For this week I decided to cook their national dish a Kabuli Pulao, a lamb pilaf of sorts. As I was researching and reading dishes not to miss in Afghanistan I was caught by the vibrant carrots on top of the lamb and rice. The dish has rice, a sweet lamb broth spiced with garam masala and cumin powder, lamb, onion, garlic and is garnished with thinly cut carrots, raisins and pistachios or almonds. My recipe is a combination of two recipes this one on youtube and this one by Haseeb Miazed. I made a couple of changes by bringing both together, and others mainly due to the size packets that lamb is sold in in England, being conscious about the amount oil going into the dish.
Kabuli Pulao - Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 red onion sliced (white will also work)
400g of lamb shoulder (I got diced lamb, but you could also get it whole and dice into about 4cm chunks on the bone)
2 cloves of smashed garlic
1/2 tbsp salt
1 litre (4 cups) of water
50g sugar
3 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground cardamom
Basmati Rice 1/12 cups (uncooked)
2 carrots cut into 7cm batons (about 0.5cm wide)
60g Raisins or to taste
Slivered pistachios to serve.
Method
Cook the rice as per the packet instructions and remove from the heat about 5 minutes before completely cooked. The water should mostly be evaporated but the rice should still be slightly firm.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan over medium to high heat and add half the onion. Sauté for 3-4 minutes until golden. Add the lamb, 2 cloves of garlic and salt. fry until the lamb is browned.
Add 1 litre of water and boil gently (somewhere in between a full boil and simmer) for about 45min to an hour. The liquid should be reduced by about half and the meat tender.
Remove the meat from the stock, set aside and discard the garlic. Continue boiling the stock until there is about 375ml or 1 1/2 cups left. Remove the stock from the heat and sieve to remove any impurities.
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat caramelise 25g of sugar. Once it turns a rich brown colour remove from the heat and add the stock to the caramel. Add 2tsp of garam masala and 1tsp of cardamom to the stock and reserve for later.
In a small saucepan over medium heat begin to caramelise the remaining 25g of sugar and once it is a light gold brown add the carrots and stir to coat the carrots in the sugar. Add the Raisins and mix for about 2 minutes until the carrots start to soften. Remove from the pan and set aside.
In a medium frying pan heat the remain 1 tbs oil, once hot add the remaining half onion and fry until golden. Add the lamb from earlier and fry to warm through and bring back some of the colour.
Put the rice in a saucepan and pour the reserved stock over the lamb. Sprinkle over the remaining 1tsp of garam masala and 1tsp of cardamom, then lay the lamb on top, and sprinkle the carrots and raisins onto the lamb.
Cover the saucepan and cook on low/medium heat for 15 minutes.
Garnish with pistachios and serve.
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