friederike's Reviews
4 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 4Sort by: Title 
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Noshe Djan: Afghan Food and Cookery
By Helen Saberi, Abdullah Breshna
Prospect Books - 2000
Boulanee : page 82
It's a bit of a disappointment. I made these last night to bring them to work today as I didn't have time to go home for dinner. I had some issues with the preparation, but the few small bites I prepared for snacking were quite nice. The dough was crunchy and delicious, the filling wasn't that spectacular but not really a problem either. However, the boulanees I had for dinner today didn't resemble those from yesterday at all. The dough was slobby, salty and little else, and the filling was soo overpowering! Not a good idea. Clearly, Boulanees are only a good idea when you can serve them immedeately and eat them hot. Also, the boulanees I made for snacking yesterday were much smaller (on circles with a diameter of 7 cm instead of 13 cm) and therefore took less filling, which might be why the filling wasn't an issue then.
Preparation:
I enjoyed that the preparation of these was pretty easy. The dough is more or less 2 parts flour, one part water, a little salt and that's it, the filling doesn't need any pre-cooking, only 'knead the leeks until they begin to get soft' (really!). The dough was quite hard to roll out in the beginning, but once you've reached a thickness of about 1 cm it actually became easy. Otherwise you can always try to use a pasta machine.
However, you're supposed to fry the boulanees, which does not work at all. You need to deep fry them instead. Also, with a diameter of 13 cm I could only use 1 tbsp filling per boulanee instead of 2-3 tbsp, and yet I ended up with half of the dough unused.
We also cut a few long strips of leftover dough and deepfried them as well - delicious! I could imagine adding some spices to the dough, then frying strips of dough and serving them as a kind of homemade Grissini. As we have some much leftover dough, I'm considering whether we should try to use it as a pizza base, though I'm a little hesitant if its then really necessary to deep fry the dough.
useful (3)
Lawang Chalau / Meat Stew with Yoghurt : page 158
Delicious and a very simple dish. There is no indication of cooking time. The meat was done after 45 minutes, but unfortunately not the rest of our dishes, which is why the lamb ended up being slightly dry. The sauce was very nice, although I think that it would be just as nice without the yoghurt.
We served this with Pilau and Peach Chutney from the same book and Stir-fried Carrots with Mango and Ginger from Modern Moroccan; except for the peach chutney this was a very good combination.
useful (1)
It wasn't really my favourite, although this might also just boil down to the fact that I've never been much of a chutney lover. However, the peaches really were a problem: you are told to drain the canned peaches and then mush them with a fork - no way that I could have done that, my peaches were far too hard for that. I ended up chopping them, and then cooking them for some 10 minutes or so along with the vinegar-spice-mix, but even then the peaches would not become soft. It's a pity she didn't give any instructions for fresh peaches or apricots. Also, the chutney was slightly too sour and we hardly tasted any of the spices; it was a bit like eating peppers conserved in vinegar.
Served with Lawang Chalau (Meat Stew with Yoghurt) and Pilau, both from Noshe Djan, and Stir-fried Carrots with Mango and Ginger from Modern Moroccan (photo); the chutney didn't go very well with the other dishes, it needs something that can stand against the distinct vinegary sourness of the chutney.
useful (1)
Pilau : page 130
Very delicious! A little more complicated than just boiling plain rice, but well worth the extra effort. A few minor points: I would have preferred more spices; say double the amount of spices. Also, we cooked the rice on the stove on the smallest possible flame, and with simmerplate, and yet the rice stuck to the bottom of the pan. Last, the rice was done after 20 minutes cooking time, just keep that in mind.
450g uncooked rice is quite a lot, though. The two of us probably only finished one sixth to one eighth of it tonight, not half (it should serve four). Instead of doubling the amount of spices, you could just halve the amount of rice used.
On the plate in the photo you can also see Lawang Chalau (Meat Stew with Yoghurt) and Peach Chutney from the same book and Stir-fried Carrots with Mango and Ginger from Modern Moroccan; all except for the peach chutney this was a very good combination.
Edited 15 June 2011 to add:
We made the Pilau again last weekend. We used half the amount of rice with the usual amount of everything else, and replaced the ground cumin with 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric. This worked well (and turned the rice a bright yellow!), only that it was too much sugar - 1 tablespoon should be enough next time. This time, we served it with Slow-roast Persian Lamb with Pomegranate Salad, an excellent combination!
Edited 25 June 2014:
I made this again, this time making the caramel in a separate pan, and then just putting everything in the rice cooker, with the amount of water I always use in the rice cooker - and it worked well! It probably wasn't as perfect as made in a pan (it's been quite a while since we last had this), but still very nice, and a lot easier!
Served with Khoreshe Alu / Beef braised in prune sauce, which combined really well.
useful (1)