NOVEL THOUGHTS
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RIVERHEAD BOOKS, 2003
(available in paperback from Berkley, 2004)
THE KITE RUNNER is the debut novel of Afghanistan-born Khaled Hosseini, a California physician and son of an Afghani diplomat whose family received political asylum in the United States in 1980.
The novel begins in Hosseini’s native country in the 1960s and spans forty years of the country’s tragic history. The protagonist and narrator, Amir, is the son of Baba, a wealthy Kabul businessman. Amir’s humble, devoted servant and playmate, Hassan, is the son of Baba’s servant. Amir and Hassan are both motherless and inseparable. The friends spend idyllic days running kites, a sport at which Hassan excels, and Amir reads stories from the Shanama, an ancient national epic about powerful warriors and battles, to the illiterate Hassan.
Amir belongs to the privileged Pashtun ethnic majority. Hassan is a Hazara, an oppressed ethnic minority. During a kite-running competition, local Pashtun bullies victimize Hassan. Amir’s failure to defend Hassan leaves him so guilt-ridden that he severs their friendship, changing their lives forever.
When the Russian army invades Afghanistan in 1981, Baba and Amir escape to California. The once influential Baba pumps gas at a service station and dreams of a successful career for his son. Amir becomes a successful novelist and marries Soraya, the daughter of Afghani immigrants. Still, Amir’s betrayal of his childhood friend haunts him.
Twenty years later, when Amir returns to his homeland to seek Hassan, he finds Kabul devastated and terrorized by the Taliban, and his journey toward redemption is fraught with danger and trauma.
For The Book Club Cookbook, Khaled Hosseini contributed his thoughts on Afghani culinary customs and described the importance of food in his own life and, by extension, the lives of his characters.
There are multiple mentions of Afghan dishes throughout my novel The Kite Runner. In many ways, food plays as important a part in my characters’ lives as it did in my own life.
In most Afghan homes, the ritual of eating a meal served as a unifying experience. People connected through the experience of sharing a meal. Typically, families ate together, often in the company of guests and members of the extended family, so it would not be unusual at all for twenty or twenty-five people to sit together for a meal. A large tablecloth, called a sofrah, was spread on the floor and everyone sat on mattresses around the room. Two of the household children, usually boys, then made the rounds in the room with an aftawa, a carafe of water, a basin and a towel so everyone could wash and dry their hands.
Then the food, often large platters of rice and meat, bread or naan, along with bowls of various qurmas (sabzi, or spinach; shalgham, or turnip; kofta, or meatballs) was placed on the sofrah. Food was not served in individual plates, rather in large platters shared by groups of three or four. The rice and qurma was then eaten by hand, and the etiquette was to push the best scrap of meat toward the oldest member of the group.
After water, soap, and towels were passed around again, the sofrah was cleared, and tea was served with sweets and dried fruits. I remember this ritual of eating as intensely satisfying and, as I said earlier, as a very pleasant unifying experience, particularly during the month of Ramadan, when everyone was hungry and looked forward to the evening meal. The closeness I felt to my family and relatives during meals is one of the things I remember most fondly about my childhood in Afghanistan.
For The Kite Runner book club discussion and luncheon held at her Irvine, California, restaurant, Britta’s Café, Britta Pulliam prepared sabzi challow, a traditional Afghani New Year’s Eve dish, made with spinach (sabzi), rice (challow), and lamb. “In the novel, Soraya prepares sabzi challow for a dinner party after she and Amir are married,” says Pulliam. “It seemed like a very traditional dish.” Pulliam contacted Afghani friends to help her create an authentic sabzi challow recipe.
Pulliam first tasted the rice, challow, when a friend served it to her for dinner. “At first I thought it was burned,” says Pulliam. “It was crispy on the bottom and caramel-colored, but I quickly realized this is the way it should be prepared. Now this is how I always cook my rice. Once you try it, you will always want your rice prepared this way.”
Pulliam was happy to share her recipe for sabzi challow, and says the dish is also delicious when prepared with beef or chicken.
¼ cup olive oil 8 lamb shanks 3 onions, thinly sliced 1½ teaspoons turmeric 5 cups baby spinach, stems removed (large leaves must be chopped) 3 cups cilantro leaves 1 cup Italian parsley, stems removed |
16–18 scallions, whole, outermost layer and tough upper green removed 3 tablespoons minced garlic 3–5 cups beef stock (homemade is preferable) 5 tablespoons fresh lime juice Salt and pepper Challow (see below) |
Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof Dutch oven and brown the lamb shanks on all sides. Remove the lamb and set aside. Add the onions to the pot and sauté until soft and lightly browned. Stir in the turmeric. Add the spinach, cilantro, parsley, and scallions. Sauté for 20 minutes, stirring constantly (add more oil if needed). The aroma of the herbs should rise—it is very important for the taste of the stew that this stage be completed. Add the garlic and sauté briefly.
Return the lamb to the Dutch oven. Add enough beef stock to barely cover the shanks. Bring to a boil, then cover, transfer to oven, and cook for 2–2½ hours.
When the meat is tender, remove from oven. Stir in lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over challow.
Yield: 8 servings
NOTE: For saffron rice, soak 1 teaspoon saffron threads in ¼ cup boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove saffron and discard. Use this water in place of the final ¼ cup water in step 3.
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4 cups uncooked basmati rice 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons salt |
¼ cup olive oil |
Rinse and drain the rice three times in tepid water. Place the rice in a large bowl and add 8 cups of water and 1 tablespoon salt. Soak the rice for 2–3 hours.
Fill a medium-size pot halfway with water. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and bring to a rapid boil. Drain the rice well and add to the boiling water. Return to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Test the rice—it should be soft on the outside and still firm, but not brittle, inside. Strain the rice and rinse with tepid water. Drain well.
Rinse out the pot with water and add the oil. Place over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add the rice, ¼ cup water, and a pinch of salt. With the handle of a wooden spoon, poke five holes through the rice, one in the center. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes—do not stir. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cover with a lid wrapped in a kitchen towel. Steam the rice for 20–30 minutes (do not remove lid to check the rice during this time). The bottom should be crisp.
Yield: 8 servings
NOVEL THOUGHTS
Britta’s Café in Irvine, California, features American cuisine with a European twist, and the restaurant is home to Britta’s Book Club. “I thought a book club with discussions built around food would be a fun way to combine my two passions: reading and cooking,” says owner-chef Britta Pulliam.
Pulliam’s book club meetings begin after her regular lunch customers have eaten, so she can relax and join in the book club discussion. When the group is large, she arranges tables on her patio and chooses a leader to ask questions at each table.
“Some books ignite the group’s passions,” says Pulliam, “and The Kite Runner was one of those novels.” She chose The Kite Runner in the hope that the novel would dispel some misperceptions of the Muslim faith, and it was interesting to hear different perspectives on Islam. She adds, “Some members had the idea that all Muslims and Afghanis are radical or members of the Taliban. The Kite Runner opened their minds to the idea that many Muslims despise the radical believers.”
“Many in our club felt The Kite Runner was one of the most interesting books we have read,” says Pat Swan. “We often read books by women about relationships among women. This novel was written by a man and focuses on relationships between men and boys, fathers and sons.”
The Kite Runner also shed light on recent world events, providing the group with a realistic picture of contemporary Afghanistan. “It gave us a new understanding of this strife-ridden country,” says Swan. “Power was taken away from the people, leaving a very depressed country. It reminds us that we are all vulnerable to a sudden rise in power.”
The relationship between Amir and Hassan provoked a strong reaction from the group. “Some felt that Amir was very selfish, and that his acts toward his friend Hassan were unspeakable,” says Swan. “We discussed how Amir returned to Afghanistan out of the goodness of his heart, and yet his behavior was still selfish.”
More Food for Thought
When Britta’s Book Club of Irvine, California, discussed The Kite Runner, Britta Pulliam visited an Iranian market to purchase ingredients for naan-o-paneer-o-sabzi. In this Persian appetizer, hunks of paneer cheese are topped with walnuts that have been soaked in salty water overnight, and then are centered on a plate surrounded by a variety of fresh herbs, such as watercress, lemon balm, basil, mint, tarragon, and cilantro. The cheese, nuts, and herbs are eaten with naan, a flat bread.
Pulliam also grouped pomegranates on each table. “Pomegranates are mentioned often in the novel,” says Pulliam, “and the tree in which Amir and Hassan played as children, and which eventually stopped bearing fruit, was a pomegranate tree.”
The Cultures Club at the Park Forest Public Library in Park Forest, Illinois, explores world cultures through literature. Members research the culture featured in each month’s book selection, and Leslie Simms, the group’s facilitator, brings materials about the culture as well as a dessert reflecting the culture of the month.
When they discussed The Kite Runner, Simms looked for an almond-and-honey- cake recipe, mentioned as a favorite of the protagonist’s mother. She located many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern versions of the cake on the Internet, and a baker friend volunteered to bake a Turkish honey-almond cake for the group. Simms says the cake had a taste reminiscent of gingerbread, even though there was no ginger in the recipe.