YOGURT THE CROWNING TOUCH OF AFGHAN RECIPES

A cross-cultural burger: An Afghan-spiced beef and bulgur kebab served on pita with yogurt

Afghan dumplings topped with ground lamb and garlic yogurt

By Katie

A while back I had a vegetable tagine at Nopa, a restaurant here in San Francisco. The tagine itself was lovely. Best of all, it was crowned with a spoonful of rich, tart yogurt gently perfumed with lemon. Although tagine is distinctly Moroccan, the slow-cooked quality of the vegetables, and the fact that the dish was served with yogurt, reminded me of Afghan food. The next day I tinkered in the kitchen with a container of yogurt, a Meyer lemon and a zester. A dollop over a dish of dal was the perfect lunch

If you are familiar at all with Afghan cuisine you know that yogurt is a dietary staple. It always has a presence at the table whether poured over, stirred into, or resting atop a cooked dish, or served plain, usually spiked with dried garlic and a touch of salt.

The Afghans were way ahead of their time where yogurt is concerned. Back in the 1970s when Americans still considered yogurt to be “hippie food”, Afghans had been eating it for centuries. It’s as much a part of the cuisine there as basmati rice and nan bread.

Afghans were on to something. Yogurt plays an important role in their diet from both a nutritional standpoint and a culinary one. Not only is it a fine source of calcium, it is loaded with “good” bacteria, which is what actually turns ordinary milk into yogurt. Plus, the cooling yogurt balances the warming spices and long-cooked flavors so central to Afghan cuisine.

Most of the yogurt we eat here in the U.S. comes in fruity flavored eight-ounce tubs.In Afghanistan they’ve drummed up far more interesting preparations.

Mast

Mast is the Afghan word for yogurt. It is traditionally thicker and richer than what we are accustomed to eating. Humaira and I approximate the consistency by using equal parts Greek-style and American-style yogurt.

Chaka

This is a very dense yogurt made by straining full-fat yogurt through cheese cloth for several hours. It turns thick and tangy. You can easily substitute Greek yogurt for chaka.

Quoroot

The Afghans have a very clever way of preserving yogurt, since refrigeration is non-existent throughout much of the country. They strain, salt and dry it into hard balls called quoroot. The quoroot is then reconstituted in water and used in cooking. This was particularly useful for nomads who preserved their precious milk and tucked it into bags to be pulled out when they set up camp. Quoroot is still commonly used in a savory bread pudding called quorooti. You can find a recipe for it here on Afghan Cooking Unveiled listed under Main Dishes. 

Dough

Afghans also drink their yogurt in the form of something called dough. It is a mixture of plain yogurt, water, cucumber, fresh mint and salt. Served cold, it is considered quite a treat in the hot summer months. I haven’t yet developed a taste for salty, minty yogurt drinks, but then again, I’ve never experienced a hot Afghan summer. Until I do, I’ll stick with my old Afghan standards --topped, of course, with yogurt.

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ONE BOWL AFGHAN MEAT STEW - DO PIAZA

By Humaira

Katie (co-founder of this blog) and I had a lot of fun applying recognizable food terms to Afghan dishes: aushak became Afghan dumpling, falooda became Afghan sundae and sabzi became braised spinach. 

Wanting to lose nothing in translation, we fretted over qorma and kebabs since there is no easy way to classify these dishes for a westerner.  Most people know kebabs as meat on skewers, but in Afghanistan kebabs take many shapes and forms. Do piazza is one of these hard to classify dishes.  It is considered a kebab in Afghan cuisine, but I am calling Do piazza a stew since it is served with its broth after being slow cooked until the meat is tender.  The broth brings the key flavors as it adds an extra dimension to the meal when poured over the meat, the lentils and the bread.  Do piazza (which mean two onions) is one of my favorite Afghan dishes because it is healthy, hearty and easy to serve as a meal.  No side dishes needed.  I recently acquired the recipe from Jeja (my mom) fulfilling a reader’s request for this recipe.  Do piazza will become a go-to recipe for my parties and busy days of running around since it is also perfect for the slow cooker. 

I used beef here but you may substitute lamb.  Give this one-bowl dish a try; it will be a hit with the kids.  Even my daughter Aria liked the dish.

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Stew meat cleaned and cut into 2 1/2-3 inches so it can hold up during the slow cooking

One-Bowl Afghan Meat Stew

Do Piazza

3 pounds bone-in beef stew cut in 3-inch squares

2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 garlic cloves, diced

½ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 1/2 tablespoons salt, divided

4 cups water

1 medium red onion, cut into thin rings

2 cups white distilled vinegar

1 cup yellow lentils

Lavash bread

Wash the beef thoroughly and let the water drip or pat dry with paper towel. 

In a heavy bottom-stewing pan add olive oil and heat on medium-high. Add the yellow onions and fry until golden brown, around 15 minutes.  Add the garlic, mix well and cook for another 3 minutes while stirring.  Add the meat, one tablespoon of salt, turmeric and black pepper to the pan. Mix well by stirring for a couple of minutes. Add the water, cover and bring to a boil, around 10 minutes.  Turn down the heat to low, cover and let it simmer until the meat is tender and easy to cut with a fork.  Depending on the quality and size of your meat, this could take 1 ½ to 2 hours.  Keep an eye on the stew so the broth doesn’t dry up.  If the water reduces too much, add water, half a cup at a time. When the stew is cooked, there should be around 2-3 cups of broth left.

While the meat is cooking, mix the vinegar and 1 tablespoon of salt in a bowl, add the red onion and let it marinate until the meat is done.  Make sure that the vinegar covers the onions, if not add more vinegar. You can do this ahead of time, the flavors of the onions will develop better the longer it marinates. The onions will be used as garnish.

Onions marinating in vinegar

In a small saucepan, add the lentils, 3-4 cups of water and ½ tablespoon of salt, cover and bring to a boil. Cook on medium heat until the lentils are soft, around 20 minutes. Drains and return to the saucepan. Add the 1 1/2 cups of the beef broth. Simmer for another five minutes.

Large yellow lentils works best

Blanket a large serving platter with one or two lavash bread.  Place the meat, the lentils and the onions in piles next to each other on the lavash bread, pour one cup of the broth over the meat, lentils and bread. Cut the rest of the lavash bread in pieces to be served on the side of the dish. Do piazza is mostly served by itself. It is a lot of fun to use your hands to eat this dish.

Serves 6

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AFGHAN SWEET BREAD - RHOT

By Humaira

My family was not into baking so I don’t remember many baked goods at our house growing up. Aside from nan, the Afghan flat bread which most families made every day, most modern Kabul residents purchased their baked goods from the local bakeshops. This was likely because most families didn’t have an oven suitable for baking. The bakeries had mouth-watering displays of cookies, cakes and assortment of sweet delights beckoning innocent by standers to give them a try.

When Katie and I were planning a series of blog posts on baked goods I quickly volunteered to do roht, which is sweet bread that some of my family members indulged frequently when I was growing up. Every afternoon my sisters Nabila and Zohra took a break from whatever they were doing (probably avoiding me) and enjoyed a cup of tea with a piece of roht. They are quite a few years older than me and as a child my ultimate goal was to be part of their world. But that was hard to attain. I was the typical pesky little sister and I was only allowed to join them for the afternoon snack if I went to the corner store and fetched a fresh loaf of roht. The roht was made by the Kabul Silo a national bakery created by the Russians (before they invaded) in Kabul, which made all kinds of baked goods that I adored. The Silo was one of the buildings I readily recognized during my 2006 trip to Kabul.

I loved that roht; it was sweet, thick and soft. It was different from the homemade kind, which was denser and not as sweet. They probably loaded it with yeast, oil and sugar to get that texture. Nevertheless, I happily took the 10 Afghani (20 cents now) to the store and fetched the roht for our special afternoon together. OK, I was told to sit quietly and not to say anything to annoy them but I still remember those afternoons fondly.

The recipe I share with you is from Jeja (my mom) who went through a brief baking stint in the 1980s, but generally doesn’t do much baking. After much cajoling I got her to share this recipe with me. I substituted butter for oil and added a pinch of salt, but most of the recipe is intact. I think I may have set Jeja on a new era of baking.

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Afghan Sweet Bread

Roht

1 cup all purpose flour

2 cups whole-wheat flower

1 packet rapid rise yeast

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. cardamom

pinch of salt

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter, melted

2 tbsp.full fat plain yogurt

½ cup warm water

1 tsp. nigella seeds*

Thoroughly mix the flour, whole-wheat flour, yeast, sugar, cardamom, and salt in a large bowl. Pour half of the mixture into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a dough blade. Add the melted butter and yogurt. Process the dough until well combined. If the mixture sticks to the sides of the processor, scrape it down and process some more. Add the remainder of the flour mixture to the dough. Begin processing the ingredients again and slowly dribble in the water until the dough comes together. You might have to stop periodically to scrape the dough off the sides. After a few minutes, the dough will come together in one smooth lump and move around the food processor.

Remove the dough from the food processor cup and pat it into a smooth ball. Set it in a large bowl, cover with 2 dishcloths and keep in a warm place for 2 hours. I turn the oven light on and leave the bowl inside the oven. It’s nice and cozy for the dough.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into two balls and work gently into a circular flat shape, about ½- inch thick. Poke little holes in a circular pattern on top of the dough with a fork, maybe around 20 pokes per loaf. Sprinkle the loaves with nigella seeds.

Bake in the middle rack for 25-30 minutes until the roht is golden brown. Let it cool to room temperature before serving. Roht should be cut like pizza slices and served in a triangular shape. I find eight pieces to a loaf is about the right size. Enjoy with a cup of tea.

Extra roht should be stored in an airtight container or Ziploc bag. I find it tastes even better the next day.

*Nigella seeds are a spice commonly used in Indian or Middle Eastern dishes. They are tiny black roasted seeds that taste like oregano and have bitterness to them like mustard-seeds. They are sold at Middle Eastern or India nmarkets. Check out the list of markets that we have compiled for you. If you can’t find them, use sesame seeds instead.

Right before going into the oven

A gorgeous baked roht

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