Bouranee Baunjan

I found last year an Afghan restaurant in walking distance, Adnana. I entered thinking I would drink a cup of good coffee. No, they had the same coffee as in any other place in America, so I was about to leave. They insisted me to see their menu.

People were looking very nice and I decided to try something. I choose by random some dish (Bouranee Baunjan) that consisted basically of fried eggplant, yogurt and Afghan bread (kind of Pita).


I had never eaten such a tasty fried eggplant. Actually, what I like most is eggplant salad (the Baba Ghanoush that you find here in any Mediterranean restaurant), but this Bouranee Baunjan was unique.

I came again to Adnana when one of my two sisters was visiting and I offered her this delicacy. We quarreled after that as always, on various issues, but the point is that she enjoyed Bouranee Baunjan.

And then bad weather came, firstly rain and storms, then snowfalls, then low temperatures, all that kind of stuff, and I forgot about Adnana. I went again after about one year: Adnana was out of business. There was now a Mediterranean restaurant (with hookah bar, like the old restaurant), but without Afghan cuisine. I tried a fried eggplant: well, Moroccans prepare it some other way, nobody's perfect.

So I started to look for other Afghan restaurants, to have a Bouranee Baunjan. A look on the web gave me a very promising spot: the Marcopolau.



Marcopolau appeared to be some place in Arlington, pretty close to one of the metro stations. The menu looked great:


The Bouranee Baunjan was there, with the same description (fried eggplant with homemade yogurt and Afghan bread) and the same price as at Adnana:



I decided to go there the same evening, only this came out to be impossible. I had too many tasks in the same time, and finding a place with Bouranee Baunjan appeared not to be the highest priority.

The time for Marcopolau came after about one month, and one Friday evening I took the metro and got out at Courthouse. I took the street that was on the left just to realize that I had forgotten everything, directions, address, even the name of the restaurant.

I started to ask people on the street whether they knew about an Afghan restaurant located some place there. The answers were not very encouraging. I took the Veitch Street, down to Lee Highway, then I erred for about half an hour, without finding anything. The place was new for me, and it was getting dark. I arrived at a shopping center on Lee Highway, with Giant, and CVS, and all kind of other stores, except for Afghan restaurants, so I decided to go back. It took some time to be again near the metro station, then I started to look again for the Afghans.

I found an Afghan fast-food, just near the metro station, but it was not what I was looking for. I took the Wilson Boulevard towards Clarendon, hoping to find the restaurant with Bouranee Baunjan. There were maybe twenty restaurants on Wilson, Irish pubs, an Italian ristorante with an interesting name (kind of Listrani or something like this), one or two Mexican Cantinas, an Indian fast food, some grills, a Thai bistro, a great Tapas bar, and so on, only Marcopolau was not to be seen.




Eventually I reached Clarendon metro station: no Afghan restaurant at all. Something was wrong in my memories about the location. And I was hungry.

There was an Iranian restaurant there, Kabob Baazar, and I remained to have a bit of a dinner.


I ordered fried eggplant with yogurt: it was not like the Afghan dish. You cannot fight against destiny.

I came back home and I looked on the web. Marcopolau was on Fort Myer Drive, in walking distance from Rosslyn metro station! Another station, another street, that's kind of a difference. I decided to go there the following day.




This time I was more cautious and I had my breakfast home, just in case. I took the metro and got out at Rosslyn. I found very quickly the address: a huge building you could enter from four streets. I went around the building: all doors were locked. I saw a mailman and I asked him about Marcopolau. He sent me to the other end of the building. I found nothing.

I went back to the metro station and asked the supervisor there. He knew vaguely about such an Afghan restaurant and sent me back to that address. I circled again the building, with the same result.

Something was definitely wrong.

There was a foreign languages institute across the street, I found there one door that was unlocked, I entered and asked a lady about Marcopolau. She told me that the restaurant had gone out of business some time ago.

It seems that there still are some Afghan restaurants in DC area, with a strong possibility to be out of business, too, so I gave you here the recipe of Bouranee Baunjan, just in case. I found it on the web:

Ingredients:
* 4 Medium eggplants (1 kg total)
* Salt
* Oil for frying
* 2 Medium onions; sliced
* 1 Green pepper; seeded, sliced
* 2 Large ripe tomatoes; peeled Salt
* 1/4 tablespoons of Hot chili pepper
* 1/4 cup of Water
* Chakah (Yogurt Sauce)
* 2 cup Chakah (drained yogurt) Buy a cheese cloth. You can find at Wal-Mart in the craft section, Place plain yogurt inside the cheese cloth over a bowl in the fridge overnight. Squeeze excess liquid out and only use the remaining yogurt inside the cheese cloth)
* 2 Garlic cloves (or more)
* Salt to taste

Directions:
1. Cut the stems from eggplants and leave peel on. Cut into slices 1 cm (1/2-inch) thick. Spread on a tray and sprinkle slices liberally with salt. Leave for 30 minutes, then dry well with paper towels.
2. Pour enough oil into a deep frying pan (with lid to fit) to cover base well. Fry eggplant until lightly browned on each side. Do not cook completely. Lift onto a plate when browned. Add more oil to pan as required for remaining slices. As oil drains out of eggplants on standing, return this to the pan and add onion. Fry gently until transparent. Remove to another plate.
3. Place a layer of eggplant back into the pan. Top with some sliced onion, green pepper rings and tomato slices. Repeat using remaining ingredients and adding a little salt and the chili pepper between layers. Pour in any remaining oil from eggplant and onion and add the water. Cover and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes until eggplant is tender.
4. Combine chakah ingredients and spread half of the sauce into base of serving dish. Top with vegetables, lifting eggplant carefully to keep slices intact. Leave some of the juices in the pan. Top vegetables with remainder of chakah and drizzle vegetable juices over it. Serve with Kabaub and Lawash (flat bread).

If you succeed then give me a call:) Thanks in advance!

By the way, you can find this dish name on the web with slight variations, like Burani Baanjaan for instance; no wonder, Afghans are Pashtu or Farsi speakers and use the Arabic alphabet.

(Washington, District of Columbia)