Impressing the family with food

Since my boyfriend and I moved to Albuquerque a few months ago, we're now living in the same city with his family. They're really good people and they're very nice. I get along with all of them pretty well although there are some language barriers. All of them speak Farsi because they're from Afghanistan — except the kids.

Since we've been here, I've been spending more and more time with them, especially around the dinner table. I absolutely love everything my boyfriend's mom and aunts make. They make mounds of Basmati rice with all kinds of qormas, marinated meats and stewed vegetables. It's almost every week now that I have authentic Afghan home cooking. I haven't been able to remember all the names of everything I eat at their house because it seems I never have the same thing twice. All I know is I get extremely full when we're there and they never run out of food.

I have started making some of these items at home although I haven't been able to make rice like they can — because I don't think I'm bold enough to use that much oil. So far, the only person I've been cooking these items for is my boyfriend and he approves of most of it. He's not afraid to tell me that his mom can make it better than me.

I made a pot of aush (Afghan soup) for my boyfriend the other week and it was so good. His eyes lit up as he slurped it down and he gave me an 8.5 out of 10 in comparison to his mom's. That was close enough for me. I decided to make a huge pot for the family last week.

I gathered all the ingredients after work and we went to his mom's house. Beans, noodles, chicken bouillon, ground beef, spices, yogurt and sour cream in the back seat and I got sort of nervous. I don't like cooking in someone else's kitchen because I like my knife in my own kitchen, you know? I was afraid that it wasn't going to be good because I just wasn't familiar with a lot of stuff in that kitchen.

But as I got into it, everything went smoothly. It started smelling the same way it did in my own kitchen. I was afraid I might have forgotten something but I didn't. I was a little afraid of the dark color at first but it lightened up later. I panicked when I added the garlic at the wrong time, but, hey, it's a soup!

An hour later, it was done! I was satisfied with that last test taste and I sat down, confident that everyone would like it.

When the large pot of soup was uncovered and word went around in Farsi that I made it, everyone was very impressed. "Good job" and "it's very good" from my boyfriend's aunts, uncles and siblings made me feel good. I'm glad they approved.

Now that I'm thinking about it. I don't know why I wanted to make aush for them. I wonder how I would feel if some non-Navajo person came in my house and made frybread for me. I guess I would be impressed if it complemented the rest of the meal and it tasted good.

But anyways...

I made cakes and pies that impressed this family before, but to make aush was something else. I went off a recipe my boyfriend's mom gave me over the phone and through text messages. I went off of instructions like "a little bit of this, a little bit of that and you boil it. It's easy." I watched online videos and searched for recipes, but it didn't taste like her's. I made quite a few varieties of this soup before I was really satisfied with it enough to have the whole family taste it.

I guess I did it for approval. In cooking, I think that's something you always want and should strive for every time you make something for yourself and others. I guess I also did it for their approval of me. This is one way I can assure them that their son is in good hands. I may be a Navajo girl from another world who can't speak Farsi, doesn't know their culture or their religion, but I can cook.