Recipes Discovered

Kaddo Borawni Recipe

I recently saw this picture on a website, and, for whatever reason, I needed to eat whatever the picture was of. At that point, I had no idea what it was, although it appeared to be pumpkin covered in some type of sauce. The picture just looked so good, or maybe I was just that hungry, that I printed the recipe, bought the ingredients, and made it for dinner.

What the picture turned out to be is Kaddo Borawni, or Afghani pumpkin. It’s served as an appetizer at a very popular Afghan restaurant in Baltimore called The Helmond, and basically it’s pumpkin with yogurt and meat sauce. I know, it doesn’t sound good, but trust me (or even ask Seth), this dish is phenomenal. Sadly, I couldn’t find a sugar pumpkin at the store. I’m told they are available mostly during the fall, around Thanksgiving, and are baby pumpkins used mostly for making pies. I wasn’t sure how a butternut squash or an acorn squash would, so I ended up using a carnival squash, which has a dense, sweet flesh. It’s also very difficult to peel because of it’s shape, and by the time I was done, I didn’t have a lot of flesh left. Two and a half pounds of pumpkin turned out to be just enough for Seth and I. >> After finally peeling, seeding, and sliced the squash, I sauteed the wedges in oil until the pumpkin just started to brown, which took about 15 minutes. I never did the pumpkin to turn golden, as the recipe recommends. After browning the pumpkin, I sprinkled it with sugar and cinnamon. A quarter cup sounds like a lot of sugar, but considering the recipe from The Helmond actually calls for 3 cups, I thought a quarter cup was pretty good. The sugar melts into a sauce for the pumpkin, bringing out it’s naturally sweet flavor. I covered the pumpkin and baked it for 30 minutes, basting it once.

While the pumpkin was baking, I made the meat sauce. I sauteed an onion until it was really tender and just slightly brown and then added ground beef. I used 95% lean ground beef, so once it was cooked, I didn’t have to drain it. If you are using a beef with a higher fat content, you may want to drain some of the excess fat. Once the beef was cooked, I added tomato sauce, garlic, coriander, salt, pepper, and turmeric. Turmeric is part of the ginger family and has a very distinct yellow color. It’s actually what makes mustard yellow. It’s also used to make curry, so if you couldn’t find turmeric, you could substitute curry powder. I also added tomato paste and red wine to the sauce. Once it came to a simmer, I added a little water to thin the sauce out a little, maybe a quarter cup. I let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes until the pumpkin was done.

This dish is also served with a yogurt sauce, which consist yogurt, garlic, and mint. I used low fat plain yogurt that I drained for about an hour to remove extra liquid. Regular yogurt would work too, or Greek style yogurt. I made the yogurt sauce a few hours before the pumpkin so the flavors would have time to mix together. To serve Kaddo Borawni, I spooned the yogurt sauce onto the place, topped it with the pumpkin, and the poured some meat sauce over top. I also served a side of pasta, to use up the extra meat sauce.

My presentation didn’t look at all like the original picture I saw, but as I said before, this dish is phenomenal. The pumpkin is sweet and tender, the yogurt sauce it cool and tangy, and the meat sauce - well, there is something about the spice in the meat sauce that is just outstanding. It all pairs perfectly together. I had my doubts after reading the recipe, but I am so glad I made this dish. Even Seth was amazed at how good it tasted. It’s definitely something I will be making again, and hopefully I will find a sugar pumpkin eventually.

Kaddo Borawni Recipe