Qabuli Palau

Afghanistan's national rice dish: lamb stock-steamed rice crowned with caramelised carrot julienne and raisins

Origin: Kabul & Afghanistan

From the journey of Rice.

Every rice culture between the Bosphorus and the Ganges has a pilaf, and the arguments between them are about method rather than ingredients. What makes qabuli palau Afghan is that the rice is never cooked in water. Lamb is browned and simmered until it gives a dark, concentrated stock; the rice is parboiled, drained, and then returned to the pot to finish in that stock alone, sealed and steamed over the lowest possible heat. The grains come out separate, long, and stained a deep brown by the meat rather than by any spice. The crown is what everyone recognises. Carrots are cut into fine matchsticks and fried in sugar until they glaze and begin to candy; raisins are plumped in the same pan; and both are piled over the rice at the end rather than stirred through, so the first spoonful is sweet and the rest is not. That sweet-against-savoury logic runs through the whole Persianate kitchen, but Afghanistan applies it to its national dish rather than to a side. The name is contested in the ordinary way. Qabuli is usually read as of Kabul, which is where the dish is most associated, though an older reading takes it from Arabic qabul, meaning accepted or agreeable. Neither is provable and the dish is called both qabuli and kabuli in Afghanistan itself. It is the dish of weddings, of Nowruz, and of any occasion where a household is feeding more people than it has chairs, and it is served on a single vast platter set in the middle of the cloth for everyone to eat from. Almonds and pistachios go on top when the household can afford them.

Ingredients

Rice

600 g basmati rice, rinsed and soaked 1 hour
1 tsp salt, for the rice water

Lamb

900 g lamb shoulder on the bone, in large pieces
2 onions, finely sliced
120 ml neutral oil
1.2 litres water
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp char masala, or 1 tsp each ground cumin, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves

Topping

3 large carrots, cut into fine matchsticks
100 g raisins or sultanas
2 tbsp caster sugar
3 tbsp oil
50 g blanched almonds and pistachios, slivered

Method

Soak the rinsed rice in cold water for an hour. This is not optional: unsoaked basmati breaks during the second cooking.
Brown the lamb hard in the oil in a heavy pot, in batches, then lift it out.
Fry the onions in the same oil for twelve to fifteen minutes until deep brown. This colour is where the finished rice gets its own; pale onions give pale palau.
Return the lamb with the water, salt, and char masala. Simmer covered for an hour and a quarter until the meat is tender.
Lift the lamb out and strain the stock. You want about 800ml; boil it down if there is more, since this is the only liquid the rice will get.
Fry the carrot matchsticks in the 3 tbsp of oil with the sugar for five or six minutes until glazed and just beginning to catch. Lift them out, then plump the raisins in the same pan for a minute.
Parboil the drained rice in a large pan of well-salted boiling water for five minutes only, until the grains are soft at the ends and still hard at the centre. Drain at once.
Layer the pot: rice, then the lamb buried in the middle, then the rest of the rice mounded into a dome. Pour the hot stock evenly over.
Poke five or six holes down through the rice with the handle of a spoon so the steam can climb.
Cover the pot with a clean tea towel and then the lid, so the cloth catches the condensation, and steam over the lowest possible heat for thirty-five minutes.
Do not lift the lid during that time. The whole method depends on trapped steam, and a pot opened at the twenty-minute mark gives wet rice.
Tip the rice onto a large platter, lift the lamb out and set it on top, and crown the whole with the candied carrot, the raisins, and the nuts.

Notes

The rice cooks in stock and nothing else, so the stock has to be good and there has to be enough of it: about 800ml for 600g of rice. Do not stir the pot once it is layered. Char masala is the Afghan four-spice blend and is sold by Afghan and Middle Eastern grocers; the substitution given works. The carrots must be cut into genuine matchsticks rather than grated, since grated carrot dissolves into the sugar and gives a jammy mess instead of glossy separate strands. Long-grain sella or basmati is essential; short-grain rice will not survive the parboil and steam.

The Gastrographer

Name: Qabuli Palau
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 3 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Kabul & Afghanistan
Ingredients: 600 g basmati rice, rinsed and soaked 1 hour; 900 g lamb shoulder on the bone, in large pieces; 2 onions, finely sliced; 120 ml neutral oil; 1.2 litres water; 2 tsp salt; 1 tbsp char masala, or 1 tsp each ground cumin, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves; 3 large carrots, cut into fine matchsticks; 100 g raisins or sultanas; 2 tbsp caster sugar; 3 tbsp oil; 50 g blanched almonds and pistachios, slivered; 1 tsp salt, for the rice water

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control