Helen Saberi - Noshe Djan: Afghan Food and Cookery

There are several languages in Afghanistan. The three main languages are: Dari, which is closely related to the Farsi (Persian) spoken in Iran; Pashtu, which is the language of the Pashtuns; and Turkic, of which there are several different dialects. My Afghan family and most of my Afghan friends speak Dari, and this is also the language most commonly used in Kabul, so it was the one I learned. I give the names of dishes in a phonetic transcription of Dari, with apologies to language scholars for any inconsistencies.

T his book would not have been possible without the help and interest of many friends and relatives. First of all I would like to thank my husband, Nasir, for all the help, advice, patience and especially encouragement he has given me in preparing this book. I must say he particularly enjoyed tasting all the recipes!

Special thanks are due to my sister-in-law, Najiba Zaka, and also my close friend, Shaima Breshna. Both sent me many recipes, but also advised and helped me with Afghan cooking techniques and traditions, and showed me how to make some of the more complicated dishes.

Special thanks too to Shaimas husband, Dip. Ing. Arch. Abdullah Breshna, for volunteering to provide all the lovely and unusual illustrations for the book.

Many other friends have given recipes, advice and encouragement. I should particularly like to thank Khalil and Sara Rashidzada, who invited us to their home to show me how to prepare the delicious speciality of the Uzbeks, mantu, and an Uzbek pilau. I am also grateful to Abdullah and Parwin Ali, Qassim and Valerie Hachimzai, Naheed and David Knight and Mr Abdul Ghaffour Redja.

I thank Anthony Hyman for his guidance and advice, particularly on the introduction; and Stephen Keynes for his help in getting the book published.

For so often looking after my children, especially baby Oliver, so that I could get on with the final testing of recipes and typing of the manuscript, I should like to express my gratitude to my mother, Hilda Canning, and my friends Carole Cooles and Louise Boyd. Young Alexander must also be thanked for his patience and understanding when I was too busy to help with homework or take him swimming.

Finally I would like to thank everyone at Prospect Books, especially Alan and Jane Davidson, not only for undertaking to publish this book and giving their expert advice, but also for their sympathy to the Afghan cause. I am particularly indebted to my copy-editor, Idonea Muggeridge, for her help and enthusiasm, all the more appreciated as I had never written a book before.

Over the years, since the first edition of this book was published, I have been able, with the help of many friends and relatives, to increase my knowledge of Afghan food, traditions and customs. Many Afghans have generously given me their recipes and they are included in this book. For these new recipes and information I am particularly indebted to my sister-in-law Najiba Zaka, Shaima Breshna, Gul Jan Kabiri, Kaka Noor Saberi, Aziza Ashraf, Mahwash Amani, Zobeida Sekanderi, Lila, Rahila Reshnou, Homa Rundell, Nafisa Yahyaee, Maleka Ibrahimi, and Fatima Gailani.

My thanks continue to go to all the people who helped me with the first edition, and particularly to Abdullah Breshna who once again generously volunteered to do illustrations for me. I especially like the new drawings of the donkey-seller and the scene of making rosewater in the garden. They bring back such evocative memories of my nine years in Afghanistan. All the illustrations capture the flavour and character of Afghanistan so beautifully.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people who gave such generous and supportive reviews of the first edition. Claudia Roden, Barbara Santich, Shona Crawford Poole, Paul Levy, Miriam Poulunin, Jill Tilsley-Benham, John Birch, Faye Maschler, Ray Sokolov, Derek Cooper, Julie Sahni, Kerry Connor, Dolf Riks, and Rosemary Clancy.

Gratitude and love also go to my sister-in-law Michle Hachim-Saberi, who volunteered to translate Noshe Djan into French and thanks to Wali Nouri for arranging its publication in France to help the organization, AFRANE. I thank Antonia Fumagalli, who not only volunteered to translate my book into Italian to help the Afghan cause, but also found a publisher, Piemme. Harriet Sandys, Afghan Aid and the Swedish Committee were particularly active in selling my book to raise funds for humanitarian aid and charity work inside Afghanistan.

I am grateful to all my friends and relatives who have continued taken such a lively and sympathetic interest in Afghan affairs and cuisine over the years. I would particularly like to thank Tony and Hilary Hyman, Don and Sylvia Barton, Jim and Paula Cullen, David and Naheed Knight, Qassim and Valerie Hachimzai, Abdul Ghaffour Redja, Ben and Sarah Tomsett, Norman and Jacky Pritchard, Robin and Carol Debell, Bob and Carole Cooles, Laura Mason, Anissa Helou, Russell Harris, Ove Foss and Charles Perry.

My heartfelt thanks and gratitude once again go Alan and Jane Davidson who have not only continued to be sympathetic and interested in Afghan affairs but have also encouraged and advised me continuously over the last 13 years. For the last seven I have worked alongside Alan on his magnum opus, The Oxford Companion to Food. It was a great honour and pleasure to do this. I have learned so much and of course enjoyed the opportunity to ensure that Afghan dishes and Afghanistan are mentioned in the book approximately ten times more often than would otherwise have been the case.