Afghani dumplings and a ring from Kabul



'Ashak' - Afghani dumplings


I was thinking recently what a coincidence it is that three of the world’s most alluring cuisines ... food from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan ... are from countries currently steeped in seemingly endless conflict.   Aside from the appalling loss of human life, family upheavals and the damage to those countries’ cultural heritage (like the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan by the Taliban in Afghanistan and the more recent bombing by Assad’s forces of Aleppo’s medieval market - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - in Syria), the ongoing insurgencies in these countries have overshadowed the rich heritage of their cuisines developed over centuries.

Regretably I have never had the opportunity to visit these countries; but the closest I have come to experiencing Afghani culture in recent times was stumbling across a tiny shop in an outer suburb of Paris that sold Afghani artefacts, clothing and jewellery.  Aside from incredibly beautiful – and expensive – Pashmina shawls and an impressive collection of Pakols – Afghani woollen hats, the shop had an array of traditional Pashtun jewellery, including this beautiful ring which I bought for Juhee.   The Afghani shop owner told me it was made in Kabul from an old silver coin with the text written in Farsi.

 

Juhee's ring from Afghanistan

My interest in Afghani food was piqued the other evening when I was watching an episode of “Food Safari” on Indian TV; this show is fronted by a former colleague from SBS News, Maeve O’Mara.   Anyway, she was watching an Afghani-Australian woman cooking in her kitchen (in Sydney, I think) and the several dishes she made looked and sounded both unique and delicious.   This inspired me to indulge yet again in one of my only vices here in Hyderabad: buying cookbooks on the ‘net.   And sure enough, Flipkart (India’s Amazon) had a book entitled “Afghan Food & Cookery” by Helen Saberi.

 After doing a background check on this book – including discovering that the author was a researcher and contributor to Alan Davidson’s monumental “The Oxford Companion to Food”- I ordered the book on-line.  

 

Its an impressive volume with chapters on various Afghani breads, street food, Asian-style pasta and noodles, kebabs, rice pilaus, qormas (Afghani stews) and unusual desserts.  The recipes are designed within a distinctly Afghani tradition but combined with a Western sensibility to sourcing ingredients and health conscious alternatives.

One of the recipes demonstrated on the “Food Safari” episode was 'Ashak' ... hand made dumplings stuffed with a leek and chilli filling and served over yogurt sauce with dried mint and an Afghani lamb ‘keema’ or mince curry on the side.

 

Here is my version of this dish which we ate last night; the kids really enjoyed the dumplings.  The recipe is courtesy of “Afghan Food & Cookery” ... maybe it’s Iraqi and Syrian dishes next time? 

'Ashak' served on a platter with the yogurt, mint  & keema dressing

 Recipe:     “Ashak” ... Leek filled Dumplings with Meat Sauce  

                                               From ‘Afghan Food & Cookery’

 Ingredients:

3 ½ cups of plain flour   4 t salt   1 egg   2T veg oil   ½ kilo washed & finely chopped leeks (I used 3 leeks)   ½ t chilli pepper   1 ½ cups of yogurt   3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped finely   1 t vinegar   1 T dried mint

For the meat sauce:   6 T veg oil   2 red onions, finely chopped   ½ kilo lamb mince   ½ cup tomato paste   salt & pepper

 Method:

 Prepare dough:   sift flour and 1 t salt into bowl, make well in centre and whisk in egg and 1 T oil.   Add ½ cup water slowly and knead thoroughly to form a smooth dough.  (I added 2 T extra water.)  Divide into 2 balls & cover with damp cloth for an hour.

The dough rolled into a ball to rest before rolling

Prepare meat sauce:   Heat oil in pan, add onions and fry until reddish brown, stirring every now and again.   Add meat and stir fry until brown.   Add tomato paste, bring to boil and then add salt & pepper.   Lower heat and simmer until sauce is thick.   (I used less oil and added cumin, turmeric and chilli powder to give it a bit more flavour.)

Mix chopped leeks with salt and chilli powder and drain in colander the mix in T of oil.

The chopped leeks marinated with salt, chilli & oil

Roll out one ball of dough onto lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1/16 “ ... avoid thicker pastry as it will make dumplings tough.   Cut out rounds about 2 ½ “.  Place teaspoon of chopped leeks in each round, fold over one half and seal dumplings by squeezing  or pleating edges.   Place on well floured tray & avoid overlapping as they will stick.  Cover with cloth until ready to cook.   Repeat with remaining ball of dough.

 

The dough rolled out to a thickness of 1/16th"

 

 

 

 

Filling the dumpling skins with the leeks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The dumplings ready to be boiled

Place yogurt in bowl and mix in garlic & 1 t salt.    Spread half mixture on serving platter or individual plates.

Yogurt beaten with salt, garlic & chopped green chilli

Boil 7 cups of water and add 1 t salt and vinegar.   Put ashok into water and boil gently about 10 minutes.   Remove & drain on mesh.    Place dumplings on plate with yogurt dressing, cover with remaining yogurt, sprinkle on dried mint and a little of the minced meat.

Serve with rest of meat in a separate bowl.



 
Tony saab, Hyderabad July 2013




 

 

 

 

London Calling

Just got back from the UK where we spent a couple of weeks with the kids … travelling between Brighton (where we were staying with friends) and London, where we did some sightseeing and shopping.   

 

Sussex countryside

 

 

The family in Trafalgar Square

 

London calling ...

 

 

 

Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum was amazing … especially their dinosaur collection; plus I got to see a Sebastiao Salgado exhibition called “Genesis”, based on his latest book of photography.   Salgado is a Brazilian documentary photographer who specializes in shooting various aspects of the biodiversity of the planet as well as traditional communities around the world.    There were more than 80 works in the exhibition … many of them truly breathtaking.

 

I also saw the Man Ray exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery which was particularly meaningful for me as I had just finished reading an extraordinary book, “Lee Miller: A Life”, about one of Man Ray’s lovers and professional assistants.    Lee Miller was an American woman born in the early 1900s who at various stages of her life was an actress, Vogue model and photographer …. or as the book cover describes her “ a model, photographer, muse and reporter, sexual adventurer and domestic goddess”! 

 

Lee Miller in the 1930s



'Solarised' portrait of Lee Miller by Man Ray

 

Lee Miller in Hitler's bathtub after the fall
of Munich, 1945

 

She assisted Man Ray in his experiments with early Surrealist photography, was a close confidant of Picasso and during the Second World War became a war correspondent for Vogue magazine covering the horrors of the German concentration camps and the liberation of Paris and Berlin.  

 

The lifestyle of her clique surrounding the Surrealist and Modernist painters and writers of the pre-WW2 years make the Swinging 60s sound very conservative!   And in the latter part of her life she was also a gourmet cook.

 

London was very relaxed and friendly … though maybe because we have being living in India for some time … I was surprised how pasty-faced and unhealthy many of the Brits looked … and also how many people still smoked furiously at all times of the day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had some great food and attended Brighton’s annual food festival on the beachfront; reminded me of the St Kilda festivals we used to go to every year in Melbourne.    Lots of beer and stout, and tents selling food from around the world!

Tamasin Day-Lewis's Classic Chicken Pie recipe

 

When we got back I cooked this chicken pie to remind us of Britain.   The recipe is from Irish food writer Tamasin Day Lewis (sister of Daniel) and it requires you to make the savoury shortcrust pastry as well as the delicious filling.   Great taste and a recipe I am going to make again very soon.

Making the pie crust

 

The chicken, leek & vegetable filling

The covered pie ready for baking

 

Classic Chicken Pie from Tamasin Day Lewis's cookbook "Tarts with Tops On "

 

Ingredients:

 

1.5 kg chicken   mix of carrots, celery, onions & herbs   2 carrots sliced into medium dice   2 stalks of celery, chopped   2 leeks, washed and sliced   2 red onions, peeled & quartered   55g butter   55g plain flour   150 ml milk   150 ml chicken stock (use the poaching liquid from chicken)   150 ml cream   sprig of parsley & coriander, chopped   salt & pepper   quantity of short crust pastry (use a favourite or familiar recipe)   1 beaten egg for glaze

 

Method:

     

Put chicken in pot with various loose vegetables for adding flavour.   Cover with water & bring to boil, scimming off scum on surface.   Poach covered for 45 - 60 minutes, turning chicken over half way.  

 

Make pastry according to recipe, shape into ball and leave in fridge covered for at least 30 minutes.

Steam vegetables in order of cooking time ... first carrots, then celery, onions & leeks ... steam for 5 mins.   Heat oven to 180C.  

 

Remove chicken from pot & after cooling remove skin & bones and tear meat into long strips.  (Use the skin & bones to put into stock.)

 

Make a roux with the butter & flour, gently heating and stirring. then add hot milk & hot chicken stock, stirring until you have a thick satiny sauce.   Cook long enough to get rid of flour taste & then stir in cream.   Remove from  heat and when cool add fresh herbs, chicken and vegetables.

 

Line a tart tin with 2/3rds of the pastry and spoon in the filling.   Cover with remaining 1/3rd of pastry and crimp the edges to seal pie.   Brush the top with the beaten egg.   Cut a cross in middle of pie to allow steam to escape.  

 

Bake about 1 hour until pastry is golden brown, then cover the top with greaseproof paper and cook a further 15 mins.   After removing from oven leave to rest for 15 mins before cutting & serving.

 

Only needs a fresh salad to accompany!

 

Sign in "Taj the Grocer" food shop, Brighton

                                      

Tony saab/Hyderabad   May 2012

 

 

 

A Fabulous Falaknuma Feast

Hyderabad's Falaknuma Palace ... built in the 1890s

I haven’t posted for some months due to a hectic Christmas period ... holidays and lots of overseas visitors!    But this first post for 2013 is to celebrate a fabulous dinner we had a few weekends ago at the Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad.

The Oz Fest finale held in the Palace's Durbar Hall

The dinner was organised by the Australian Government to mark the end of the Oz Fest initiative  ... a 4 month festival showcasing aspects of Australian culture held in a number of major cities across India.    Juhee and I had met David Holly, the ebullient Consul-General for South India, the previous evening and he had very generously invited us to the dinner which was prepared by visiting Australian chef Christine Manfield.


Juhee & I at the reception

John Zubrzycki & his daughter Adele outside the Palace














The event was also an opportunity to celebrate the literary output of our friend – writer, journalist and Indophile John Zubrzycki, author of the best selling book “The Last Nizam” - which profiles the rule of the Nizams of Hyderabad and, in particular, the last Nizam Mukarram Jah's life in Australia , and his more recent work “The Mysterious Mr Jacob” - about a charismatic and mysterious diamond merchant who tried to sell the Sixth Nizam the famous Imperial Diamond in the 1890s. John was at the end of a book tour of India, accompanied by his daughter Adele.   He read excerpts from both books during the dinner.

John reading from "The Last Nizam"

The Falaknuma Palace was the residence of the Sixth Nizam of Hyderabad Mahboob Ali Khan at the end of the 19th Century.  Also known as the ‘Mirror of the Sky’, its an architectural menagerie of Tudor, Italian and French baroque styles and counts amongst its past guests King George the Fifth and the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas the Second.  

After falling on hard times in the 1950s and lying empty for decades, the palace was leased by the Taj Hotels group and opened as a '7 star' luxury hotel in 2010 following 10 years of extensive and meticulous restorations!   It looked truly breathtaking in the evening light as we were ferried up the cobblestone drive in a golf buggy.

The dinner – a fusion of Indian and Australian ingredients - was described as a “Feast on Literature at the Durbar Hall” and featured several dishes including Masala spiced prawns and green mango salad, Yogurt baked snapper with walnut crumble, brown rice, fennel and pomegranante and Sichuan spiced chicken with chilli orange eggpplant.

Sichuan spiced chicken with chilli orange eggpplant

The food was indeed fabulous – and so were the wines – especially for us Aussies surviving in Hyderabad on beer, dark rum and the occasional bottle of locally made vino; mostly bottled in Maharashtra and still improving, so to speak!   We tried the Leo Buring Riesling, Jim Barry Lodge Hill Shiraz, Penfolds Grenache Shiraz and a brilliant Brown Brothers Orange Muscat.   (For a while I thought I was back in Dan Murphy’s wine shop in Melbourne!!)


Also present at the dinner was Dr Lachlan Strahan from the Australian High Commison in Delhi and the Victorian Governor Alex Chernov and his wife.   We spent some time chatting with ex-The Australian newspaper photographer Graham Crouch, who is now based in Delhi working as a freelancer along with his partner who is the South Asia correspondent for the same publication.  It  was great to catch up on Australian media gossip and share a few laughs during the dinner!   Graham very kindly allowed me to use some of his pictures in this post.

Christine Manfield ... from Sydney to the City of the Nizams!

I was impressed by the way Christine Manfield had managed to pull off such a superb dinner after having arrived in Hyderabad only a few days earlier with a very small retinue of staff from her restaurant in Sydney, the Universal and reportedly some 45 kilos of food.  Christine herself is also a huge India buff and recently released a large coffee table- sized book on Indian food, “Tasting India”.  Its part travelogue memoir, part cookbook with recipes collected from a number of chefs and home cooks across a large swathe of the subcontinent.

Our hosts very generously gave each guest a copy of her book along with John’s two publications and I couldn’t wait to try some of the recipes.


Here is dish that I cooked the next day “Spiced Prawn & Kokum Curry”, which was given to Christine by a chef at the Taj Malabar in Kochi, Kerala.

Spiced prawns simmering in a coconut- tomato broth
with kokum added as a souring agent

“Spiced Prawn & Kokum Curry” 
from Christine Manfield’s “Tasting India”

Ingredients:  

½ t turmeric, ¼ t salt, 2 t lime juice, 500gms green prawns, 2 T coconut oil (I used sunflower oil) , 1 t brown mustard seeds, 1 t fenugreek seeds, 4 T red onions – finely chopped, 1 T ginger-garlic paste, 2 T chilli paste, 200ml coconut milk, 12 curry leaves, 2 tomatoes pureed, and 2 T kokum water (soak a couple of pieces of kokum in hot water for 20 mins).

Method:

Combine turmeric, salt & lime juice and then rub into prawns and keep aside.

Heat coconut oil in pan & fry mustard and fenugreek seeds over medium heat until they splutter. (Careful they don’t burn!)   Add red onions & cook until it changes colour, then add ginger garlic paste and cook until brown.   Stir in chilli paste & coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes’ stirring occasionally to avoid mixture catching on pan.

Add curry leaves & tomato puree and simmer for 2 mins.   Add prawns - toss through sauce – then add kokum water (I also added the whole kokum pieces).   Simmer for a further 5 mins and serve.

The finished dish

 

Tony saab/Hyderabad   Feb 2013

 

(*   All photos were taken by Graham Crouch except the food shots and the picture of Christine Manfield.)

 



 

 

 



 

Pock-marked Grandmothers and Smacked Cucumbers

My slightly worn copy of "Sichuan Cookery"

In 2001 a new culinary star and was launched with the publication of Fuchsia Dunlop’s “Sichuan Cookery”.  This book had a major impact in altering the perception that recipes and ingredients in China were largely based around southern Cantonese cuisine by highlighting the distinctive nature of the often spicy and hot food from the south-west Sichuan region.

"Sichuan Cookery” became an instant classic of its genre; since publication it regularly appears on food writer’s lists of the best cookbooks of all time and Fuchsia Dunlop is now a ‘foodie superstar’ – writing more books and articles on the subject and invited to food festivals around the world.

English-born Chinese food exponent, Fuchsia Dunlop

The book also helped spark a worldwide interest in regional Chinese cuisine.  Until recent years, most restaurants outside of China served an often Westernised version of Cantonese fare.  Indeed, I remember as a university student in Melbourne in the late 1970s this was certainly the case; Chinese banquets were based around fried rice ... sometimes with pineapple added, stir fried vegetables ... always with cabbage,  and a few exotic dishes like spring rolls and ‘crystal prawns’ in a sweet and sour sauce ... often heavily laced with cornflour and possibly MSG!

Now restaurant reviewers and customers in Melbourne compare notes on the best xiao long bao dumplings and pan-fried pork potstickers, cue up in the winter rain outside the Dainty Sichuan restaurant and slaver over grilled oysters and chilli crabs.   There’s even cuisine-focused tours of China in the offing.

Fuchsia Dunlop in China

Fuchsia Dunlop grew up in Oxford, England - studied at Cambridge - and then after a stint as an East Asian analyst at the BBC, she moved to Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province, to study at Sichuan University.   This further piqued her interest in the region’s cuisine and she took up a course at the province’s famous cooking school - the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine.   As result she became one of the first westerners to study firsthand what was till then a relatively unknown aspect of Chinese food culture in the rest of the world.

As she wrote in the introduction to the book, “Chinese people say that ‘China’ is the place for food but Sichuan is the place for flavour’, and local gourmets claim that the region  boasts some 5,000 different dishes   ...  In Europe, strangely, Chinese cuisine is almost always treated as one great tradition, with some regional variations  ... (but) viewed from the inside, it is the differences that seem to matter, the differences between the fresh natural flavours of the south, the sweeter, oilier cooking of the eastern coastal areas and the spicy western diet; between the wheaten staples of the north and the southern rice-based diet.”
    
Fuchsia Dunlop speaks and reads Mandarin and has written a number of bestselling books on Chinese regional cuisine since this first publication; she also regularly contributes to the UK newspapers The Guardian, The Observer and The Financial Times.   Her second book - “The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook” came out in 2006 and focuses on the southern central province of Hunan, home to many Chinese communist revolutionaries including Chairman Mao Zedong.  Then, after publishing an autobiography - ”Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper”, she released “Every Grain of Rice” earlier this year, a book which focuses on simple Chinese home style cooking from across the country.

Sichuanese style steamed fish (before cooking) from "Sichuan Cookery"

I have been cooking from “Sichuan Cookery” since it was first published in 2001 and at the time found it relatively easy to hunt down exotic and rare ingredients in Melbourne’s Chinese supermarkets ... especially in Richmond or Chinatown in the city.   But here in Hyderabad it’s been more of a challenge.  

However, gradually ingredients such as Sichuan peppercorns, dried Chinese mushrooms, higher quality soy sauce and sesame oil have become available in some local supermarkets.   And after a recent trip to Delhi, where the markets are far more cosmopolitan and ‘international’ than their counterparts in the south of India,  I have also begun ordering more hard to find ingredients such as Korean chilli paste, Japanese miso and udon noodles from shops in the country’s capital and had them delivered to Hyderabad.  (Couriering goods around the country here is much cheaper than in Australia!)

Ma Po Dou Fu after adding the leeks & cornflour

One of my favourite recipes from Fuchsia Dunlop’s book is “Ma Po Dou Fu” or Pock Marked Mother Chen’s Beancurd.  The dish is reportedly named after the smallpox-scarred wife of a Qing Dynasty restaurateur, who sold it on the street side to labourers on their way to the market.   The recipe is a combination of minced meat (usually pork or beef), tofu cubes and the tingling Sichuan peppercorn.  Its cooked in a viscous red chilli oil & stock ‘soup’ with the addition of fresh winter vegetables like spring onions or leeks.  (Vegetarians can simply omit the meat component from the dish.)

It can be served as a stand alone meal in a bowl or with rice and a salad.   I usually accompany Ma Po with the “Smashed Cucumber Salad” from the “Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook”.  
Try it – its fantastic!

MA PO DOU FU    POCK-MARKED MOTHER CHEN’S BEANCURD

Ingredients:

1 block of beancurd, 400 - 500gm    4 baby leeks or spring onions    100ml cooking oil    150 – 250 gm minced pork, beef or lamb    2 ½ T Sichuanese chilli paste  (I use other chilli paste if I cant find this in India!)    1 T black fermented beans   (You could use black bean sauce – again for the same reason)    2 t ground Sichuanese chillis (or dried red chillis)    250 – 300 ml stock    1 t caster sugar    2 t light soy sauce    3 T cornflour mixed with 4 T cold water    ½ - 1 t toasted & ground Sichuan peppercorns (no substitute!)   

Method:

Cut beancurd block into 2cm cubes and steep in slightly salted hot water.  Slice leeks or spring onions on angle into ‘horse ear’ shape.

Cubes of beancurd soaking in hot water

Heat oil in wok on high heat until smoking.   Add meat and stir fry until brown.  Turn heat down to medium and add chilli paste, stir for 30 secs, and then add black beans and dried chillis.   Stir another minute or two until it forms a ruddy rich red slurry. 

Pour in stock, stir, and then gently add beancurd.   Stir into mixture - careful not to break up the cubes.   Add sugar, some salt and 2 t of soy sauce.   Simmer for 5 mins until beancurd has absorbed chilli flavour.

Add leeks or spring onions and stir in gently.   Add cornflour mixture in 3 parts and stir until mixture has thickened ... but not too much.  

Pour into bowl and sprinkle with Sichuan peppercorns.


PAI HUANG GUA     SMACKED CUCUMBERS

Ingredients:

 

1 to 3 cucumbers, depending on size (about 400gms)    salt    2 T very finely chopped garlic    2 T  rice vinegar    2 T vegetable oil    1 T dried chilli flakes

 

The cucumbers after being smacked with a cleaver!

Method:

 

Place cucumber(s) on chopping board and whack several times with the edge of a cleaver or the back end of a knife, to form jagged cuts in the cucumber.   The cut into slices ... I cut Japanese style - on the angle, rotating cucumber a ¼ turn before each cut.

 

Place in salad bowl and add ½ t salt, toss with hands to combine and then leave for 30 mins.   Drain off the water that has accumulated in bottom of the bowl.

Add garlic and vinegar to bowl, toss again and allow several minutes for flavours to blend.  

 Sprinkle chilli flakes over the cucumbers.  Heat the oil in a small pan to smoking point and then pour quickly over bowl with cucumbers.  

 

Mix well and serve with the Ma Po.

 

Tony saab, Hyderabad Dec 2012