hot Afghani food on a chilly wet Maine night...

Wow.  Yup, that is how I begin this entry.  Wow.  I will admit that I had some preconceived notions about Afghani food before starting this project.  I pictured fermented goat's milk, goat cheese, fermented meat, and that's about it.  Oh yeah, and some spice as well.  Marian and I prepared Mantis and Braised Leeks and Rice as discussed in the last entry for supper, and um, wow.  Yeah, I am speechless....mark it on your calendar, as it may be the last time.

We found the trickiest part of the preparation of the meal to be in two places.  One was preparing the mantis, folding the dough over the filling, and sealing it.  The other tricky part was fully washing the leeks to cleanse them of all sand and dirt.  Follow the recipes carefully in both areas.  Here is a picture of the cleaned and split leeks and a prepared manti, ready for cooking.

The braised leeks were a snap to prepare, other than washing the leeks.  I was somewhat skeptical that the small amount of rice would absorb the relatively large amount of water and olive oil in the recipe, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the water was absorbed.  Here's a picture of the Braised leeks in process:

The other little tidbit of advice that we would add to the recipes, would be to slide the mantis into the stock once they are fully cooked, in order to keep them warm while cooking the rest of the meal.  Here is a picture of the meal, as served:

So how did it taste?  That is the million dollar question, isn't it?  Well, here is where the "wow" comes in.  I was very surprised by the cornucopia of flavors in what seemed like a very plain and simple meal.  The manti filling and dough were very good by themselves, but when combined with the yogurt and then dipped in the stock, the flavor exploded in your mouth.  The yogurt and the stock compliment each other very well.  The Braised Leeks and rice were also very, very good.  The leeks softened during the cooking process, and browned slightly.  Add the carrots, olive oil, and rice, and this was a great side dish for the mantis.  Both Marian and I give this meal two thumbs up!

Next up: Albania.  Details forthcoming in the next couple of days.