistan, my relatives from Ghazni would have an aushak and mantoo making party in the spring.   It was an all day event, we would arrive at Boboa Jan’s house in the early afternoon, our mothers would stuff fresh dough cut into thin square wrapper with various stuffing. They would gossip, laugh and pass the afternoon away.  The servants would steam the stuffed dumplings and serve it on a distarkhwan on the floor where we would all gather to feast on these mouth-watering dishes.  Maybe it was the memory of those afternoon which inspired me to have my own “Make Your Afghan Feast” party.

In the spirit of Afghan hospitality I suggest you gather a few friends and create your own mantoo making party filled with an afternoon of gossiping, cooking and eating.

Stuffing dumplings is fun with kids

Afghan Meat Dumpling

Mantoo

Sauce:

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 cup dried kidney beans boiled for 20 minutes on high heat but not cooked through

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. diced garlic

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. turmeric

2 cups organic chicken broth

Dumpling:

Steaming pot

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 medium yellow onions diced

1 lb. ground lamb

1 tsp. coriander

2 medium white onions diced

1 cup finely chopped cilantro

1 large package of wonton dough

Yogurt sauce:

½ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

½ cup full fat plain yogurt

1 tsp. salt

pinch of garlic powder

Heat the olive oil in a deep saucepan on medium-high, and add garlic. Sauté for two minutes until golden.  Add all the ingredients of the sauce to the pan, stir well, and bring to a boil.  Once the sauce is boiling, turn down the heat to low, cover with a lid and simmer for an hour until the beans are soft and the sauce thickens.

In a large frying pan, sauté the diced yellow onions in olive oil.  When the onions are golden brown add the lamb and coriander.  Mix well; make sure the lamb does not clump together.  Cook over medium heat for around 30 minutes.  Remove from heat; place the meat in a colander until all the juice is drained.  Let it cool.

While the meat is cooling mix the sour cream, yogurt, salt and garlic powder in a bowl.  Stir with a fork until creamy.  Set aside.

Add the meat, cilantro and the diced white onions in a bowl and mix by hand until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.  On a large clean surface, set out as many wonton wrappers as you can.  

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In each wrapper, place a tablespoon of the meat mixture.  To assemble the dumplings, fill a small bowl with water and put it at your workstation. 

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Dip the tip of your finger in the water.  Moisten the edges of the wrapper.  The water will serve as glue for the dumpling.  Take two opposite edges of the dough and bring them together in the center, use the tip of your finger to firmly press the edges of the dough together to form a tight seal.  Nip together the two remaining sides of the wrapper. Repeat until all the wrappers are used.

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Use a dab of oil to grease the steamer shelve with the tips of your fingers, this will prevent the mantoo from sticking to the pot. 

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Place each stuffed mantoo next to each other leaving a little room in between each one.  When the water is boiling, place the steaming rack inside the pot, cover and steam each batch for around 7 minutes.  Spread 2 tablespoons of the yogurt sauce on the large platter. 

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Remove the cooked dumplings from the steaming rack and place on the platter. Repeat these steps until all the dumplings are steamed. Arrange the cooked mantoo on the platter in one layer

Spoon the piping hot bean sauce on top of the mantoo.  I like to pour some of the yoguft sauce on the finished platter but traditionally the sauce is served separately for each person to add to their own taste.

Serves 6

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

AFGHAN CHILI - MASHAWA

By Katie

If I was on the fence about the slow cooker, this particular dish here has tipped the scales.When the slow cooker had finished doing its magic, I found myself hovered over the pot, fork in hand, double dipping, tongue burning, and hoping nobody would stumble into the kitchen. It was crock pot crack.

The dish is called mashawa. Humaira deemed it Afghan chili when she posted the original recipe few months ago. It has the consistency of chili and boasts three different legumes. It’s crowned with a scoop of yogurt just as you might finish a Southwestern chili with sour cream.The flavor, however, is distinctly Afghan, not remotely Tex Mex:coriander and dill in lieu of chili powder and cumin. And while it’s loaded with flavor, it lacks the heat of a traditional chili. If you like spicy, boost the amount of red chili flakes in the recipe.

I’m keeping this posting short. I need time to figure out which crock pot I’m going to buy.

 

Slow Cooker Afghan Chili

Mashawa

1 medium onion, finely chopped

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 1/2 lbs. beef stew meat, cut into bite-size pieces (too big and it won’t be tender)

1 tsp. Kosher salt, plus more for seasoning the meat

¾ tsp. black pepper, plus more for seasoning the meat

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. ground coriander

1/2 tsp. red chili flakes

1 1/2 cups dried mung beans

1 15-oz can of kidney bean

1 15-oz can of chickpeas

2 tbsp. dried dill

 1 cup plain yogurt

1/2 tsp. dried ground garlic

Heat the oil in large skillet over medium-high heat, add the onions and sauté for 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute. Season the meat with a healthy pinch of Kosher salt and black pepper and add to the onions/garlic.Cook for 10-12 minutes until nicely browned.  

While the meat is browning, combine the chicken broth, tomato paste, coriander, chili flakes, mung beans, ½ tsp. of the salt and the black pepper to the crock pot.Stir well.Add the browned meat/onions to the pan and stir again. Turn the crock pot to low and cook for 6 hours.After 6 hours, add the kidney beans, chickpeas and dill. Continue to cook on low for an additional 30 minutes.If the meat is not tender enough, let it go another 30 minutes.

When you are ready to eat, stir together the yogurt, dried garlic and remaining half teaspoon of salt.

In a small bowl mix together the yogurt, garlic and remaining ½ tsp of salt. 

Serve in bowls with a dollop of yogurt and a piece of nan or flat bread.

Makes 6 hearty portions

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