Kaddo Bourani (Afghani pumpkin dish from The Helmand restaurant)

[fitfool]

Ever eat something at a restaurant and have that dish linger long in your memories? That's how it was when my sister took me to The Helmand in Cambridge, MA, for my birthday. I don't know what food from Afghanistan is supposed to taste like but I loved everything. In particular, I loved the appetizer, Kaddo Bourani, that my sister got. It didn't

Comments

[back_track]

Wow, thanks for posting this! The Helmand in Baltimore is half a block away from me, and I crave the kaddo bourani every time I walk by (which is every single day) but I cant' afford to eat out all the time. I'm definitely going to give it a try!

[fitfool]

Cool...a few others have mentioned The Helmand in Baltimore. I didn't think it was related to the ones in SF and Boston but great that they have this dish too. Hope you enjoy it!

[back_track]

I always thought they were, because I've eaten at both and the menus are pretty similar, and I've had this dish at both. All I know is that ours is owned by Karzai's brother and that they're both delicious!

[fitfool]

Oh then I stand corrected. That's true of the Boston and SF ones too. Thanks for that.

[shellycrash]

Thanks so much for posting this. I actually bought a pie pumpkin over the weekend and made a thai curry with it. I have a ton of uncooked pumpkin left and have been trying to find something to do with it, this sounds perfect. If you call around ask for pie pumpkins, I'm sure somewhere has them.

I'm a veggie but the meat sauce seems to add alot to the dish. I'll probably make it and sub the ground beef w/ tofu crumbles.

[fitfool]

I'll try calling around this weekend. The Helmand offers a veggie version of this dish by leaving out the meat sauce and I've read many reviews that still love that version too. I really like the meat sauce and had been trying to think up a vegetarian version too. My luck with tofu crumbles has been hit or miss (once a great biscuits and gravy breakfast, another time a horribly bleah pasta sauce) so I've shied away from that. I was thinking maybe coarsely chopped mushrooms to give a meaty texture to the sauce.

[nhowells91]

You can buy sugar pumpkins at Verrill Farm in Concord, MA, and at Idylwilde Farm in Acton, as well as several of the farm-stands in Stow and Bolton. Not quite "Boston" but not quite that far away. Whole Foods was carrying them in September as well.

[fitfool]

Thanks for the leads! I'll try driving down this weekend.

[evildamsel]

You can probably sub in some kind of squash, maybe a butternut.

[fitfool]

Butternut squash sounds like a great substitution. Thanks for the idea!

[savorysimple]

This is really exciting! We have a Helmand restaurant in Baltimore with the exact same dish and I love it. Thank you for finding the recipe!

[fitfool]

I keep hearing about the one in Baltimore. Now I'll have to eat there the next time I go there. Hope you enjoy this recipe!