GLUTEN FREE AFGHAN RICE COOKIES - KULCHA-E-BIRINJI

By Humaira

This week I was proud to help my daugther Sofia prepare for her presentation about the Afghan holiday Eid for her Spanish class.  Her teacher had asked each student to choose a holiday important to them and create a presentation in Spanish about it.  Sofia, to my surprise went all out by putting together a powerpoint presenation with spinning pictures and a menu of Afghan food she and I were to make for her classmates.

Having spent the last 10 years of my life educating people about Afghanistan, I was happy that some of what I had shared with my children had sunk in.  So, if you are raising bi-cultural children don't give up if they ignore your cultural insights.  The information is sinking in despite their whining and lack of interest at that moment.

Sofia dug into Afghan Culture Unveiled for recipes and carefully chose dishes that she thought her classmates would enjoy. One day after school I found her in the kitchen with the ingredients for Kulche Birinjee scattered around the.  So, a new blog post idea was born and I ruined the moment by bringing out my camera and snapping photos. 

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After recovering from my excitement, I was surprised by her resourcefulness but it also dawned on me that this recipe is so easy that even a 10 year old can make it.  So, get out the rice flour, sugar, butter, egg whites and cardamom and make some of these cookies for the upcoming Afghan new year with you little one.  Another added bonus, they are gluten free.

In Afghanistan cookies very similar to these are made just for Nowroz, they are called Nowrozee. The recipe is very much the same except that bright food coloring is used to make a plus shape design on top of the cookies for a festive holiday look.

I hope you and your family enjoy these cookies during your Noworz celebration.

Afghan Butter Cookies

Kulche Birinjee

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened to room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 egg whites

2 cups white rice flour

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

1/4 cup coarsely chopped pistachios (you can leave out if you don't like nuts)

1/4 cup shelled whole pistachios

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and creamy.  Add the egg whites and mix until smooth.  Gradually add the rice flour, cardamom and pistachios (if you choose to use them).  Mix well.

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Scoop up a tablespoon of dough and set on a cookie sheet (ungreased is ok). Flatten the dough with the palm of your hand. The cookie will not rise or spread during cooking. Next, press the back of a fork into the dough, making a criss-cross with the tines of the fork (like you would with a peanut butter cookie).  If the fork begins to stick, dip it in a glass of cold water from time to time.  Place a pistachio in the center of the cookie.   

Continue with the remainder of the dough, setting the cookies 1 ½ inches apart. 

Bake for 12-14 mintues.  Let it cool before eating.

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

CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING AFGHAN LAMB - SABZI-E-GOSPAND

By Katie

Puttering around my home kitchen today with a pot of this lamb and spinach qorma bubbling away on the stove, it struck me how fortunate I am to prepare such a dish for my family. Consider the typical woman in my same position in Afghanistan: a mother just like me, no less determined to nurture her children with wholesome food. But the probability that she’d have the means to serve lamb for a casual weekday meal? Not likely.

The average family in Afghanistan subsists on rice and nan; beans, legumes and vegetables round out the rest of the diet. Cooking is often done over a primitive, wood-burning set-up of some kind. Most everyday dishes are vegetarian. This lamb qorma here is as Afghan as it gets, it’s just that meat in any substantial quantity is usually reserved for special occasions.

We published the vegetarian version of this dish, qorma e sabzi, a good while back. It’s one of my favorites. When a reader recently requested the variation made with lamb, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to share the recipe. The meat adds richness and a layer of flavor and texture that is truly delicious. When I serve it for dinner tonight, along with a bowlful of Greek yogurt and warm nan for scooping, I will think of my Afghan counterpart on the other side of the globe feeding her family just as I feed mine.

Lamb and Spinach Stew

Sabzi e Goshte

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 large yellow onions, finely chopped

1 ½ lbs. boneless lamb stew, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 tsp. Kosher salt, divided

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp. tomato paste

½ cup water

1 tsp. ground turmeric

2 tsp. ground coriander

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

2 lbs. frozen, chopped spinach (not defrosted)

1 tsp. ground fenugreek (optional)

1 tbsp. dried dill

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 ½ cups plain Greek-style yogurt

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat and add the onions. Saute until golden brown, stirring occasionally (10 to 15 minutes). While the onions are cooking, season the lamb with1 tsp. of the salt and the black pepper. Once the onions are browned, add the lamb to the pan and continue to cook until the onions and meat melt together and the meat just begins to color on the outside, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato paste, water, turmeric, coriander, and cumin to the pan. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil, turn down the heat until the liquid simmers and cook for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time. If the sauce begins to dry up, add another ¼ cup of water.

Add the frozen spinach to the lamb and continue to cook over medium-high heat, stirring regularly, until it defrosts and the liquid comes to a boil. If the pan looks dry after the spinach has defrosted, add a few tablespoons of water. Once the spinach boils, add the fenugreek, dill, cilantro and lemon juice. Stir thoroughly, cover and cook for another 30 minutes or so until the lamb is tender. Keep an eye on the pan so it doesn't dry out.If it does, just add little water.

Serve with plain yogurt and warm nan or pita bread.

Serves 4 - 6

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

SLOW COOKER TURMERIC BRAISED CHICKEN - LAWANG

By Humaira

I have to admit, many Afghan recipes take time: at least an hour or two in the kitchen, fresh ingredients and planning ahead. But with busy lives, we don’t always have the luxury to cook for hours at a time. This is perhaps why our friends Kristine and Ellen asked us for Afghan recipes using a slow cooker.

We are answering the call for quick and simple crock pot dishes by devoting the next month or so to the slow cooker. Like all of you, as my life has grown busier I have turned to the slow cooker to help deliver warm dinners to my family. I have been using a slow cooker once a week for the past few years: usually on the days when I leave the house in the morning and return around 6pm with hungry children. I usually make beef stew, chili, or raid my fridge for ingredients to throw into the crock pot and see what awaits us eight hours later upon returning home. I also use the slow cooker for entertaining, something I have been doing a lot lately. It allows me to prep ahead, frees up a burner, and sometimes even means one less dish to wash since for more casual entertaining, you can take the crock pot right out of the cooker and onto the table.

Since we love our readers and we know you too have busy lives, we have selected some Afghan recipes that work well in a slow cooker. We plan to share them with you over the next few weeks, starting with today’s recipe for our beloved Lawang. This is a rich and flavorful chicken dish braised with turmeric, coriander and finished with a creamy yogurt sauce. The stove-top version of the recipe was posted last fall. The slow cooker version is delicious, easy and efficient. We hope you will enjoy trying our star dish, Lawang, in the slow cooker version.

Slow Cooker Turmeric Braised Chicken in Yogurt

Lawang

1/4 cup olive oil

2 large onions, finely chopped or pureed in food processor

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pureed with the onions

3 lbs skinless, bone-in chicken legs and thighs, separated

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tbsp. ground turmeric

1 1/2tsp. ground coriander

1/2 cup chicken broth or water

1 ½ cups Greek-style yogurt, room temperature*

1 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Wash the chicken and pat dry with a dish towel. Put the chicken in the crock pot.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan. Cook the onions and garlic over medium-high heat for 15 minutes until deeply browned. Add the salt, pepper, turmeric, coriander and water to the onions and stir well. Spoon the onion mixture over the chicken, stirring it to evenly cover the chicken pieces. Put on the lid and set the slow cooker on low for 4 hours. 

When the chicken is cooked, stir the yogurt and add it along with the cilantro to the crock pot. Give everything a good stir to make sure the yogurt dissolves in the sauce.

* to bring the yogurt to room temperature, pull it out of the fridge about a half hour before you add it to the crock pot.

Note: If you plan to prep the night before, brown the onions and the garlic. Add the salt, pepper, turmeric, coriander and water to the onions and stir well and keep in a lidded container. Clean the chicken and refrigerate. The next day all you have to do is mix all the ingredients and let is cook.

Serves 4-6

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