Food..........

Well, tonight I went back into cooking mode. An Afghan feast for my family. I found some lamb while shopping last week and my mother suggested I cook up a meal for the family before Thanksgiving because my brother and sister would be coming into town and she (my mother) didn't want to cook twice.
So I did.


What we have here tonight is Qabili Pilau and Nan. The Pilau is a nice and lamb dish.
It requires 1 lb long grained rice (basmati recommended), 6 tbs vegetable oil, 2 medium onions chopped, 1.5-2 pounds lamb on the bone or 1 chicken jointed, salt and pepper, 2 large carrots, 4 oz seedless black raisins, 2 tsp cumin or char masala, .25 tsp saffron (optional).

First you rinse the rice and let it soak for at least 45 minutes.
Hear 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pan and add the chopped onions. Stir and fry them until brown. Remove the onions from the oil and set aside. Put the lamb in the oil, Brown well on all sides in the oil. Add 1 cup water, and salt and pepper. Bring to boil then turn down the heat and let simmer until the meat is tender. (NOTE: the recipe doesn't say anything about it but following the example of the dish I ate in Afghanistan, I cut the lamb into fairly small chunks and in so doing of course removed the bones)
When cooked, remove the meat and put in a warm place. Grind the onions to a pulp, add them to the meat brothand stir well. Set this aside.
While the meat is cooking wash and peel the carrots and cut into pieces the size of matchsticks. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a small pan and add the carrots. Cook the carrots gently until lightly browned and tender. (If they stay tough add some water and simmer until tender. Be sure to let the water evaporate) Remove the carrots from the oil, add the raisins and cook them gently until they begin to swell up. Remove the raisins from the oil and set aside with the carrots. Save any remaining oil for the rice.
Bring 5 cups of water to boil and add about 1 tsp of salt. Drain the rice. Put the rice into the boiling water and par boil for 2-3 minutes. Drain the rice in a large sieve. Place the rice in a large casserole dish and sprinkle with the char masala/cumin and saffron. Take the meat juices and measure out about 3/4 cup. Pour it over the rice and stir gently once. Place the meat on one side of the dish and the carrots/raisins on the other. Pour any remaining oil over thr rice mixture. Cover with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes.
To serve place about half the rice on a plate, put the meat on top then cover with the rest of the rice. Garnish with the carrots and raisins.
You will note, I did not follow that step. Instead of vegetable oil I used olive oil.
This is a very savory dish. I love it. Unfortunately for my brother and sister they were both delayed and will not arrive here for a few hours so they will be eating leftovers. But it reheats very well. If you have any questions about making this feel free to ask or just look on the web. There are several sites dealing in Afghan cooking.
I won't go over the bread recipe because I already did one on a previous post.
Have a great Thanksgiving, be safe.