Foodie Fridays: Kabul Afghan Cuisine

Adding a little spice to your life could be as easy as stopping by a Bay Area dining institution.  In this week's Foodie Friday, Patch's Monique Soltani heads to Kabul Afghan Cuisine and finds out why their dishes are made by hand and and full of heart.

Kabul Afghan Cuisine
1101 Burlingame Avenue
Burlingame, CA 94070
Tel: 650 - 343 - 2075

SAN CARLOS
135 El Camino Real
San Carlos, CA 94070
Tel: 650 - 594 - 2840

Traditional Afghan Dishes listed on Wikipedia

• Qabeli Palau- Rice with chopped and fried carrots and raison, which is called the crown of afghan cooking and serves for special occasions and guests such as weddings.

• Mantu- (Beef-Dumplings) is Afghans favorite meal Awasana. It contains ground beef, onions, dough, spice, and toppings which serves to special guests and in especial parties due to too much work and preparation.

• Aushak- Veggie dumplings, which is another Afghans special meal with chopped Gandana,some olive oil, salt and dough. Due to lack of finding this specific vegetable (Gandana)in the West, people use spinach, scallion or green parts of the leek instead.

• Bulanni – One of delicious Afghan foods which is called (Awasana) which can be served any time with fresh homemade yogurt and homemade pepper hot sauce Chatni sauce but Bulanni is mostly served for special guests and in special parties. You can cook this great meal from two different ingredients such as boiled potato, chopped onions, dough and a bit coriander if needed and cooking oil for frying. You can make it with Green part of the leek or spinach, Dough, cooking oil, hot pepper if desired. People mostly serve this tasty food during the fasting month or Ramadan, for breaking of the fast (rooza) in the evening time.

• Lamb Kabab or Lamb steak is a really delicious and yummy food in Afghanistan. First the meat is getting washed and chopped in small peiecs. Then it gets mixed and maranided w/ garlic paste, salt and other seasonings and stays over night for better taste and then barbequed.

• Beef Kabab, is an onther type of common food in the region. Beef has a second position in Afghan meals and cookeries. Form beef different types of Kababs and Qurmas sauce dishes can be made which eveyone of the dishes has it's own unique taste.

• Chicken Kabab, is the third type of common Afghan Kabab. From the Chicken meat, different types of Kebabs can be cooked. Fried and grilled chicken kebabs are the most common and desired kabobs among Afghans.

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