Rugelach & Persian Party

I find it mildly ironic that two days after having a "brown party" with all my Persian (Iranian), Uzbek, and fellow Afghan friends, I settled on creating my next dessert: Rugelach, one of the most famous Jewish cookies. Ahmadinejad can say what hate he will, but Jewish people know how to eat just (well almost...) as well as we Persians and Afghans - these cookies were fantastic. I've had them quite a number of times at the house of one of my best friends. While I can't say they are quite as good, for a first try they were flaky, crunchy, and moist.

Rugelach
cream cheese pastry rolled with apricot jam, golden raisins, walnuts, dark chocolate, and a hint of cinnamon



Variation: rolled with strawberry jam, dark chocolate, walnuts, coffee bean nibs, and a hint of cardamom


The dough is a cream cheese base and would probably be good on its own! But I made two versions: one almost traditional, stuffed with apricot jam, raisins, chopped walnuts, dark chocolate, and cinnamon. The other version was an experiment, with strawberry jam, chopped walnuts, lots more dark chocolate, coffee bean nibs, and cardamom. They were both quite good, but the coffee nibs were a bit too coarsely chopped and the cinnamon was really yummy in the fruitier traditional version.

A few shots of the Persian potluck (not pictured: lamb qorma, saffron basmati rice)-


Boulanee Kechalu
shallow fried turnover stuffed with potato, leek, green onion and spices, served with mint-garlic sauce



One of my Afghan friends brought this dish - this is the more traditional form of Boulanee - the picture I have from my last Afghan party is of a deep fried, smaller version my mom used to make. This version, while not as bite size and crunchy, is actually in some ways tastier, as you get more filling per bite.

Burani Bonjon
fried eggplant slices braised in garlic, chopped heirloom tomatoes, and spices. Served on a platter of mint-garlic yogurt sauce and garnished with cilantro.



You may be wondering why I keep making this dish and Boulanee - it's because they are such crowd pleasers! Afghans are famous for Burani Bonjon especially. One of my friend's mothers was in shock and awe (that phrase is forever ruined) after first trying it at Kabul, Seattle's only Afghan restaurant.

This was probably the best rendition I've ever made. The key is to dry the eggplants well before frying, like a steak, then drain them well of oil afterwards. My mother's tip also helped immensely - cut them into semicircular slices and they don't fall apart! Also, I put in some dried heirloom tomatoes from the farmer's market - OH MY GOD. If you can find them at your local farmer's market BUY THEM NOW. They are the most delicious tomatoes I've ever eaten after they puffed up in the steam of the braise. Better than fresh, I swear. I actually need to go buy some more right now...!

Firni
Traditional Afghan custard with rosewater and cardamom, topped with ground pistachio and served in individual glasses.


We're planning to serve this one in cocktail glasses if we can for the fundraiser...sexing up Afghan food is no small task. It's rustic and delicious by nature. But we can be hoity-toity if we need to. =)