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Savor 196

Pispili, Cheesy Albanian Cornbread That Packs a Tang

Pispili, Albanian cornbread with leeks and feta cheese is a delicious snack or side dish for your small group.


The women spread supper—a large bowl of cheese melted in butter, into which we dipped our maize bread, and very good it was. ~ Edith Durham, High Albania

Cornbread in its essence — flour, cornmeal, and butter — already qualifies as a world-champion comfort food. When you bite into a piece of it, just out of the oven — aah, yes — it tastes like home.

So how, you may be asking, could a gal improve on that?

You might try making some Pispili. 

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Filed Under: Dishes, Recipes, Savor 196, Savories Tagged With: Albania, cornbread, picnic food, snack

Qabili Palau, Sweet & Savory Crowd-Pleaser [Recipe]

A white platter laden with Qabili Palau, the national dish of Afghanistan: carrot, black raisins, almond slivers, and basmati rice atop chicken.

“There is no sight on earth more appealing than the sight of a woman making dinner for someone she loves.”–Thomas Wolfe

Are you happy they’ve invited you to make a dish for your next home group meeting but haven’t a clue what to make?

A small group gathering is an ideal occasion to introduce your crew to Qabili Palao, the national dish of Afghanistan.

For one thing, Qabili Palao packs big flavor and portions hearty enough to satisfy a small crowd. And for another, it’s likely a dish that no one in your crowd has tasted before. 

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Filed Under: Dishes, Recipes, Savor 196, Savories Tagged With: Afghan culture, Afghan food, rice dish

Savor Afghanistan: Qabili Palau AKA Kabuli Palau

Aerial views of Afghanistans' craggy mountains and expansive valleys is an ideal way to savor Afghanistan. Image is by Reinis Melioraskis./Attribution NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

Food is more than what we put into our bodies… It’s the feel of a place, something language can’t get at, the memory of a place as it forms. Wherever I am, food is what takes me there. —Jessica Fechtor, Stir

You say Kabuli, I say Qabili. Whatever we end up calling it, we’ll likely agree that Afghanistan’s national dish, Qabili (Kabuli) Palau, is delicious.  

The secret to Qabili Palau’s allure is Afghanistan’s unique geography and history. The country lies along what was once THE crucial trade route between Persia and India.

As a result, for thousands of years, caravans from these two great empires traveled through this mountain country. And Afghan cuisine, in a very literal sense, soaked up Persian and Indian culture.

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Filed Under: Asia, Destinations, Dishes, Inspiration, Savor 196 Tagged With: Afghan culture, Afghan food, Afghanistan, Kabuli Palau, Qabili Palau, Savor 196

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Hello!

~~~~~I'm Melodie, a destination-inspired storyteller and good food adventurer. Traveling, to experience the wonder of other cultures, has been my lifelong passion. Now, I want to share what I've learned so you, too, can nourish your traveler's heart, explore the world, and eat crazy good food on the regular. It's like this...


She’s like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
    and brings back exotic surprises.
Proverbs 31:14

 

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