Bolani (
Dari
Dari (, , ), also known as Dari Persian (, ), is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the term officially recognised and promoted since 1964 by the Afghan government for the Persian language,Lazard, G.Darī ...
: بولانی), also called Periki (
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
: پارکی) is a stuffed
flat-bread
A flatbread is a bread made with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are Unleavened bread, unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pizza and pita bread.
...
from
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, fried with a filling.
It has a thin crust and can be stuffed with a variety of ingredients, such as
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es or
leeks but also graced
pumpkin, chives,
red lentil
The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest produ ...
s or with minced meat. It can be served with plain yogurt or mint yogurt and is usually served with a
doogh
Ayran, doogh, dhallë, daw, xynogala or tan is a cold savory yogurt-based beverage popular across Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeastern Europe, North Asia and Eastern Europe. The principal ingredients are yogurt, water and salt. ...
drink.
Bolani is made for special occasions like birthday parties, engagement parties or holidays.
It is widely sold on the streets in Afghanistan, particularly in cities such as
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
,
Jalalabad
Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلالآباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...
and
Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
.
Variations
Egg-roll wrapper method
The method of using eggroll wrappers instead of making the dough for the bolani is a time saving convenience often used in Western countries. The edges of the eggroll wrappers are lightly brushed with water to allow for sticking. The wrappers are then filled half way either diagonally or lengthwise with the preferred filling. Each side is then fried until golden brown. This method is the easiest and fastest way of preparing bolani.
Baked dough method
Another popular method for making Bolani is baking them. Although frying is the most popular method for special occasions, baking is becoming very popular amongst the western crowd. While Bolani was originally baked to cut back on fat, it is now becoming popular due to the unique flavor it imparts. Baking allows for a thicker crust that leads to a fluffy pastry filled with toppings.
Some argue that baked Bolani is not traditional due to its thick nature and meat stuffed variations. Regardless, it remains as one of the most popular methods of preparing Bolani in America.
Gallery
File:Afghan-Bolani.jpg, Bolani
See also
*
Gözleme
Gözleme is a savory Turkish stuffed turnover. The dough is usually unleavened, and made only with flour, salt and water, but gözleme can be made from yeast dough as well. It is similar to bazlama, but is lightly brushed with butter or oil, w ...
*
Qistibi
Qistibi ( ba, ҡыҫтыбый, tt-Cyrl, кыстыбый, translit=qıstıbí, udm, кыстыбей) is a popular traditional dish in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Chuvashia. Qistibi is roasted flatbreads with various fillings inside. The dough ...
*
Qutab
Qutab (, Tat: ''gitob'') is an Azerbaijani dish made from thinly rolled dough that is cooked briefly on a convex griddle known as a saj.
Composition
When the weather gets warmer, the number of dishes made from wild plants increases. Qutab belon ...
References
{{Flatbreads
Flatbreads
Vegetarian cuisine
Afghan cuisine
Hazaragi cuisine
Pashtun cuisine
Indo-Caribbean cuisine
Stuffed dishes
