What is Aushak?

Aushak is a delicious and savory Afghan recipe that features dumplings and several sauces. Because it is somewhat time-consuming to make (requires making 2 sauces and the dumplings separately), it is typically reserved for holidays, weddings, or other special occasions in Afghanistan. However, even if you don’t have a special occasion coming up, we think it’s still worth the effort to try cooking it.

Other Afghan Recipes

This was a fun and delicious Afghan recipe to make. We also made some bolani (a savory potato/herb-stuffed Afghan flatbread) and Afghan green chutney (made from a blend of herbs and walnuts) to accompany the aushak for a well-rounded meal. It lasted a few days for us and still tasted great as leftovers.

Aushak Components

The various components of aushak come together to make a complex and aromatic dish that is fun to eat and also fun to assemble. Here is a summary of the different parts of aushak:

Dumplings

The dumplings are really the centerpiece of this dish that holds everything together. Different recipes call for different fillings. In ours, we used leeks and green onions but sometimes chives are used instead.

Of note, while you can certainly try making your own wonton wrappers, realize that this dish is already somewhat time-consuming so we just ended up getting some wonton wrappers from the nearest Asian supermarket. No shame! Still tastes great 🙂

Gheymeh

Gheymeh is the tomato-based sauce that adds to the richness of the dish. Some recipes call for using vegan meat or beef but we chose to use ground lamb since we love the rich gamey taste that it brings.

As a technical culinary point, I would recommend that you just put the entire block of meat into the pan to sear it first on one side, then on the other, and then slowly break it apart with a spatula until it resembles the consistency of sloppy joes. This way, you allow for the Maillard reaction to caramelize the meat. Otherwise, if you break it apart immediately, you risk losing water from the meat and having it boil rather than caramelize.

Garlic Yogurt Sauce

This is an easy sauce to make and can cut the spiciness/richness of the other components. It consists of just yogurt, garlic, and dried mint. If you want to get fancy, try making your own dried mint- you just grab some mint from the garden or supermarket, tie it with some string, and hang it upside down for a few weeks until it dries.

How Did We Do?

This was our first time making traditional Afghan food. How did we do?? Should we have used any different cooking techniques or ingredients? Let us know in the comments below! And if you also like exploring different cuisines from around the world, be sure to also check out our posts on Moroccan and Ethiopian cooking!