CUCUMBER MINT YOGURT DRINK - DOUGH

By Humaira

Whenever I describe the Afghan beverage dough (the “gh” makes a guttural sound in the back of your throat) to my American friends the conversation goes something like this:

“It’s a refreshing yogurt drink ...”

“Is it like an Indian lassie?”

“No, it’s salty, not sweet.”

Silence…and then, “A salty yogurt drink?...that sounds i.n.t.e.r.e.s.t.i.n.g.”

Well, dough is interesting. It’s also refreshing and delicious. It’s a summer drink in Afghanistan usually enjoyed at lunchtime with rice or meat. We don’t drink dough with dishes that contain yogurt such as Aush, Lawang or Aushak. Dough has a reputation for inducing drowsiness. A great nap often follows a meal with a glass of dough (not unlike the French and their wine-soaked lunches).

You could try it like my brother-in-law Brian did at his first Afghan meal. To be polite he decided to order a glass of dough (which I was raving about) along with a beer, which was what he really wanted. He would take one sip of dough and then wash it down with his beer. He didn’t complain but I am guessing they were not complementary to each other.

Cucumber & Mint Yogurt Drink

Dough

2 medium Persian cucumbers. peeled and finely chopped

4 cups full-fat plain yogurt

2 tsp. salt (adjust to taste)

3 cups cold filtere water

1 tsp. dried mint or 1 tbsp fresh chopped mint

Add all of the ingredients in a large pitcher or bowl and stir well.Pour or ladle into glasses that have a few cubes of ice.Make sure that you get some cucumber pieces into each glass.

Serves 4-6

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BUBBLY COCKTAIL WITH AFGHAN ACCENT

By Katie

I have a weakness for bubbles: frothy coffee drinks, root beer soda, and of course, bubble baths. And then there’s Champagne, my favorite bubble of all. This time of year, it’s everywhere.  Yet another reason to love the holidays.

Christmas parties and the like usually find me looking for ways to work bubbly beverages into my repertoire. And with my current zeal for all things Afghan, it seems fitting to move in that direction. Here is a recipe for a Champagne cocktail with a bit of an Afghan accent. It’s hardly traditional: Afghanistan doesn’t exactly count bubbly amongst its exports. Alcohol is simply not part of the Afghan culture or the Muslim tradition.

What is traditional however is the cherry syrup that gives this drink its touch of sweetness and rosy hue. Big beautiful cherries grow happily in Afghanistan. Afghans are proud of these delicious beauties and serve them for dessert on giant platters after dinners and banquets. When not eaten fresh, cherries are pitted and turned into preserves or cooked for hours along with plenty of sugar to form a viscous sweet and sour cherry syrup. The syrup is then mixed with water to make sweet cherry juice that is a favorite in the warm summer months.  

This recipe is a variation on Humaira’s Whirling Afghan, a refreshing cocktail she created for a birthday party a few years ago. I’ve substituted Champagne for sparkling water, left out the cherries since they are out of season, and added a sugar rim for a festive touch. Try serving the cocktail as an aperitif along with our Spicy Afghan Chick Peas.

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Bubbly Afghan Cherry Cocktail

Per cocktail

Granulated sugar

1 orange, cut in half

1 tbsp. sour cherry syrup*

1 tbsp. chilled vodka

Cold sparkling wine/Champagne

Pour a tablespoon or two of sugar in a shallow dish. Dab the rim of a Champagne glass on the cut side of the orange and dip it in the sugar to form a thin coat of sugar around the edge of the glass (like salting a margarita glass).

Carefully pour the cherry syrup, vodka and sparkling wine into the glass, filling it nearly to the top. Try not to dribble on your pretty sugar rim.  Very gently give it a stir.  Too vigorous a stir will cause the wine to bubble over the edge of the glass.

Garnish with orange and serve immediately.

*You can find cherry syrup in Middle Eastern markets and gourmet grocery stores.Feel free to substitute other syrups such as pomegranate.

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HUMAIRA'S WHIRLING CHERRY COCKTAIL

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Whirling Afghan Cherry Cocktail fans (Katie & Kate)

by Humaira

I was hosting an Afghan dinner party a couple of years ago so it was fitting to serve an Afghan- inspired cocktail. Most people might associate pomegranate juice with Afghanistan but it's cherry juice that I remember drinking as a child. Perhaps that was in part because my mom's cousin had a farm with cherry orchards. She would make cherry jam, cherry syrup, and of course we would get buckets of fresh cherries to munch on. We would mix water with the thick and sweet cherry syrup to make cherry juice.  It was heaven. Sometimes I would sneak into to my mom's secret stash of cherry syrup and make myself a couple of extra glasses of the special juice.

I often craved that cherry juice as an adult, but was not about to do as my family did:  pitting pounds of cherries, boiling them with sugar for hours to create the lovely syrup.  After a along search I found a syrup pretty close to what we used in Afghanistan.  The product is called Zergut, Sour Cherry Syrup. I buy it at my favorite Middle Eastern store in San Francisco. I will do a post on them soon, so come back and read it.

That in a nutshell is how Humaira's Whirling Afghan Cherry Cocktail was born. Since then hundreds of friends have enjoyed it at parties. Afghanistan is a Muslim country, and therefore most Afghans don't drink alcohol. I hope this cocktail doesn't offend my Afghan friends and colleagues. Truth be told, the non-alcoholic version is just as delicious so I hope they will try it. 

This recipe is for one refreshing cocktail.  For parties I usually set out large pitcher of it so guests can serve themselves.

Humaira's Whirling Afghan Cherry Cocktail

1 oz cherry syrup

2 oz, filtered tap water

2 tsp. lime juice

1 1/2 oz of chilled vodka (optional)

3 sprigs of mint

3 pitted cherries

Ice

In a tumbler mix mix all the ingredients and stir.  Add ice and then give it another stir.  It's ready to drink. Serve it with the Spicy Chickpeas that Katie posted earlier in the month.  Dont' you want to make one right now?

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