Aushak

Have you read Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl? Simply put, I adore this book. In fact, it single-handedly sent me spiraling into continuous Google searches for terms like "foodie novels" or "best books for foodies" for a while there. As it turns out (this may be no surprise here), I love me a good food memoir. This book in particular is my all time favorite and I have yet to find a foodie book I like better. I guess that could be because I secretly want to be a food critic. Like really badly. Oh to get paid to eat and write about delicious food! All this to say, if you like reading and you like food, find yourself a copy ASAP!

The book incorporates recipes, two of which have become regulars in our repertoire. I wouldn't necessarily call this one easy but I wouldn't call it complicated either. It's mostly just a bit time consuming but if you have friends or a spouse or small children with eager helping hands, the dumplings come together in no time. I haven't done this myself but I would imagine the sauce would freeze nicely if you made a giant batch and put some away for later.

Aushak is an Afghan dish often served on holidays or special occasions. I altered Reichl's version of the meat sauce slightly, mostly to accommodate the neatly portioned 1 pound packages of ground beef in my freezer (her recipe only called for 1/2 pound). In my opinion, my version provides a better meat sauce-to-dumpling ratio. I'll better the sauce would taste mighty fine made with lamb too. WARNING: the dumplings have some kick if you include the full teaspoon of red pepper flakes. My girls cried their way through the meal. Just a little. The yogurt sauce really helps calm down the spice though if you happen to overdo it. 

Aushak

Meat sauce:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 lb ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp diced ginger
1 cup water
1/4 cup tomato paste
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Yogurt sauce:
1 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
Kosher salt, to taste (~1/4 tsp)

Dumplings:
2 scallion bunches, green tops finely chopped (leave out the white part)
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 pkg round gyoza wrappers

Garnish:
Chopped fresh mint

To prepare meat sauce:

Heat oil in small skillet. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes until golden. Add beef, garlic, coriander, and ginger and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes until meat is no longer red. Add water and cook, stirring often, until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add tomato paste, stir, and cook another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

To prepare yogurt sauce:

Blend ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

To prepare dumplings:

Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Lay 1 tsp mixture in center of each wrapper and moisten edge. Fold over and press edges to make semicircles. 

Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add dumplings and cook for 5 minutes.

To assemble:

Spoon 1/4 cup yogurt sauce onto a serving dish and cover with dumplings. Spoon remaining yogurt sauce on top and garnish with chopped fresh mint. Spoon meat sauce all around, and serve at once.

Serves 4