Afghanistan

Afghan Tumeric Braised Chicken Lawang was our main dish tonight. On the side were sauteed eggplant and zucchini from our garden... probably the last of that this year (boohoo! this is the price of living in beautiful Minnesota -- short growing season) and rice.

To begin our meal Jing Jing wrote a brief paper about the geography of Afghanistan, a land-locked country, which she read to us. I think she cribbed most of it from this wikipedia article, in case you're interested. After that we said a prayer for the sufferings of Afghanis and for our service people there. Then we hit into it.

Chicken Lawang has a lot in common with Indian Corma dishes. Heavy on the tumeric, and held together with yoghurt, the other dominant spice is cumin, and lots of it. The rice we served on the side was filled with cumin seeds, which I liked, but which our girls found a little overwhelming.

Anytime you're cooking with yoghurt or cheese you have to watch out for separation or curdling, so the cries from the kitchen just as we were getting ready to sit down were easy to predict. "Dammit! It's curdling!!" And so it curdled, but it didn't affect how tasty and creamy the dish was. I was reminded of similar episodes in the seventies during the cheese fondue craze, where the wedges of expensive fromage turned into lumpen grease heaps at my mother's stove. At least the lawang stayed edible... and then some!

Next time I promise pictures.

Our project: Eat our way around the world...

...while never leaving home. This excellent idea is the brainchild of Penny, but it's gotten the enthusiastic endorsement the whole family, starting with last night's deep fried eggplant drizzled with honey, and garnished with mint and sesame seeds. This recipe comes from Andalucia, Spain and according to the recipe, shows the flavors of that region being ruled by The Moors for many years. Normally these recipes will have photos to accompany them, but this one we happened before this blog idea was fully hatched, and we polished it off rapido!

Penny plans on us taking this tour one day a week and progressing loosely alphabetically through the countries of the world, so Andalucia, you are first, though you aren't even really an country... you are at least an autonomous region... with one very tasty eggplant dish!