There are many recipes out there for these dishes that are considered Afghan comfort foods. The qabuli palau (rice) is filled with dried fruits, nuts and spices. I didn’t have any meat for this batch tonight, but that is a staple for the dish to be complete. The banjan is a mushy eggplant dish with garlic yogurt and a dried mint + pepper infused oil drizzled on top.
I wouldn’t be doing the dishes any justice by sharing a recipe, although I thought to. In our family, measurements are by eye, taste and occassionally improvising from a well-stocked pantry. You can look up how to make these online, though the best way we learn is by watching others.
A soothing way to pass time lately has been excessively indulging in rural and village cooking videos. It’s like ASMR, but more like…autonomous-stomach-meridian-response. There is usually no talking in these vids, so all you hear are the sounds of crackling fire, sizzling meats, ambient country sounds and your own stomach growling. It’s intoxicating to watch people cook over open fires, notice the differences/similarities in regional utensils and cookware and relax into the avatar of simplicity as a voyeur in these quiet scenes.
I’m sharing this video below that provoked tonight’s random cooking event. In the case that this could be your flavor of ASMR, I encourage you to watch and continue on to any suggested videos—a precious gift to one’s algorithm this holiday season, in my opinion.
Before consuming: make sure you are wearing stretchy pants / are close to a comfortable area to lay down and hallucinate from the spice bliss.
Thank you for sharing this magical piece 🤎🤲🏽