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.

IMG_3672

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

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

TENDER LAMB KEBAB WITH CINNAMON - KEBAB DAYGEE

By Katie

My first job at age 16, not counting a brief stint at a burger joint from which I was "laid off" (who gets laid off at 16?), was working the cash register at a gourmet food store. The place was changing owners, my new boss having just arrived from Korea with little English and no experience in the retail food business. He grappled to understand this foreign concept called “gourmet”. His first day on the job was spent wandering the aisles, pulling food from the shelves, looking up, brows creased, and asking “is this gourmet?”Duck liver pate? (yes), canned tuna? (no), organic carrots? (sort of), caviar (definitely), and so on it went as he worked his way through the store’s inventory.

I felt a little like my kind-hearted Korean boss recently when I was trying to wrap my mind around the Afghan concept of a kebab. To me kebabs are one thing: skewered meat or chicken, sometimes threaded with onions or cherry tomatoes, cooked on a hot grill. In Afghanistan, it seems, kebabs can be virtually anything: meat or chicken, skewered or not, barbecued or oven baked or pan fried, cut into chunks or ground or eaten as a chop. Yikes. Having prepared and eaten a number of different varieties, I can only surmise that a kebab is some kind of cooked animal protein served with nan bread. Done.

This recipe here comes from Humaira’s sister Nabila, who is a talented home cook in her own right. It is distinctly un-kebab-like according to my Western definition. What’s important is that, kebab or not, it is divine. 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 that could very well be my new favorite on the Afghan food front (watch out Chicken Lawang!).

Tender Lamb Kebab with Cinnamon

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 BROTHER'S BEST CHICKEN KEBAB – KEBAB-E-MURGH

By Humaira

I have vivid memories from my childhood of walking by kebab stalls in my neighborhood in Kabul and being intoxicated by the delicious aroma of sizzling kebabs. I always wished I had 10 Afghani, (the Afghan currency) to buy a skewer. The kebabs were usually sold from simple shacks where the cooks would keep busy fanning the hot coals and showcasing their mouthwatering delicacies.

Most kebabs sold on the streets of Kabul are made of lamb and served on Afghan flat bread called lawausha or nan. You can buy a coke or a Fanta drink to wash down the savory meat. The kebab sellers, known as the kebabi, wrap the bread around the meat and pull it off the skewer. A few simple condiments such as salt, pepper, sumac and red pepper flakes are available to garnish the kebabs. Some kebabis have a few wooden tables and chairs to sit on, but most people take their kebabs to go, wrapped in a newspaper.

When I was in Kabul in 2006 I saw some very modern kebab shops with blindening fluorescent lighting, screened windows and loud, screechy Afghan pop music playing for our listening pleasure. Unfortunately my cousin Ghani Jan, who was our host, did not think it would be safe for us to eat in such public places. I found it strange that there were several kebab stalls right next to each other. I wondered if they all served the same thing or if each had their own delicacy.

To most Americans cooking kebabs usually involve a skewer. But that is not always the case with Afghan cooking. Kebabs can include meats that are cubed, on the bone or ground. They can be fried, grilled or cooked slow in an oven or tandoor. Though they can be served with rice, it is traditional to eat Afghan kebabs with bread.

Kebabs are served for special occasions in Afghanistan as well as for picnics and other family gatherings. My family rarely made the kebabs themselves, relying instead on one of the many kebab houses in Kabul. Things are different here in the U.S. and we’ve learned to adapt. My brother Tamim has become the master kebab maker in our family, always experimenting with various recipes and ingredients. Anytime we stop over for a visit he has the grill fired up and ready to go. This recipe is his. He recommends marinating the chicken overnight and using the thigh meat over any other cut because it turns out the most juicy and flavorful. Tamim always serves his kebabs with a big salad, pita bread or Afghan bread. We hope you will make this at your family barbeque.

Tamim’s Yogurt Marinated Chicken Kebab –

Kebab e Murgh

3 cups plain, whole milk yogurt

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tbsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepperdash garlic powder

3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Put all the ingredients except the chicken in a large bowl and mix well. Add the chicken and mix until all pieces are covered with yogurt. Pour the contents of the bowl in a sealable plastic bag or a container with a tight lid. Marinate for at least 24 hours.

Pull the chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before you are going to grill. Get the barbecue good and hot. If you are using a gas grill, let it heat up for a good 10 minutes. In the meantime, pour the chicken into a colander and wipe the marinade off as best you can.

Grill the chicken over a medium-high flame about 7 minutes a side until it’s cooked through. Once cooked, wrap the chicken in aluminum foil and let it sit for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Serves 6

Recipe by Tamim Ghilzai

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