Afghanistan - Borani Banjan

Happy New Year! 

Many years ago, I was inspired after watching ‘Julie & Julia’ to take on a cooking project. But it has taken me until now to finally decide on an idea and take the plunge. While in Thailand in November, after just returning from a fantastic Thai cooking course, I decided that I wanted to cook a meal from every country in the world. So, my love of food and my love of travel has spawned the 'Abroad Cooks' project.

I plan to spend the next few years pushing my small apartment kitchen to the brink by cooking my way through the world's food from A to Z. I hope to learn more about cooking and food, as well as bettering my knowledge of the world's cultures. 

First on the menu is:

My experience with Afghan food is primarily from a wonderful Adelaide restaurant called Parwana. If you haven't been, I highly encourage you to go. The dish that I cooked this week was my attempt at replicating the delicious food that I had there.

Afghanistan is a landlocked mountainous country in south/central Asia. Because of its central location, important trade routes converged in Afghanistan from China, India, Middle East and Europe. This multicultural crossroads is evident in their diverse cuisine, using spices from India (cumin, chillies, saffron), herbs from Iran (coriander, mint) and dumplings/noodles from Mongolia.

Afghanistan is one of the most urbanised societies and is also one of the poorest. However, their attitude to this poverty is best described in one of their proverbs, “if there is only bread and onions, still have a happy face”.

The meal I made for Afghan cuisine is Borani Banjan, an eggplant and tomato casserole with yoghurt sauce.

Borani Banjan

 

Ingredients:

• 2 medium/large eggplants (approx 800g)
• Oil
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 3 Tbs tomato paste
• 1 ½ cups stock
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup greek yoghurt
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• 2 Tbs mint

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Chop 2 medium-large sized eggplants into 1cm rounds.

Heat ½ Tbs oil in a fry pan, place the eggplant rounds into pan and fry until golden brown (add more oil if required). Then remove the eggplants from the pan to drain on some paper towel.
 
In the same pan, heat 2 tsp oil, add 1 clove of crushed garlic and cook until light brown. Then add 2 tsp paprika, 2 tsp curry powder and 1 tsp turmeric to pan and cook until aromatic.

Add 2 cans of diced tomatoes, 3 Tbs of tomato paste and 1 ½ cups of stock and simmer until sauce reduces/ thickens. 

Layer eggplant rounds and tomato sauce in a casserole dish and bake covered for 45 mins, then uncovered for 5 mins.

While the casserole is baking, it is time to make the yoghurt sauce topping.

Mix together in a bowl 1 clove of crushed garlic, ¼ tsp salt, ½ cup yoghurt, 1 Tbs lemon juice, 1 Tbs oil and 2 Tbs mint.
 

To serve, drizzle the yoghurt sauce over the casserole.

I served our Borani Banjan with a simple rice pilaf and it would probably serve 4-5 people. 

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The eggplant was so creamy and delicious, this is now my favourite way to eat eggplant! The meal was rich and full of flavour. The paprika gives it a warm and smoky flavour while the yoghurt and mint sauce has a nice refreshing kick. Both Peter and I agreed that this meal was delicious and we would definitely make it again!

One wonderful meal down, 195 to go. Next stop on my world tour: Albania.