Afghanistan what do they eat

Dishes also include plenty of coriander, onions, tomatoes, garlic and fresh yogurt. A whole range of fruits, particularly pomegranates, grapes and the local melon, are widely consumed, too. Apart from curries, rice dishes and Middle Eastern influences, Afghanistan also has its own kind of pasta in the form of mantu — meat-filled dumplings that are steamed and served with sauce.

In Kabul, more refined approaches to traditional Afghan cooking can be found, as well as international influences. Pulao : Steamed rice with raisins and carrots, usually served with a side dish of meat, vegetables or beans. Qabli pulao : A popular variant of pulao served with lamb. Shorma : Soup using various different recipes such as. Mantu : Meat-filled dumplings steamed and topped with a sauce of yogurt, mint, lemon and garlic.

It is then sun-dried for a few days on top of the family yurt. The dried curd is called kurut —it is hard as stone you might actually need a real stone to break it! In the Pamir, they slaughter goats with a knife and the blood spills on the ground.

Deep red on the dust. Everything is eaten on the animals. I was offered the eye—a local delicacy—a few times. It tasted a bit chewy, like cartilage. In the yurt, once the meat is consumed, the bones are broken down with a hammer or the back of a knife. The marrow tastes like meaty butter. Dogs get to pick the meager meaty bits off the skulls, which then slowly bleach in the sun. They fall asleep beside them, keeping an eye out for wolves.

The ground around a Kyrgyz camp is full of horns, some are piled up and used as fence. The Kyrgyz eat bread as well. Because no vegetable can grow at that altitude, they barter their animals for flour. It takes a Kyrgyz yak caravan over a week to go down to the lower valleys, where they trade their animals in Wakhi villages.

In winter, the only way down is over the frozen Wakhan river. Horses sometimes fall through the ice… men sometimes drown. Women usually make them in the morning. Water must be fetched out of camp, hard work when it is minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

Food in its most basic expression always comes with physical exercise—a lot of it. Cross-legged, we sit on the dusty floor of a yurt. Our host is making chapatis. From the yurt next door comes a bucket-full of steaming goat meat. My neighbor slices a piece of fat and hands it over to me. Fat is the pride of the herder, the candy of the steppe. He leers at me with piercing green eyes, wipes his large greasy hands on his leather boots and pushes the felt door wide open as he leaves without a word.

The harsh sunlight on the snow inundates the yurt and for a moment, I am blinded. Next, seal and polar bear: The all-meat diet of the Inuit. Fatty dishes are an important fuel in this nation of freezing winters, with oil used liberally and mutton fat traditionally added to many dishes. Afghans like their food neither too spicy nor too hot, with yogurt used as a dressing, topping or accompaniment. Lamb and chicken are widely enjoyed, with the Afghan lamb kebab a very popular street food.

Korma is type of stew with a base of fried onion and garlic, and can include meat, vegetables, chickpeas, tomato, fruit, yogurt and spices.

Rice is a specialty and considered the best part of any meal. The treasured national dish called Kabuli or Qabli Pulao consists of slow-cooked meat in a dome of gently seasoned rice with lentils, raisins, carrots, ground cardamom and nuts. And of course bread naan is eaten with just about everything.