Kofta Challow

Once when my sister and I were in our early teens we decided we wanted to cook kofta, which is like the Afghan version of meatballs, except we normally eat ours with white rice. The first time I made it, when my mom came home she told us we were missing one key ingredient: salt. This time, though, P and I can't really figure out where we went wrong.

While it looked appetizing and was certainly edible, it just didn't taste the same or right. You know, how mom cooks it; how grandma cooks it. There were a couple things we could have done different, that includes....

First, the veal:
(We know the veal was good because I specifically went to the Persian market with my mom for the very reason to have the taste come out as close as possible!)

• Minced onions, here is where we hit our first mistake. I know Afghans use LOTS of onions in their food so when I realized P and I only had ONE onion left I started to feel a little panicky, since we had just gone to the grocery store a few minutes before. So we were conserving one onion for the fresh meat and then for frying the meatballs. We used half the onion to mix into our veal. Turned out, we got way too much onion in our meatballs. I don't remember biting into an onion when eating a meatball so P, you win on this. Next time: Depending on the portion, 1/4 of an onion or chop it up bigger. (Will have to add more insight once I see how my mom does this!)
• 2 Garlics
• Dried Cilantro
• Salt & Pepper
• ADDITION: Later when I told my grandma it didn't come out right, she said to shred some carrot in the meat next time. About the size of a finger. Yes, a finger because that is how we Afghans indicate our measurements.

Second, frying the meatballs:

• My grandma said next time we should mix the meat really well. The fact that I have no idea what that exactly means makes me think I didn't mix it enough, to be honest. Woops.
• Oil in a pan and add the following:
• Onions til they brown, followed by fresh tomotoes, tomato paste, bell peppers Next time: our "curry" didn't come out as juicy as my mom's so I think we either should switch to a different paste or add more water.

• Last step: the kofta goes into the pan for about 20 minutes (well that's how long it took us) and you should have Afghan meatballs!

Rice:

• ADDITION: Next time, I'll have to remember to put boiling hot water in the rice cooker. My mom had told me this but I totally forgot.

And here is what it looked like in the end. 

P loves kofta, just like I did when I was a kid and just like my brother does now! My grandma said something cute: keep cooking that one dish until you perfect it. I don't think I can eat koufta until I get it right though! My grandpa mentioned once that in Afghanstain, koftas were the size of baseballs. Yummm.

Finally we are ready to cook. The gears are in motion and here's a look at the first couple of dishes we made this week. Let's just call it "testing the waters".

 We made bruschetta and chile and garlic spaghetti (recipe from Bon Apetite). The chile in the sauce of the pasta was really a subtle, I would say. It was definitely spicy though.

 Voila!