AFGHAN LAMB IN CHERRY SAUCE - QORMA E ALOO BALOO

Afghan Lamb in Cherry Sauce with rice and cauliflower

Your comments are welcome!

By Humaira                                                 

It's not every day when lamb meets cherries in a pot. In the case of today's recipe, Qorma e Aloo Baloo, the end result is a symphony of sweet and sour delight for your taste buds.

After 33 years of living in the United States, I still remember cherry season in Afghansitan, when my mom’s cousin would deliver boxes of cherries to our home. Jeja, my mom, would get busy making jams and cherry juice before the lot went bad. 

My younger brother and I would secretly stuff our faces with fresh cherries before we were found out and banished from the kitchen.

In memory of those days I have previously shared a Cherry, Garlic and Yogurt side dish, the wildly popular Bubbly Cocktail with Cherry Syrup and Humaira's Whirling Cherry Cocktail.

AfghanStreetVendorCherries

Afghan street vendor selling cherries 

My creations are not always welcomed by my children. They live in fear of the next recipe, and the “strange” dish that will be presented at dinner. I was convinced that the rich taste of slow cooked lamb and the sweet cherry sauce would not be popular. But, to my surprise, I got two thumbs up.  

Generally I find sweet and sour dishes overwhelming. so I served this with a side of braised cauliflower, Gulpea and Afghan white rice, Challaw which was just the right combination of sweet and savory. This dish will also go well with a side of fresh salad or yogurt.

My sister Nabila made this dish with beef over the holidays. Of course I tweaked what created and discovered the lamb works well too. I hope you like this dish and I welcome your thoughts in the comment section of this post.

Cherries

Qorma-e-Aloo Baloo

Lamb in Cherry Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion diced

1 pound boneless lamb stew, cut in bite size pieces

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

24.7 oz.  jar of dark Morello cherries in light syrup from Trader Joe’s

1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

Note: If you are not near a Trader Joe’s, you may use two cups of any type of canned or frozen sour cherries.  If you are not a fan of lamb, just substitute beef stew meat. It is equally delicious.

Add olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot with lid, place on medium high heat. Add diced onions to the pot and sauté for 3 minutes or, until the onions are translucent. Save 1/2 cup of cherry syrup from the jar and drain the cherries in a colander. 

Wash meat thoroughly; pat dry with a paper towel before adding to the pot.  Sprinkle the coriander on the meat, stir well and cook on medium high for five minutes or until the meat is browned.  Add the cherry juice, turn the heat down to low, cover with the lid and simmer for 45-50 minutes, stirring every ten minutes.

Just added cherries and cilantro to the pot

Once the sauce thickens add the cherries, cilantro, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Stir well and simmer for 20 minutes without lid. 

Serve with challaw rice and a side of salad or yogurt.

Your comments are welcome!

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LUSCIOUS LAYERED AFGHAN EGGPLANT - BORANI BANJAN

By Katie

Happy Ramazan to Muslims around the world who will be fasting to observe the Holy Month of Ramazan.

It occurred to me how fully indoctrinated I am into Afghan cookery when I went to look “eggplant” up in the index of a food reference the other day and flipped instinctively to the B’s.  When I couldn’t find “banjan”, the Afghan word for eggplant, it hit me that I was in deep.  My intention was to get back up for my belief that salting and draining eggplant before cooking is unnecessary.   I’m always looking for shortcuts.  The Los Angeles Times Food Editor Russ Parsons says not necessary unless you are planning to fry it.  Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame suggests salting only if the eggplant is overripe. 

This points to the notion that there are always two ways to skin a cat, or in this case, an eggplant.  Borani Banjan, this Afghan eggplant dish, is case in point.  Most folks fry the eggplant before baking it.   Some versions are very spicy, some are heavily sauced, others barely so.  Humaira and I have been messing around with Borani Banjan for a while.  This version is adapted from a recipe Humaira’s sister Zohra gave to us.  It’s a keeper.  

Zohra likes to use the long, slender Chinese variety of eggplant.  She finds them more reliably good than other types.  You can use any variety you like, just look for eggplants that are firm and use them right away, or store them someplace cool, not cold.   According to Alice Waters, long storage at cold temperatures can lead to bitterness.  And I believe everything Alice says.

This is a luscious, rustic dish using summer’s best ingredients.  As the eggplant and tomato bake all the flavors and textures melt together.  When it’s done, the whole thing is covered with garlic-spiked yogurt and served with flat bread for scooping up all the last bits of deliciousness.  Next time I plan to turn the elegance factor up a notch by baking these in individual crocks and setting them out as single-serving side dishes.    Enjoy.

Luscious Layered Afghan Eggplant

Borani Banjan

4 medium size Chinese eggplants (or 2 medium Italian eggplants)

2 tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt , divided

3 medium tomatoes, cut in 1/3-inch thick slices

8 medium cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. ground turmeric

1 tsp. ground curry powder

1 tsp. paprika

½ tsp. ground black pepper

2 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 ½ cup chicken broth

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 cup Greek-style yogurt

1 tsp. garlic salt

Set the oven to broil.

Slice off the ends of the eggplants and cut them in half lengthwise.  Cut each halve crosswise in 1/3-inch thick slices.  Arrange the eggplant slices on two baking sheets, drizzle with 1 tbsp. of the olive oil and sprinkle with ½ tsp. of the salt.  Set the baking sheets under the broiler and cook for a few minutes on each side until they brown lightly.  Remove from oven and turn the heat down to 375 degrees.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a medium pan and sauté the garlic over medium heat for about 2 minutes.  Don’t let it brown.  Add the remaining 1 tsp. salt, turmeric, curry, paprika, pepper, and tomato paste.  Stir this mixture together and cook for another minute.  Add the chicken broth to the pan, stir, and turn the heat to high.  When the liquid boils, turn it down and let it simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. 

Pour 1/3 of the liquid into a 9x12-inch baking dish (a little smaller is fine too) and spread it across the bottom.  Arrange half the eggplant on top of the sauce.  Sprinkle half the cilantro over the eggplant and then layer half the tomato slices evenly on the eggplant.  Pour on another third of the sauce.  Repeat the layering with the remaining eggplant, cilantro, and tomatoes.  Finish the dish by drizzling the last of the sauce over the vegetables, making sure to coat all  of the pieces.

Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and place it in the oven for 40 minutes.   Remove the foil and cook another 5 minutes

Mix together the Greek yogurt and garlic salt.  Pour the yogurt sauce over the eggplant and serve with pita or nan bread.

Serves four to six.

Adapted from a recipe by Zohra Ghilzai

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

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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!