Kabuli Pulao

One of my all time favorite Afghan recipe is Kabuli Pulao.

Making a Pulao is so fun. It is like making a baby. There are steps involved. You have to make it in different places and then everything comes along.

This recipe is quite lengthy and has different stages but it is easy to make and the only hard work involved is cutting the DAMN CARROTS.

INGREDIENTS FOR MEAT:

1 kilogram lamb

1 large onion or 2 medium onions

6 garlic cloves

1 glass of water

INGREDIENTS FOR RICE:

10 cups water

4 cups rice

2 tablespoons salt

INGREDIENTS FOR RICE GRAVY:

4 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup oil

1 tablespoons Salt

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon garam masala powder

meat broth (from the cooked lamb)

INGREDIENTS FOR GARNISHING:

4 carrots

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup water

6 tablespoons oil

1 cup raisins

First of all we will boil the rice.

Cook it until is 3/4th done. Because we have to cover and cook it again.

If you cook it completely right now it will get softer and soggy afterwards.

The rice is done. Time to cook the lamb.

In a pressure cooker add the lamb meat, one onion (without cutting it) and garlic cloves.

Add one to two glass of water. Cook it on whistle for 15 minutes.

Separate the cooked lamb in a bowl.

With your wooden spatula mash and SMASH the cooked onion and garlic until they dissolve with the broth to some extent.

Take the meat broth out in a separate bowl.

Now it is time to caramelize the carrots and prepare the garnishing.

In a non  stick deep pan we will put carrots on low heat. Add 1 tablespoon sugar to it and 1/4 cup of water.

Cover it with a lid.

On a second burner we will add 6 tablespoons vegetable oil in a frying pan and cook the raisins on medium low flame until they become small fluffly balls. LOL.

Then we add the raisins to the carrots and mix them gently.

Place the carrots and raisins in an aluminum foil and wrap it properly just like in the pictures below.

Time to prepare the rice gravy. This will give the rice flavor and color as well.

Melt 4 tablespoons of sugar in a non stick pan on medium low heat and add 1/2 cup of oil.

Add the meat broth which was extracted from the pressure cooker to this mixture.

Add 1 teaspoon garam masala, 1 teaspoon cumin powder and 1 tablespoon of salt in this mixture.

Let everything combine and keep your utensil in movement during all this process or the sugar won't mix properly.

Time to move to the final stage of this recipe.

Put the cooked rice in a pan and drizzle all the gravy on them.

Mix the rice properly and place the carrot/raisin aluminum parcel on it.

Wrap the lid of this pan with kitchen cloth and cover the pan.

Cook for 5 minutes on high heat and 10 minutes more on low heat.

That is it. Kabuli pulao is ready to serve.

The traditional way to serve Kabuli Pulao is to put a layer of rice on the tray, put a layer of cooked lamb on the layer of rice and cover the layer of lamb with another layer of rice. On top of this savory mountain add the carrots and raisins for garnishing and flavor boost.

Szechuan Shrimps

There is a little authentic Chinese restaurant in Bank Square Market Model Town Lahore. The cook and owner there is Chinese.

It's a bit expensive for a small restaurant but the food there is the best Chinese I've had so far. Even better than Yum and X2. Word

My all time favorite two dishes over there were the Thai Fried Rice and Szechuan Shrimps.

I wanted to make the Szechuan Shrimps when I was in Pakistan but I couldn't for some reason. I made them yesterday.

So today I'll tell you all how to make Szechuan Shrimps. It's very easy and takes only 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

Shrimps 500 grams (pealed and de-vained)

4 spring onions diced

2 tablespoon minced ginger

2 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon chili sauce


1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Red chili flakes

1 tablespoon soy sauce

   

Add ketchup, chili garlic sauce, chili sauce, salt, vinegar, chili flakes, sugar and soy sauce. Mix everything and keep it aside.

Add 2 tablespoon of oil in a preheated wok. Spread it briefly on the sides.

Now add the minced ginger and garlic and cook for hardly a minute.  If you see your ginger and garlic burning add water instantly to save it. Around 1/3 cup of water would do.

Now add the spring onions and cook for two minutes. 

   

Add the shrimps now and cook them until the shrimps get pink from the outside.

Stir the sauce and add it in the wok. Cook it till your desired thickness. If you want more sauce you can add 1 tablespoon of ketchup, chili sauce and water.

   

Szechuan Shrimps are all ready to serve now. You can eat them with steamed/fried rice or noodles.

Szechuan Shrimps ladies and gentlemen. This is a tribute to that Chinese chef in Pakistan. I miss his food and the fact that he could understand/speak Urdu as good as me.