Kabuli Pulao
Afghanistan's national dish: long-grain basmati cooked with tender lamb, topped with sweet-cooked carrots, raisins and toasted nuts. Celebration food.
Overview
Kabuli pulao is Afghanistan's national dish, the centrepiece of every wedding, Eid and important Friday lunch: a layered pilaf of long-grain rice, slow-braised lamb, sweet carrot strands and butter-plumped raisins, all steam-finished together in one pot. You brown lamb shoulder hard, then braise it in spiced stock until the meat slips off the bone (that stock becomes the rice's cooking liquid). Carrots cut into matchsticks fry slowly in butter and sugar until they are golden and glassy. Raisins plump in butter. The rice parboils, then layers in the pot: lamb at the bottom, rice piled on top in a dome, drizzles of stock through the dome, lid clamped on tight. Twenty-five minutes of steam-cook and the rice emerges grain-separate and fragrant, ready to mound onto a platter with the carrots and raisins scattered across the top.
Ingredients
Lamb
- 1 kg lamb shoulder (cut into 6 cm chunks, bone-in if possible)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 onions (large, sliced)
- 6 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 2 cm ginger (grated)
- 4 cardamom pods (bashed)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1.2 litres water
- 2 teaspoons salt
Carrots and raisins
- 4 carrots (large, julienned into matchsticks)
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons caster sugar
- 100 g raisins (or sultanas)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
Rice
- 600 g basmati rice (rinsed; soaked 30 min)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon caramelised sugar (1 tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp water cooked to deep amber, optional but classic)
Topping
- 50 g flaked almonds (toasted)
- 50 g shelled pistachios (chopped)
Method
Stage 1 - Cook the lamb
- Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat.
- Brown the lamb in batches; lift out.
- Add the onions; cook 8-10 minutes until golden.
- Add the garlic, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, coriander and black pepper; cook 1 minute.
- Return the lamb; pour in the water; add salt.
- Bring to the boil; reduce to a simmer; cover; cook 1 hour - 1 ¼ until the lamb is fork-tender.
- Lift the lamb out; strain the stock; reserve both. You should have about 1 litre of stock - top up with hot water if less.
Stage 2 - Carrots and raisins
- Melt the butter in a wide pan over medium heat.
- Add the carrots and sugar; cook 8-10 minutes, stirring, until soft and golden (not browned).
- Add the raisins and cardamom; cook 2 minutes; remove half for the topping. Reserve the rest.
Stage 3 - Parboil rice
- Bring 2 litres of water to the boil with 1 tablespoon salt.
- Drain the rice; tip in; cook 5-6 minutes - al dente; drain.
Stage 4 - Layer
- Wipe out the lamb pot; heat the oil over medium heat.
- Add the cumin and the caramelised sugar (if using); stir 30 seconds.
- Place the lamb pieces on the bottom of the pot.
- Add half the carrot-raisin mixture over.
- Pile the parboiled rice on top.
- Pour the reserved lamb stock over (the rice should be just-covered or a bit less).
Stage 5 - Steam
- Cover with a tea towel under the lid (absorbs steam).
- Cook over medium-high heat 5 minutes until simmering.
- Reduce to lowest heat; cook 25-30 minutes.
- Off the heat, rest covered 10 minutes.
Stage 6 - Plate
- Spoon the rice onto a wide platter, fluffing as you go.
- Lift the lamb pieces from the bottom and arrange on top.
- Top with the remaining carrot-raisin mixture.
- Scatter toasted almonds and pistachios.
Stage 7 - Serve
- Serve with yogurt and a simple cucumber-tomato salad on the side.
Notes
- Carrots cooked separately, sweet: The carrots in Kabuli pulao are nearly candied - soft, sweet, golden. Don't skip the sugar or under-cook.
- Tea towel under lid: Standard South-Central Asian rice technique; gives drier, fluffier grains and helps the bottom crisp.
- Caramelised sugar for colour: Optional but traditional. Cook sugar with water to deep amber; this colours the rice the proper Kabuli amber.
Storage
- Keeps 3 days refrigerated; reheat covered with a splash of water.
- Freezes 3 months.
More like this
Domoda
Chicken thighs (or lamb) are browned, onions and tomato cooked down with garlic and a single whole chilli, then the meat simmers in stock until tender. A loose peanut paste is stirred in for the final 20 minutes, kept thin enough to ladle. Sweet potato or pumpkin softens in the sauce. A spoon of lime juice at the end balances the richness.
Kabsa
Saudi Arabia's national dish, the one platter you'll meet at almost every gathering from family lunch through wedding banquet. You brown chicken pieces or lamb shoulder hard in a heavy pot, then build a base of onion, garlic and ginger softened in the same fat, with tomato and a spoonful of baharat (or a dedicated kabsa spice mix) blooming until the kitchen fills with cardamom and cinnamon. The protein simmers in tomato and stock until it's tender and pulling away from the bone, then long-grain rice goes in to cook absorption-style in the same liquid, drinking up every layer of flavour the broth carries. You finish with almonds toasted in butter, raisins plumped briefly, and a fresh salsa of tomato, onion, chilli and parsley spooned on the side to cut the richness. Eaten communally from the centre platter, with hands or a long spoon.
Mafé
Bone-in beef or lamb is browned, then simmered with onions, garlic, tomato and stock. Smooth peanut butter is whisked in halfway and the stew thickens to a velvety coating. Chunks of cassava, sweet potato and cabbage cook in the sauce towards the end. Serve over plain steamed white rice.
Mathloutha
The Saudi gathering platter built for the night when one cut of meat isn't enough. Three proteins share the same pot: lamb shoulder and beef chunks go in first with a kabsa-spiced tomato base for ninety minutes of slow simmer until they're meltingly tender, then chicken pieces drop in for the last thirty-five minutes (their cook time is shorter, so they go in later). The strained meat broth, deeply spiced from everything that has braised in it, becomes the cooking liquid for basmati scented with saffron and dried lime. At the end you arrange all three meats on top of the rice in the same platter and bring the whole thing to the centre of the table. The kind of dish you make for a wedding lunch, an Eid gathering, or the night the extended family arrives unannounced.