Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: Lamb and rice with fresh herbs and pomegranate seeds

Kabuli Palao is the national dish of Afghanistan and it needs no side dishes except some yoghurt and flatbreads if you like

The national dish of Afghanistan, Kabuli Palao is a delicious mix of meat, nuts and rice.

I am becoming quite obsessed with Afghan food. You may recall a few weeks ago I shared my take on bolani, beautiful Afghan stuffed flatbreads, which I was inspired to cook for a group of new friends who recently arrived from Afghanistan. If you have not tried it yet, do. It is an absolute delight.

This week’s recipe is Afghanistan’s national dish, a stunningly delicious rice and lamb dish called Kabuli Palao. This layered rice dish is made with meat, rice and a fragrant sauce, and made even more special by the addition of dried fruit, caramelised carrots and topped off with fresh herbs, pomegranate seeds and toasted nuts. There are quite a few ingredients in this recipe, and it does take a little time to cook, but it is not difficult to do and very much worth the effort.

My coriander flatbreads would be perfect with this, and some Greek yoghurt with a little salt, minced garlic and lemon juice whisked through it.

Kabuli Pulao

recipe by:Darina Allen

The national dish of Afghanistan, you can use beef instead of lamb if you wish

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 1 hours 20 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 600g diced lamb

• 1 onion

• 4 cloves garlic

• 400g basmati rice

• 1 tsp cardamom seeds

• 1 tsp turmeric

• 3 tsp cumin seeds

• ½ tsp black pepper

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 1 tsp flaky sea salt

• 1 tbsp tomato purée

• 25g butter

• 4 carrots

• 2 tsp caster sugar

• 75g raisins

• A generous pinch of saffron 

• 50ml milk

• To finish the dish:

• Toasted flaked almonds

• Fresh pomegranate seeds

• Chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Method

1. Start by roasting the cumin and cardamom seeds. First, remove the seeds from the cardamom pods. If you find this a little fiddly, just lightly crush the pod with the flat blade of a knife or rolling pin and then extract the seeds. If you use green cardamon you will likely need ten to twelve pods to get one teaspoon of seeds. If you use larger black cardamon, four or five will yield the same quantity. Put the cumin and cardamom seeds in a dry pan and toast them over a medium heat for three to four minutes. Toss them occasionally to make sure they do not burn. Once they are nicely toasted, grind them to a powder in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. You can use shop-bought powdered spice if you want to save a little time and effort, but freshly roasted spices make a world of difference to the final dish.

2. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy-based pan or casserole over a high heat and add the lamb. Cook the meat until it is browned all over. You may need to do this in batches if your pan is not big enough, if it is too crowded the juices from the meat will fill the base of the pan and you will end up poaching rather than frying the lamb. Once the lamb is browned, remove it from the pan. Slice the onion and chop the garlic. Fry the onion in the same pan for five minutes and add the garlic and cinnamon stick. Fry for another four to five minutes before adding the turmeric, one teaspoon of the cumin and cardamon mix, black pepper, salt, and the tomato puree. Stir to combine everything well and let it cook for five minutes over a low heat. Give it a stir every now and again to make sure it does not stick to the pan. Add 500ml of boiling water, stir well, and return the meat to the pan. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer. Put the lid on the pan and simmer over a low heat until the lamb is very tender, about an hour.

3. Warm the milk and then soak the saffron in it for at least fifteen minutes. When the meat has been simmering for about forty-five minutes, pour in half of the saffron milk and stir that through.

4. While the lamb is cooking, rinse the basmati rice a few times and soak it in cold water for thirty minutes. Peel and cut the carrots in half and then lengthways into strips about 1cm thick. Melt the butter in a pan, and when it starts to foam, add the carrots. Fry over a low heat for four minutes, before adding the sugar. Stir to coat the carrots and pop on a lid. Cook over a low heat for another five minutes. Remove them from the pan and set aside. Fry the raisins in the same pan stirring them constantly for two to three minutes until they plump up a little. Set those aside now too.

5. Drain the rice and put it into a large pan of boiling, salted water. Use at least one litre of water. You only want to parboil the rice, so after three minutes drain the rice into a strainer and rinse it thoroughly with cold water to stop it cooking any further.

6. When the lamb is cooked, remove it from the sauce. Use another large pan or casserole dish to assemble your palao for its final stage of cooking. Heat the pan and add a few tablespoons of olive oil and a little water. Spread a thin layer of rice over the bottom, then some of the lamb, sauce, carrots, and raisins. Finally, sprinkle over some of the cumin and cardamom spice mix. Repeat these layers until you have used up all your ingredients, saving some of the carrots and raisins to scatter over the dish when you serve it. Finally, sprinkle over the last of the saffron milk. Turn up the heat until you can see steam coming off the rice, then reduce to a low heat, cover the pan with some parchment paper and add the lid. Cook for forty minutes.

7. Serve your Kabuli Palao on a large platter with the last of the carrots and raisins, some chopped flat-leaf parsley, toasted almond flakes or pistachios and some pomegranate seeds scattered over the top.