A marathon cooking session comes to an end. I tried to recreate one of my favorite food experiences in Delhi which is going to the Afghan Street in Lajpat Nagar & have a lovely Kabuli Uzbeki Pulao. The Afghan migration to India started in 1979 during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. This continues till date & it is estimated that around 14000 refugees are in Delhi mostly in Bhogal & Lajpat Nagar. Afghan cuisine is characterized by subtle spicing , profuse use of meat & dairy & the gazillion types of delicious breads. One of the signature dishes made during special occasions is Kabuli Palaw. I fell in love with it in 2012 at @kabuldelhirestaurant_ .It looks deceptively simple & has very little spicing of black cardamom , green cardamom & cumin. Mutton is seared with onions , the powdered masala & then cooked till tender. The stock is then used to cook rice , the cooked mutton is added & topped with fried & sugar glazed grated carrot & raisins. Since I had only a carrot, I made a departure and added some beets as well. This was then slow cooked in Dum Pukht Style for 20 min. Finally garnished with some slivered almonds. A Central Asian parallel to Hainanese Chicken in my books. To pair with this I also made a Borani Banjan , which I loved at @chopan.kebab . Traditionally they deep fry the Egg plants.I Roasted the Slices in oven with a drizzle of EVOO and salt. Parallelly I made a tomato sauce , sauteeing garlic, Tomatoes, a bit of sugar, turmeric , cumin powder & paprika. On a plate on a base of this Sauce, the baked eggplants were arranged, spoonfuls of whipped yogurt is topped & then a tempering of EVOO, turmeric powder ,red chilli & mint leaves was drizzled. I think I did a pretty good job in recreating the original flavors though the pulao doesn't quite come to the level of Kabul Delhi. All that was missing were the typical dense fermented Afghani naans, the succulent Chopan Kebabs ( skewered lamb) & the refreshing yogurt based drink Doogh. We made do with some nannari sharbat. #foodloose #qabuli #pulao #palaw #mutton #doogh #nan #afghan #chopan #kebabturki #borani #banjan #uzbek #plov #sundaycooking #laboroflove #menwhocook #breadscorin #yakhni #dum https://www.instagram.com/p/CA28BiSFvXh/?igshid=w5jmrkfaq49o