Kabli Pulao (Week 41, Afghanistan)

This recipe is a part of my Global Vegan Challenge where each week I research and develop a recipe from a different country in the world. Many of these recipes are veganized based off their omnivore counterparts. While not all of these recipes are a one for one what you’ll find in their country, I hope you’ll still find them delicious!

Recipe Notes

This recipe uses very little salt due to the very salty vegetable broth I was using for my seitan. Pending the saltiness of your broth you may need to add more salt.

When you boil your rice be sure not to cook it all the way. It’s important that it’s a bit under cooked before you add your broth later otherwise it’ll get mushy.

Vegan Kabli Pulao

Details

Servings

4 to 6 servings

Prep time

30 minutes

Cooking time

90 minutes

Ingredients

Rice
2 cups Basmati
Extra Salt (for soaking & boiling)
Seitan
10 ounces Seitan
1 Yellow Onion
10 Garlic Cloves
2 cups Vegetable Broth
3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 tablespoon Garam Masala
1 tablespoon Cumin Seeds
1 teaspoon Turmeric
Toppings
3 Carrots
1 cup Raisins
1/2 cup Pistachios
1/4 cup Water, warm
3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 teaspoon Cardamom, ground
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 pinch Saffron
Extra Water (rinsing & boiling)
Extra Salt (boiling & seasoning)

Directions

Prepare Rice
Place rice in a bowl and rinse covered in cold water until the water is no longer cloudy. Once clear soak rice in water for one hour. While rice is soaking, prepare toppings and seitan.
Once rice is finished soaking drain the water. Fill a pot with enough water to cover the rice and add a gratuitous amount of salt. Bring to a boil.
Add rice to boiling water and cook for 5 minutes or until al dente. Remove from heat and drain excess water. Set aside.
Prepare Seitan
Break or slice seitan into bite sized pieces. Slice an onion in half (skin and stem removed), then peel and crush garlic.
Heat up a pot over medium high heat. Add oil and seitan. Brown seitan.
Once browned add 2 cups of vegetable broth, onion, garlic, cumin, turmeric, and garam masala. Bring to a low simmer. Allow to simmer partially covered for 15 minutes.
Once finished, discard onions and garlic. Set aside.
Toppings
Peel and julienne carrots.
Heat up a pan over medium high heat. Add oil and carrots. Saute until carrots soften. Add cardamom, salt, and sugar. Toss to coat.
Add raisins, allowing them to soak up excess oil. Once finished set aside.
Place saffron in a small bowl and cover with water. Set aside.
Assembly
Once everything has finished cooking add rice to a pot. Pour in broth and seitan (do not fold in seitan yet). Use the handle of a spoon to make holes in the rice to the bottom of the pot (this is to allow steam to come through). Cover pot with a lid and bring heat to medium-low. Allow to cook for 10 minutes.
Once cooked, remove from heat. Fold in seitan and saffron water. Add most of the pistachios and carrot mixture, saving some for garnish.
Taste test. If under salted, add salt to taste.
Serve hot garnished with carrot mixture and pistachios. Enjoy!