Afghan cuisine facts for kids
Afghan cuisine is the delicious food from Afghanistan. It's a mix of flavors from nearby places like Iran and Central Asia. The food mainly uses crops grown in Afghanistan, such as wheat, maize (corn), barley, and rice. People also enjoy fresh fruits like pomegranates, grapes, and sweet melons, along with dairy products like milk, yogurt, and whey.
Most meals in Afghanistan feature rice dishes, and naan bread is eaten with almost everything. Tea is a very important drink, enjoyed daily and offered to guests as a sign of welcome. The different foods show how diverse Afghanistan is, with many ethnic groups and varied landscapes. The national dish of Afghanistan is Kabuli palaw, a tasty rice dish with raisins, carrots, nuts, and lamb or beef.
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Flavors from Around the World
Afghan food has exciting flavors from many different places. For example, you might find spicy chillies or garam masala from India. Fresh herbs like coriander and mint come from Iran. Dumplings and noodles show influences from Uzbekistan and China. Kebabs are similar to those found in Turkey and Arabia, and palaw dishes come from Central Asia.
You can see these connections in the spices used, like cumin and cinnamon, which are also popular in Indian cooking. Green cardamom flavors are like those in Chinese tea. And dishes with kebabs and yogurts are similar to those in Turkish and Arabic foods.
Main Foods in Afghanistan
Rice Dishes
Rice is a super important food in Afghan cooking. It's often the main part of any meal.
- Challow: This is white rice cooked with spices. It's usually served with `qormas`, which are like stews or casseroles.
- Palaw: This rice dish is cooked in a similar way to challow. However, meat, broth, and herbs are mixed in before baking. This gives palaw its rich colors, flavors, and smells. Sometimes, caramelized sugar is used to make the rice a deep brown color.
Here are some popular types of palaw:
- Kabuli palaw: This is the national dish! It has meat and broth, topped with fried raisins, thin slices of carrots, and pistachios.
- Yakhni palaw: Meat and broth are added to give the rice a brown color.
- Zamarod palaw: Spinach stew is mixed in before baking, making the rice look like an "emerald" (`zamarod`).
- Narenj palaw: A sweet and fancy rice dish made with saffron, orange peel, pistachios, almonds, and chicken.
Bread
Naan is a type of flatbread baked in a special oven called a `tandoor`. This oven is a hole in the ground where the bread is slapped onto a hot stone wall to cook. Other kinds of bread include `naan-e-Afghan` (Afghan bread cooked in a `tandoor`) and `naan-e-tawagy` (flatbread cooked on a flat pan).
Popular Afghan Dishes
Steamed Dumplings
Afghan cuisine has many kinds of delicious dumplings, known as `khameerbob`. They take a long time to prepare, so they are usually made for special family occasions rather than big parties.
- Aushak: These dumplings are filled mostly with leeks. They are topped with a garlic-mint yogurt sauce, sautéed tomatoes, red kidney beans, and seasoned ground meat. This dish is very popular in Kabul, the capital city.
- Mantu: These are steamed dumplings filled with onion and ground beef or lamb. They are usually topped with a sauce made from tomato and yogurt, or a special cheese sauce called `qoroot`. They are often garnished with dried mint and coriander.
Qormah (Stews)
Qormah (also spelled "korma") is a stew or casserole made with onions and tomatoes. It's usually served with challow rice. First, onions are cooked until they are golden brown, giving the stew a rich color. Then tomatoes are added, along with different fruits, spices, and vegetables, depending on the recipe. The main ingredient, like meat or other vegetables, is added last.
There are many types of `qormahs`, including:
- Qormah e gosht: A meat stew, often served at gatherings.
- Qormah e sabzi: Made with lamb, cooked spinach, and other green vegetables.
- Qormah e shalgham: An onion-based stew with lamb, turnips, and sugar, giving it a sweet and sour taste.
Kabob
Afghan kabob is a favorite dish found in restaurants and from street vendors. It often uses lamb meat. Kabob is usually eaten with naan bread instead of rice. People sometimes sprinkle `sumac` or `ghora` (dried sour grapes) on their kabob for extra flavor. Small pieces of fat from a sheep's tail are often added to the skewers to make the kabob even tastier.
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Other popular kabobs include lamb chops, ribs, `kofta` (ground beef), and chicken kabob.
Chapli kebab is a special flat, round patty made from minced beef. It's very popular in eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan. It's often grilled and served with naan.
Chicken Dishes
Afghan chicken, or `Murgh Afghani`, is a classic and famous dish. Chicken meals are commonly found in restaurants and from street food sellers. Unlike some other cooking styles, chicken in Afghan cuisine is often prepared to be `halal` (following Islamic dietary rules). Cream, butter, and curd (a dairy product like yogurt) are common ingredients in most chicken recipes.
Quroot (Dried Cheese)
Quroot is a traditional dairy product. It's made from the leftover buttermilk after making butter from sheep's or goat's milk. The buttermilk is left to sour, then salt is added, and it's boiled. The solid part (casein) is strained, pressed to remove liquid, and shaped into hard, very sour balls.
While you can eat `qurrot` as a snack, it's usually served with cooked Afghan dishes like aushak, mantu, and `kichri qoroot`.
Other Delicious Dishes
- Afghan Kofta: Meatballs.
- Afghan salad: A fresh salad.
- Aush: Hand-made noodles.
- Bolani: Flatbreads with various fillings, similar to a quesadilla.
- Badenjan: Cooked eggplant with potatoes and tomatoes.
- Badenjan-Burani: Fried eggplant slices topped with a garlic sour cream sauce and dried mint.
- Kaddo Borwani: Sweet pumpkins.
- Gosh e feel: Thin, fried pastries covered in powdered sugar and ground pistachios. The name means "elephant's ear" because of its shape.
Desserts and Snacks
- Sheer Yakh: A traditional frozen dessert, like ice cream.
- Sheer Berinj: A creamy rice pudding.
- Baklava: A sweet pastry with layers of dough and nuts, sweetened with syrup.
- Afghan Cake: Similar to a pound cake, sometimes with fruit inside.
- Fernea: A very sweet dessert made with milk and cornstarch, similar to rice pudding but without the rice.
- Kulcha: A variety of cookies, often baked in clay ovens.
Soups
- Shorba: An Afghan soup.
- Shorwa-E-Tarkari: A hearty meat and vegetable soup.
- Aushe Sarka: A vinegar-based flat noodle soup, similar to Chinese hot and sour soup.
Drinks
Doogh
Doogh (also called `shomleh` or `shlombeh`) is a cold drink made by mixing water with yogurt and adding fresh or dried mint. Sometimes, crushed cucumber pieces are added. It's the second most popular drink in Afghanistan (after tea), especially during summer lunches. You can find doogh in most Afghan grocery stores and restaurants.
Tea
Tea in Afghanistan is called `chai`. It can be green or black. People drink tea all the time, especially after meals or when guests visit. Most Afghans drink green tea without sugar. Some add saffron, sugar, or cardamom for extra flavor.
`Sheer chai` (which means "milk tea") is also popular, especially in the mornings and on special occasions. It's a type of Kashmiri chai. Many people in cities like Asadabad, Jalalabad, Khost, and Kandahar also enjoy `masala chai`.
Dining Habits
Traditionally, meals in Afghanistan are eaten on a tablecloth spread on the floor, called a `dastarkhan`. People usually eat with their right hand. After the meal, tea and a sweet dessert are often served.
Special Occasions
During Afghan festivals, it's common to serve tea with white sugared almonds, called `nuql`.
Different Regional Foods
While Afghans share many common foods, different ethnic groups have their own special variations.
Pashtun Cuisine
Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. A very important dish in Pashtun culture is `Sohbat`, which is eaten at traditional gatherings. Other popular Pashtun dishes include lamb-skewered `sajji` and `chapli kebab`. `Dampukht` means steamed meat, and `Khaddi kebab` is like Afghan `shashlik`, grilled over an open fire.
Pashtun food often includes a lot of meat and caramelized rice, though it varies by region. For example, the dish called `bolani` in the north and east is often called `borogyen` in the south and west.
Popular summer drinks include `shlombeh` (also known as `doogh`), which is a yogurt drink with mint and Afghan cucumber. `Sherbet` is a cold, sweet, iced drink. `Sheer yakh` is a sweet, ice-like treat that literally means "cold milk."
Hazara Cuisine
The Hazara people in central Afghanistan and western Pakistan have their own unique food. Hazaragi cuisine shares some similarities with nearby regions, influenced by Central Asian, Persian, and South Asian cooking. However, the cooking methods for some dishes can be different.
See also
In Spanish: Gastronomía de Afganistán para niños
Images for kids
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Cooked okra is also served for lunch or as a side dish
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Afghan lamb kebab with yellow saffron rice
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Roasted chicken
