Hyderabad: Aromatic Afghani foods steal hearts, lift spirits

Far away from home, the sweet flavour of food wafts over the bitter memories of war. The famous and delicious Afghani kabuli-palaw evokes fond feelings about a war-torn nation.

While Afghanistan ever at war looks impoverished and stirs snide remarks from observers aghast at its decades of battles among various militias and government, its rich cuisine wins over you, leaving you wonder at the persistence and resilience of its war-weary people to withstand vagaries of time and politics to cherish and preserve their traditions and heritage. Its famous food will replace all those negative images with a positive one.

The splendid Kabuli-Palaw, a national dish made of meat and topped with fried raisins, slivered carrots, and pistachio, is the most famous Afghan dish that attracts many people around the globe, especially the discriminating palate of the people of Hyderabad.

The hustle and bustle of Charminar fascinated Sayed Mahboob Hashimi, 29, an Afghan citizen to build a restaurant to serve all delectable Afghan special dishes at one place. Three partners; Two Afghans and an Indian, opened the Afghan-Hyderabad restaurant 3 years back with just Rs 5 lakh investment at the heart of the Old City.

Not only Kabuli palaw, but also Afghani Tandoori Kebab has equally turned out to be the most ordered food among the Indian customers these days and despite baking Kgs of meat, the restaurant is unable to meet the overcrowded demand from the customers.

Asif Khan, another Afghan-Indian entrepreneur, set up another Hyderabad-Afghani kitchen restaurant years back in Mullappally. He invested Rs 6 lakh and started his business, providing a work facility for 10 of his Afghan friends. "We have 6 types of kebab and a majority of our customers are Indian. They like Kabuli-palaw and Afghani kebab the most," says Khan.

Although there are many other foreign cuisines in Hyderabad, Indians seem to savour Kabuli-Palaw. Mohammad Iqbal, a resident of the old city, visits Afghan-Hyderabad Restaurant every now and then. "I usually come here. Sometimes I come with my family to have Kabuli-palaw. It has less spice but it's tasty," adds Iqbal.

A Sivdas, 23, who came with her friends to Hyderabad-Afghani kitchen, says that one can feel the flavour of Afghani food since it has all the light flavours. "While having [Afghan dish] we can feel the flavours. They are mouth-watering," she exclaimed.

The Hyderabadi-Afghani kitchen is now available on Zomato and the restaurant has been receiving multiple orders every day. These Afghan restaurants are now open in different parts of the city like Mullappally, Toli Chowki, Tarnaka, Dilshuknagar and Old city.

Kabuli-palaw is the famous dish in Hyderabad but Afghans have many other dishes, which have global fame. Mantu, Qormah, Kebab and Shurba are the famous cuisines in the country and abroad.

The ethical structure of the country gave birth to different types of cuisines among the ethnicities. Dandakai – is the most famous food of Pashtuns of the south while Tajiks' favourite and reputed food is – palaw. In the meantime, Hazzaras, which constitute the third biggest ethnicity in the country, have Aash and Dalda in their favourite dish menu. Uzbeks, Balouchs and the rest of the ethnics have their own cultural dishes respectively.