Six months ago our family became vegetarian (following my 17-year-old daughter’s lead) and as the main cook in our family, I had to rethink many of my family’s favorite Afghan dishes to adapt it for our meat-free lifestyle. This has proven to be a bit tricky since Afghan cuisine relies heavily on onions and meat to create a base for many of the beloved dishes like Palau, Aushak, and Afghan chili, Mawshawa, just to name a few.

For Aush, I was in a quandary about how to make a flavorful kofta, tangy meat sauce, with plant based-meat. You see, kofta is normally made with ground beef, tomato sauce and a variety of spices that create a subtle but flavorful accompaniment for the pasta noodles that are boiled in water and spiced only with salt.