Hey everyone! For fun I decided it would be interesting to find out more information(especially the food) about the different nations throughout the world and write about them in hopes that one day I will visit there.
Starting at the top of the alphabet is Afghanistan so I figured I may as well start there.
Unfortunately I doubt I will ever make it to Afghanistan in my lifetime as it is just too dangerous, so I have the next best thing, which is their national dish - Kabuli Pulao.
Pulao is a fairly simple baked dish consisting of steamed rice mixed with lentils,
raisins, carrots and lamb. For my purposes I chose to substitute chicken instead of lamb as I am not a big lamb fan, but lamb is traditional. Think of this dish as rice casserole, as the meat is buried in the middle of the dish with the rice and everything else around it.Ingredients:
4 lbs chicken
2 large onions , sliced
2 tablespoons salt
3 pints hot water
1/2 lb long grain rice
3 carrots , cooked and sliced
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup almonds and/or pistachios
Sauce:
2 medium onions , thinly sliced
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Directions:
Before starting, soak rice in salted water for 1-2 hours.
Cook chicken pieces, onions, salt and hot water in a large
The chicken should be tender, yet firm. Remove and cool chicken, but set aside the stock to be mixes with rice when cooked.
Cook rice in boiling salted water until it is tender. Drain the rice and cover
To make the sauce: First brown the onions in hot butter.
Then add cardamom, cumin and brown sugar and mash with onion to form a paste.
Add about 1 pint of the leftover chicken stock and simmer for 5 minutes.
In the pot of cooked rice, pour the sauce over the rice and mix enough to color the rice, but don't soak the rice in the sauce(You may have leftover sauce that you can use later while eating).
Then get a casserole dish and place the chicken in first. Pour all of the mixed rice on top of the chicken and then sprinkle in the cooked carrots, raisins and nuts.
Cover and cook for about 35 to 45 minutes at 325°F.
Add more stock if dish becomes too dry.
When done, mix everything together and enjoy!