In this Afghan favorite, you bake pumpkin with sugar and cinnamon until it is soft and tender, top it with a mint-flecked, garlicky yogurt sauce and a drizzle of ground beef (or lamb) that's been cooked in a earthy, spiced tomato sauce and some flatbread to mop up the sauce. The combination of flavors and textures is both unexpected and addictive.
I fell in love with this wonderfully flavorful, exotic dish the first time I tried it at the Afghan Grill many years ago when I lived in Washington, DC. It is so good that I never really tried anything else at the restaurant...
I had not eaten kaddo bourani in almost 10 years but when my younger son brought a sugar pumpkin home from a field trip last month, I started daydreaming about it. It's been so long that I could not even remember what it was called but Yelp came through - I found a description and the name in the first review of the Afghan Grill. Then I came up with the recipe below by picking and choosing the bits I liked from the many different recipes I found online.
The hardest part of making this dish is dealing with the pumpkin - peeling it, de-seeding it (save the seeds to roast!), and cutting it up. But it's not very hard...
You brown the pumpkin in a Dutch oven on the stovetop for a few minutes to give it a little color and caramelization.
Then sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar and move it to the oven with the top on. While the pumpkin is baking, you make the yogurt sauce and get your beef or lamb cooking on the stove top.
Saute the onions and garlic until translucent then add the beef, tomato, red pepper flakes, turmeric, coriander, salt and pepper. It doesn't take long for everything to come together. Warm your flatbread and serve. SO GOOD!
Kaddo Bourani
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the pumpkin
* 4 Tbsps peanut or grapeseed oil
* 1 good-sized (2.5-3 lbs) sugar pumpkin
* 1/4 cup cane sugar
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
For the beef
* 2 Tbsps olive or grapeseed oil
* 1 lb organic, grass-fed ground beef (or lamb)
* 1 large yellow onion, diced
* 2-3 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed
* 1 large tomato, diced
* 2 Tbsps tomato paste
* pinch of red pepper flakes
* 1-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and minced
* 3 tsps ground coriander
* 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
* 2 tsps sea salt (or to taste)
* 2 tsps freshly ground pepper
For the yogurt sauce
* 2 cups plain yogurt (full fat)
* 3 tsps chopped, fresh mint
* 1 clove garlic, pressed or finely minced
* Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and guts (reserve the seeds for roasting - they're so good and good for you) and scrape away any goopy bits. Peel the pumpkin halves, removing all the rind and any green or hard bits. Cut the pumpkin into 1-inch cubes.
2. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat and saute the pumpkin cubes until lightly browned. Turn off the heat and sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon evenly over the pumpkin, stirring to ensure that everything gets coated. Put the lid on the Dutch oven and place it in the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until tender.
3. Make the yogurt sauce. Mix the yogurt, mint, garlic, salt and pepper together and mix to combine. Taste and adjust the seasonings then cover and put in the fridge.
4. Make the beef (or lamb). Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and saute the onion and garlic until translucent. Add the beef and brown for 2-3 minutes then add the rest of the ingredients - tomato, ginger, spices, tomato paste and cook until the liquid has cooked down, about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
5. Serve warm with warm flatbread, naan or pita bread.
You might also like:
- Indian-Spiced Red Kuri Squash
- Red Pepper & Sausage-Stuffed Butternut Squash
- Cumin-Scented Quinoa with Grated Beets & Curried Beet Greens
14 comments:
Yummy!
Wow! This is soooo delicious. We tried it tonight for dinner. The sweet and savoury with the creamy cool tangy yogurt/garlic/mint/salt just dance around on the tongue. It is very cold and wet here. Perfect warmth for this time of year. We used a ground up dried habanero pepper in the beef. Just the right amount of heat. We will prepare this again. Thank you.
Yay!!! habanero is a great idea.
On the menu!
Woot! Hope you like it, Diane. Keep me posted.
Made this last night. It was fun fun experimenting with a Middle Eastern recipe, and it tasted delicious. :)
Next time, I'll actually add the red pepper flakes and mint; I didn't have them in my pantry this time around, and so the resulting dish was a little mild.
The best and highest use for ground lamb. Just a delicious way to herald the autumn weather...made it tonight. Thanks for a great recipe.
I love Kaddu, ever since I first ate it at Kabul Restaurant in San Carlos, CA. Now I’ve moved, am growing pumpkins, and make the Kaddu myself...this is a very authentic recipe, quite close to the restaurant’s. I use a vegetarian meat alternative, such as Beyond Beef, and it is just as good as the meat version.
Carolyn, we love Kabul restaurant, we live close by to it! So excited to try this recipe, now that I know it's close to Kabul's!!! YAY!!!
Wow!! I just saw pumpkins in the store, decided to finally attempt kaddo and found this recipe. I also fell in love with the dish at Kabul in San Carlos but we moved and haven’t been able to go back to get another taste for years! Small world
There was a Restaurant in Chicago called Helmand... Did this dish to addictive perfection. Then broke my heart and moved to Boston! Amazing dish, great medley of tastes.
Yes! I ate at the one on Cambridge, MA once a million years ago on a date with my then boyfriend, now husband. DELICIOUS! Sorry you lost it from Chicago.
Helmand has been in Cambridge for at least 20 years. Still going strong.
I'm so glad to hear it's still going strong. My hubby and I went on our first date there in early 2000 and it was already a very well-established institution at that point so it's probably been there closer to 30+ years is my guess.
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