Name: Afghani lamb pulao (With sweet-sour raisins and carrots)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: Serves 6–8
Cuisine: Afghan
Ingredients: 1 tsp freshly ground cardamom; 20 g/¾ oz carrots, peeled and cut into thin batons (sticks); 70 g/2½ oz/scant ½ cup sultanas (golden raisins) or raisins; 3 tsp crushed garlic; 4 tsp grated ginger; 1 large red onion, finely chopped; 150 ml/5 fl oz/⅔ cup vegetable oil; 300 g/10½ oz/1⅔ cups basmati rice; 70 g/2½ oz/⅓ cup caster (superfine) sugar; 2 tsp garam masala (make fresh by grinding together 1 tsp each of cloves, green cardamom pods, 4 bay leaves and 1 cm/½-inch cinnamon stick); 1 tbsp salt, more to taste; 400 g/14 oz lamb leg or shoulder, on the bone, cut into 7.5-cm/3-inch pieces; 1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups water; handful of blanched almonds

Preparation info

Serves
6–8

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr 45

Appears in

Summers Under the Tamarind Tree

By Sumayya Usmani

Published 2016

About

Pakistan is home to many Afghan immigrants, and their cuisine is popular. This flavour-rich rice is made with meat stock and fragrant ground cardamom – and sweet-sour carrots and raisins lace each bite. Every Afghan family has their own recipe for Kabuli pulao, as it’s also known, and this one is a mixture of a few I’ve adapted from different Afghan friends.