Green Rice

[Midnight_Sun]

In Afghanistan it is also called Laidam. I will post pics sometime.

[Gulbabo]

Mahzala guli is on the right track... what u are enquiring about is 'zamarod palau'... which is rice made with spinach together and the color green comes from that spinach color.

zamarod palau is made on very special occasions, its not easy to make. i wil see if i mom knows how to make it and provide u with the recipe. inshaAllah...

[faye]

thanks gulbabo. mothers recipes are good to pass on.

[*Mahzala*]

It's not all that different from cooking any other palau. The only tricky part is making sure the spinach is blended to the right size and when mixing it with the rice to make sure the rice doesn't break or split into chunks else you'd be left with something that looks like a very refined version of green steamed rice. The process goes somewhat as follows:

1) Fry your onions until they're a light brown and add the chicken. Dry the chicken for a while so it doesn't leave any eggy sort of smells. Add your salt and seasoning as this is the taste the rice will absorb, with enough water to cover the chicken, put on the lid.

2) While that cooks prepare your spinach, preferably frozen (thawed by now) English spinach. Add some green food colour if necessary.

3) You should have also, before preparing soaked some rice. Boil enough water to cook the rice in, adding a little salt or stock. Add rice to boiled water and watch carefully over the grain. As soon as it becomes soft to eat/on the verge of becoming soft, remove the water bearing in mind that you're going to give it about an extra thirty minutes on top of this to cook.

4) Separate the chicken and add the spinach to the broth. Slowly add this broth and spinach mixture to the rice, simultaneously, but very carefully, like an airy mixture, moving the rice around, so the mixture reaches every grain. Careful not to add too much of the mixture as it may make the rice really soft which is a crime when it comes to cooking Afghan rice. Let it steam with the lid on for about thirty minutes, depending on how soft your grain was when you first removed it.

That's about it really. Very brief of course. No measurements/seasoning/timing included as it's not a recipe as such, just written at the top of my head, trying to point out that it's not extraordinarily different to any other rice dishes. Hope it helps though, somehow.

[emkhan]

I know about this and like it very much.. A grean vegetable is put into it. this vegetable is called "shalkhay" in our local language and the recipe is called warjaley some people call it saaginray and some other.
Its colour becomes dark green because of that vegetable, and this vegetable is also called zangali paalak.

[Nora]

[Notorious Pashtana]

Thanks Mazhala! I'll give it a try and let ya know how it went! So it's blended spinach leaves (thawed) but not too blended, still has a bite or a leafy texture? What about baby spinach leaves instead? they sweat down to nothing.

[Roshina]

My favorite food in the whole wide world!!! We call it "Chukaanr" in my part of Swat.

And about the recipe - it looks like what the others are suggesting isn't far off from how it's cooked in my Beloved Swat. I'll consult my mom later, however, and see how she makes it.

[emkhan]

Thanks Mazhala! I'll give it a try and let ya know how it went! So it's blended spinach leaves (thawed) but not too blended, still has a bite or a leafy texture? What about baby spinach leaves instead? they sweat down to nothing.

This rice is a bit sour in taste but very tasty and let me all rectify you, this is not spinach. There is another spinach type veg is put in it but not spinach.
it normally grows in watery areas and its dark green and sour in taste and its name is shalkhay.

[emkhan]

My favorite food in the whole wide world!!! We call it "Chukaanr" in my part of Swat.

And about the recipe - it looks like what the others are suggesting isn't far off from how it's cooked in my Beloved Swat. I'll consult my mom later, however, and see how she makes it.

yes roshina is right now... it is called chukaanr in kabal side, it is called saaginray in matta side and it is called warjaley in our side in swat.

[Roshina]

^ Yes. But unfortunately for those of us who don't currently live in the lush green valleys of the Paradise on Earth (Swat) and aren't blessed enough to be going to the fields (pati) in late afternoons and returning home near evening time after having had a blast by the rivers, picking shalkhay, mulai, and tepar, we are left with no choice but to rely on just one lame type of spinach--plain spinach, saaba--to make chukanr. Ahhh!!! 'Tis LOVELY, I tell you!

[emkhan]

^ Yes. But unfortunately for those of us who don't currently live in the lush green valleys of the Paradise on Earth (Swat) and aren't blessed enough to be going to the fields (pati) in late afternoons and returning home near evening time after having had a blast by the rivers, picking shalkhay, mulai, and tepar, we are left with no choice but to rely on just one lame type of spinach--plain spinach, saaba--to make chukanr. Ahhh!!! 'Tis LOVELY, I tell you!

yes but this spinach will never give you that taste of shalkhay...
i think swat is the only place where you will find shalkhay...
and the amazing thing is that this shalkhay is not eaten and can not be eaten without rice... i mean it is used only in rice.
i also talmira. do u like?

[Notorious Pashtana]

This rice is a bit sour in taste but very tasty and let me all rectify you, this is not spinach. There is another spinach type veg is put in it but not spinach.
it normally grows in watery areas and its dark green and sour in taste and its name is shalkhay.

I've heard of shalkay but not sure if we get it here, i'll ask my mor jaan, thanks!

[emkhan]

I've heard of shalkay but not sure if we get it here, i'll ask my mor jaan, thanks!

This is found in rainy areas... you may not find in Afghanistan.
and let me tell you the best saaginnray or warjaley or chukkanrr you will make only in shalkhay, the rest are just fulfilling the formality i mean no taste.

[Notorious Pashtana]

my mor loves her gardening, I know she's got a weird spinach form she's grown, and she's super excited about it so you never know it could be shalkay!