AMERICA'S FAVORITE AFGHAN DISH - KADOO

By Humaira

Honestly, I don't remember having Kadoo growing up. Perhaps it was that I didn't like the sweet and savory taste, or that it's not the quintessential Afghan dish like Palau or Qorma.  However, every American I meet who has had Afghan food raves about Kadoo. Over the past couple of years I have also become a fan.

Kadoo is pumpkin braised with ginger and onions, and served with yogurt. Although the word Kadoo means pumpkin in Dari (the most common Afghan dialect), my mom, Jeja, and her friends have found butternut squash to be a more reliable option. Pumpkins have a shorter season and it's not always clear which varieties will be tasty. However, in an article Katie wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle she demystifies pumpkin selection for the Kadoo dish. 

In some Afghan restaurants Kadoo is served with a meat sauce (kofta) but I prefer the vegetarian version. It tastes best with a piece of toasted pita bread or warm nan.

Sweet and Savory Pumpkin with Yogurt

Borani Kadoo

1 large yellow onion, peeled and pureed in a food processor, or finely chopped

¼ cup olive oil

2 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 3-inch chunks

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced make 1 tbsp

1 small jalapeno pepper, halved, seeded and diced

1 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. ground turmeric

1 tbsp. fresh ginger, peeled and diced

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ to 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

Yogurt sauce (recipe below)

Heat the oil in a 14-inch sauté pan or large casserole over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender and golden brown, about 15 minutes. Once the onion is tender, add the garlic, jalapeno, tomato paste, turmeric, ginger, sugar and 1 ½ cups of broth. Stir and bring to a boil. As soon as the mixture boils pour the sauce in a bowl.

Arrange the squash pieces tucked snugly in the same pan. It’s o.k. if the pieces overlap somewhat. Pour the sauce over the squash, cover with a lid or foil and simmer over low heat. Every few minutes, gently move the squash around so all the pieces cook evenly and the bottom of the squash doesn’t burn. Add more broth if the pan gets dry. Cook until the squash is fork-tender but doesn’t lose its shape (30 to 40 minutes).

To serve, arrange the pumpkin in a large shallow bowl. Spoon the yogurt sauce over the pumpkin and pour any remaining yogurt around the outside edges of the pumpkin. Serve with nan or pita bread.

Yogurt Sauce:

1 cup yogurt

1 ½ tsp. dried garlic

1 tsp. salt

In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients.

Serves 4 to 6

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Cut squash, best to peel, cut in half, remove seeds and cut in small pieces. 

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Squash covered with sauce, ready to cook.

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AND WHY AFGHAN FOOD?

By Katie

I spent the weekend at my college reunion catching up with folks I haven't seen in years.  I found myself stumbling over my words as I told friends who remember me as a beer swilling English major that I was writing an Afghan food blog. It sounded so obscure coming out of my mouth. I can understand the quizzical looks; I’m truly the least exotic person I know.

But then again, why not Afghan food? After all Julia Child wasn’t exactly French, nor is Paula Wolfert Turkish. They were captivated by the food, and so am I. But it goes beyond that. I’m also touched by the Afghan cooks themselves; the immigrant women who fled their country in the 1970s and took nothing with them: not their recipe books, beloved clay cooking vessels, or teapots.

Take for example Jeja, Humaira’s mom. She lived a privileged life by Afghan standards. She had servants to shop and cook for her family, rarely setting foot in the kitchen. That all went away when she walked across the Afghan border into Pakistan, ultimately arriving in the U.S. with no English and no cooking skills.

Over the past 30 years Jeja has found her way in the kitchen, relying solely on memory to recreate the dishes of her homeland. She is a wonderful and generous cook, but writes nothing down, which is, in large part why Humaira and I started this blog in the first place.  So the hard work of Jeja, and other immigrant women like her, can find a permanent home.

This is Jeja today cooking a qurooti, a savory bread pudding, in an American kitchen with all the modern conveniences

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SAFFRON ORANGE PUDDING - HALWA-E-NARANJ

By Humaira

In Afghanistan Halwa is a mildly sweet pudding made with any number of ingredients from apples to carrots. My mother Jeja recently went to an Afghan funeral where she ate Halwa e Ard, a version of the dish that is traditionally served at such occasions. This recipe is lightly flavored with orange and saffron and is mostly made as an alm in memory of the dead. It is also handed out to the poor on Fridays and religious holidays in Afghanistan.

Saturday marked the beginning of the month of fasting, Ramazan. Muslims around the world refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and indulging in anything excessive from dawn to dusk. Fasting is meant to teach patience, spirituality and purification through self restraint.

Halwa e Ard is a favorite dish for Sahar, the meal before sunrise. It's filling, sweet and good source of energy to sustain you throughout the day.

There is a superstition that if one craves Halwa they should make it right away and satisfy their craving otherwise they will be attending a funeral in short order. Needless to say I associate Halwa with death, but that should not take away from this sweet delicacy.

Despite the fact that Halwa is a starchy dish we eat it, as we do most things, with Afghan flat bread or pita bread. In America Afghans fill half of a pita bread with Halwa, which makes it really easy to hand out at large gatherings. 

Halwa e Ard

1/2 cup thinly sliced orange peel, around 2 small oranges

2 cups of sugar

2 cups boiling hot water

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 cups all-purpose white flour

1 1/2 tsp. saffron dissolved in 2 tbsp. hot water

1/2 cup whole, blanched unsalted pistachios

1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds (optional)

1 tbsp. ground cardamom

Immerse the orange peels in a small pot of water. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, drain and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar with the 2 cups of boiling hot water and stir until the sugar dissolves. Set aside. 

In a large, preferably non-stick pot with a fitted lid, heat the oil on high heat. Once it's piping hot, add the flour and stir for 2 minutes. Bring to a boil and then remove the pot from the stove and put it in the sink. 

Add half of the sugar mixture to the pot, being careful that it doesn't splatter on you. Stir quickly and return to the stove. Set over medium heat, and stir as you add the rest of the sugar mixture. Keep stirring for 2 minutes, the halwa will start to thicken. Reduce temperature to low and add the remaining ingredients. Stir for 3-4 minutes more, being sure that the bottom doesn’t burn. The saffron will turn the halwa into a beautiful yellow shade and by now the mixture will be thick.

Reduce the heat to low. Wrap a dish cloth around the lid and set it on top of the pot. The towel will absorb the steam as the Halwa continues to cook. Let it cook for another 15 minutes. Make sure that the heat is low so the bottom doesn't burn.

Serve with pieces of pita bread.

Serves 8-10 people

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