Dam Pokht

Dam Pokht is a traditional Pakhtun dish. The cooking process is fairly straight forward but it requires a good amount of preparation. It is usually eaten on occasions such as hunting expeditions, or when you are basically out in the wilderness with supplies. But its popularity has led it to be cooked at other occasions as well, e.g., weddings. A sheep (or goat) is slaughtered for the fiest and it is cleaned inside out. Cuts are made in the body for easy cooking and is then salted to taste. For cooking, a sizeable hole is dug in the ground; the base of which is filled with burning coal. Marks are made in the walls of the hole so that they can hold firmly the skewers which would hold the salted sheep. Then the coal is lighted up and a slab of stone is placed on top of the hole and its edges are secured by applying wet mud. Two fist-sized holes are kept open so that the embers don't die out and also to allow for extra smoke to get out. This is cooked for an hour or so and then the dried out mud and slabs are removed. The Dam Pokht is ready by that time and should be eaten straight away. Sometimes the empty stomach of the sheep are filled with rice which also gets cooked along with the sheep.

Now we don't have the privilege of digging a hole in the ground so we would simply simulate the process in a dirty kitchen. For the ingredients, 2 sheep legs, yogurt, salt, & cooking oil (olive preferable) is all that we would need. Optional ingredients is a whole piece of garlic (whole, not chopped).

The sheep legs are washed properly, and cuts are made into it. Then it is marinated in yogurt and salt and left for half an hour. Once done, we would take a wide pan and put some olive oil, enough for just covering its base. Then we would add the marinated sheep legs with all of its yogurt and the whole piece of garlic.

Keeping a low flame, we would cook for an hour and the sheep would be cooked in a mixture of its own water and yogurt. Once all the water evaporates, the "Dam Pokht" is ready to be served.