Per The Bath Fairy's request, here is a recipe for Badenjan Borani (which is how The Afghan Horsemen spells it). This one is from a book called Afghani Cooking. It has a different spelling, and, I'm pretty sure, varies from the one at the Horsement:
Bahnjean Bouranee
2 medium eggplants
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
Tomato sauce:
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground coriander seeds
Yogurt sauce:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
Garnish:
1 teaspoon dry mint leaves, crushed
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
1. Peel eggplant and slice into 1/2 inch round pieces.
2. Spray a large frying pan with cooking spray and brown eggplant over medium heat.
3. Spray a 9x13" baking dish with cooking spray and layer with eggplant, sliced tomatoes, and green peppers.
4. Mix together all ingredients for tomato sauce. Pour sauce on top of eggplant in baking dish, cover and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
I think my sister forgot to give me the second page of this recipe, since it doesn't have the "To serve" section. But, to serve, spoon out portions of the dish and top with a dollop of yogurt sauce and sprinkle with crushed mint leaves.
A note about the spraying with cooking spray, I think the Afghan Horsemen version is the regular, full fat version since you can see the tasty olive oil in the dish. If I were cooking this, I'd brown the eggplant in real olive oil, not the spray stuff.
The Bath Fairy requested the recipe for aaush soup as well, but I don't have a recipe for that. The manager at Afghan Horsemen told dh how to make it one time, and now dh wings it, but it always turns out pretty authentic tasting. I'll have to ask him for his version when he gets home from work. In the meantime, here's one quick version that sounds interesting, but not the same as the one we order or make ourselves.
"To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act." ~ Anatole France (1844 - 1924)
