ParwanaRecipes and Stories from an Afghan Kitchen

Authentic Afghan recipes with family narratives and stunning photography

Parwana tells one family’s story of a region long afflicted by war, but with much more at its heart. Author Durkhanai Ayubi’s parents, Zelmai and Farida Ayubi, fled Afghanistan with their young family in 1987, at the height of the Cold War. When their family-run restaurant Parwana opened its doors in Adelaide, Australia in 2009, their vision was to share an authentic piece of the Afghanistan the family had left behind—a country rich in culture, family memories infused with Afghanistan’s traditions of generosity and hospitality.

These recipes have been in the family for generations and include rice dishes, curries, meats, dumplings, Afghan pastas, sweets, drinks, chutneys and pickles, soups and breads. Some are celebratory special dishes while most are day to day dishes. Each has a story to tell.

With beautiful food and location photography, this compilation offers valuable insights into the origins and heritage of Afghan cuisine and a fresh perspective to one of the oldest civilizations.

• Authentic recipes from an Afghan kitchen.

• Inspiration and ideas for special and everyday dishes, combined with stories about the ritual and significance of Afghan ingredients and recipes.

• A vivid and enriching story about how food connects people and communities, showing how food anchors us to our ancestry and can also be a bridge that connects us to people with very different experiences of life.

• With more than 65 million refugees, asylum seekers or displaced people worldwide, there is a poignant universality in this story, regardless of where in the world the story starts and ends.

• Approximately 100 recipes that have been in the family for generations, especially adapted for the home cook.

• Breathtakingly beautiful food photography and family photos.