Translations:Afghan cuisine/7/en

Rice is a core staple food in Afghan cuisine and the most important part of any meal. Challow, or white rice cooked with mild spices, is served mainly with qormas (korma: stews or casseroles). Palaw is cooked similarly to challow, but a combination of meat, stock, qorma, and herbs are also mixed in before baking, resulting in the elaborate colors, flavors, and aromas from which the rice got its name. Sometimes caramelized sugar is used to give the rice a rich brown color. Examples of palaw include:

• Qabeli palao (the national dish) – meat and stock are added, plus a topping of fried raisins, slivered carrots, and pistachios
• Zamarod palao – Spinach, dill and sometimes other green herbs are mixed in before the cooking process, hence zamarod, meaning "emerald"
• Bore palao – lawand is added giving the rice a yellow color
• Landi palao – a traditional meal of rice (with stock made from chicken or mutton that has been salted and dried in the sun)
• Bonjan-e-roomi palao – bonjan-e-roomi (tomato qorma) is added during baking giving the rice a red color
• Narenj palao – a sweet elaborate rice dish made with saffron, orange peel, pistachios, almonds, and chicken
• Mash palao – a strictly vegetarian sweet-and-sour pilaf baked with mung beans, apricots, and bulgur wheat
• Albalo palao – a sweet rice dish with sour cherries