More on Afghan rice

"Pilau was their main food for big meals. You could have an Afghan tea simply by serving hot tea, nuts, raisins, and nan. But if you wanted to serve a real dinner, you should make pilau. It is made from rice and pieces of cooked chicken with a sauce poured over it. Here are the ingredients for sauce to cover 8 cups of cooked and salted rice."

1/4 pound of butter or margarine
2 cups of brown sugar
½ cut of water
2 cups of raisins
the peeling from one large orange (cut in fine strips)
1 carrot also cut in fine strips
1 cup of almonds

Cook all the sauce ingredients for about 45 minutes until the butter and sugar are melted and blended and the raisins and carrots have absorbed the taste of the orange peel. Then pour this mixture over the rice and chicken and serve with nan and tea.

from http://www.public.asu.edu/~apnilsen/afghanistan4kids/food.html

inspired by dinner at Kabul

Qaboli Palaw
(yellow rice, lamb, carrots, and raisins)

Serves 4

• 1 lb long grain rice, preferably basmati
• 4 fl oz vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 lb lamb on the bone or 1 chicken, cut in pieces
• 1/2 pint water
• 2 large carrots
• 4 oz black seedless raisins
• 2 tsp char marsala or cumin
• 1/4 tsp saffron (optional)
• 2 1/2 pints water
• salt and pepper
  

Brown 1 medium diced onion in oil. Fry until the onion is fairly dark. Add 1 lb lamb or beef cut into 1"-2" cubes and brown lightly.

Add 2 cups of water, 1 tsp. Salt and 1 to 1 ½ tsp each (cinnamon, ground cumin and ground cardamom) Cover and simmer until meat is tender, about an hour.

Remove meat from the juice and set juice aside. Cut 3 carrots into match stick size pieces. Saute carrots and 1 tsp sugar in about 1/4 cup of oil. Cook until they are lightly browned. Remove from oil Add 1 cup of raisins (I prefer golden sultanas) to the oil and cook until they swell up.

Boil the meat juice and add 2 cups basmati (very long grained) rice, 1 ½ tsp salt and enough boiling water to come 2 inches over the rice. Cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender--but NOT mushy.

Mix the meat, carrots, raisins and rice together. Place in a large oven-proof casserole, cover and bake at 300 degrees for about a half hour--or up to an hour. To serve--place on platter, making sure the carrots and raisins show on top.


friday evening

came home for the weekend for a much needed break after a mean week of more drama and rejection. spent a quiet evening in my room with peach tea and julie london and Dreamweaver.

here's a preview of my IDS 110 site...

Places I Love

Restaurants and Cafes I love:

Palo Alto:

Coupa Cafe, spicy mayan hot chocolate

Rose Market, for kebabs, saffron, herbs, and tea

St. Michael's Alley, for expensive food and great occasions

Berkeley:

Le Cheval, for Viet

Berkel Berkel, hot Korean stews for cold nights

Sufficient Grounds, for sandwhiches and salads

Bacheeso's, for Mediteranean brunch

La Mediteranee, for dinner out with the posse

Naan and Curry, for mediocre Indian food and free chai

Vik's Chaat Cafe, for authentic Indian food

Gelato Naia, for a kick of flavor

Cafe Durant, for breakfast/brunch

Baking is not my forte

I baked a cake for a friend's birthday...

I am not a baker!

Frosting this thing was a bitch! It ended up looking completely ridiculous so I'm only posting a partial pic.

Recipe:
Add eggs, water, and oil to cakemix.

Bake for 30 min.
Done.

You can find a full picture on flickr and laugh at my pathetic cake-baking attempt. seriously, where is eunice when you need her?



In other news, I made Alan buy me this keychain. It's so f*ing cute I can't stand it.

I study, but only occasionally

All nighters are a reliable way to get good grades.









Berkeley is teaching me all the wrong things.