Kitchiree Quroot

Kitchiree Quroot is an Afghan dish like risotto in that it is a rich dish made with short grained rice. Quroot falls under the category of shola for Afghan food.Shola is a soft mushy short grained rice that basically is cooked in the starch of its water, and becomes very sticky from absorbing the starchy water. Since Afghan rice is known for its individual grains, shola is the opposite as it is sticky and soft. But there is an art to perfecting shola as well, because the trick is to cook shola and allow it to absorb water/broth many times to perfect and get it nice and sticky. Kitchiree quroot is a type of shola that comprises of two dishes and one “sauce”.

Ingredients
Shola (short grained rice and mung beans)

1½ cups of short grained rice
1½ cups of mung beans (if pre-soaked then add with rice at the same time)
1 cup of Oil (may need more)
½ large onion finely minced
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ clove of fresh garlic

Kufta (Small Meatballs in a tart tomato sauce)
1 Ib Ground Beef
1 large onion finely minced
½ can Tomato Paste
1 can Tomato Sauce
Garlic
3 tablespoons Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Ginger

Quroot

Quroot is made from dried chakkah (strained yogurt). Quroot is found ready made in Afghan shops or sent to Afghans in the diaspora from overseas. To prepare it you take the quroot, defrost it and mix it yogurt to get a runny sauce. If you don’t want to use quroot you can use plain yogurt in its place.

Directions

Shola

1. Heat your oil in a pot, add the minced onion and garlic. Fry until the onions have a light caramel color. Also preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add one teaspoon of turmeric and let that fry for a few minutes so your oil turns a nice orange color
3. If you did not pre-soak the lentils then add the lentils and let them cook for 15 minutes before adding the rice. If your lentils are pre-soaked then add lentils, rice, and 2 cups of water. Add about a teaspoon of salt as well, if needed add more you can taste and make adjustments.
4. Cover the pot with a lid and turn the temperature to low letting the rice and lentils cook. After about 10 minutes, check the rice and lentils. If the water has been absorbed, add about another cup or half cup of boiled water. You continue to do this until the rice and lentils have cooked and absorbed most of the water. This cooking process of slowly cooking the rice allowing it to absorb more water is what gives the dish a creamy flavor.
5. Once the rice and lentils are fully cooked there should be some water in the pot. If most of the water has been absorbed then add 1 cup of boiled water. Cover the pot with foil, and put in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Kufta

1. For the meatballs mix ground beef, ½ of the minced onion, 3 tablespoons black pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ginger. Roll into tiny meatballs.
2. Place ½ of the minced onion and ½ clove minced garlic into a sauce pan with some oil. Fry until the onions are a light brown color.
3. Add one and a half cups of water and let this come to a boil.
4. Add meatballs gently, you can coat the meatballs with a little water so they are smooth.
5. Let the meatballs cook with lid on for about 20 minutes.
6. Add ½ can tomatoes pasta and 1 can tomato sauce. Let the sauce simmer for another 15 minutes, then put on low and let it cook until oil comes to the top and you have a thick sauce.

Once you are ready to serve the dish you will fill your serving platter with shola and then if serving as Kitchiree Quroot you wll add the quroot in the center and sprinkle the meat sauce around the dish. You can even sprinkle some dried mint on the dish for added flavor.also add fried Garlic with a touch off oil on top