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✨ Newstarter
Mantu
Delicate Afghan steamed dumplings filled with spiced minced lamb and onion, served on a bed of garlicky yogurt and tomato sauce — a celebration dish of exquisite flavour.
⏱ 100 min🔥 480 kcalHard
★4.8(394)
8 recipes using tomatoes — Kabuli pulao, mantu, bolani — fragrant, spiced dishes from the crossroads of Asia.
These 8 afghan tomatoes recipes are ready in about 101 minutes on average, with 280–560 kcal per serving, and 25% are rated easy enough for a weeknight. Every recipe includes exact ingredient quantities, step-by-step instructions and full nutrition per serving.
Afghan cuisine — Kabuli pulao, mantu, bolani — fragrant, spiced dishes from the crossroads of Asia — brings its own distinctive techniques and seasonings to every ingredient it touches. When Afghan cooks work with tomatoes, they reach for its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends, and the techniques that come up most across these recipes are frying, simmering, boiling and steaming.
Sweet-acidic fruit that forms the backbone of sauces, stews and salads across nearly every cuisine. In this collection it's most often cooked with ground coriander, dried mint, onion, garlic, turmeric and plain flour. The dishes here span afghan classics ready in as little as 50 minutes to slower, more involved cooking that rewards a relaxed afternoon.
Reader favourite: Ashak — Afghan Leek Dumplings is the highest-rated dish in this collection at 4.9★ from 1,654 ratings.
Delicate Afghan steamed dumplings filled with spiced minced lamb and onion, served on a bed of garlicky yogurt and tomato sauce — a celebration dish of exquisite flavour.
Delicate Afghan dumplings filled with spiced leek and spring onion, served on a bed of yoghurt and topped with a rich lamb and tomato sauce and dried mint.
Afghanistan's celebrated steamed dumplings — delicate pasta parcels filled with spiced minced beef and onion, served on a bed of yogurt and topped with a rich tomato-chickpea sauce.
Tender fried eggplant layered with spiced tomato sauce and cooling yogurt — Afghanistan's beloved vegetable dish.
Afghanistan's most celebrated dish for guests — delicate steamed dumplings filled with spiced beef and onion, draped in a yogurt and tomato sauce, topped with split peas and dried mint. A labour of love.
Afghanistan's essential everyday soup — bone-in lamb and chickpeas simmered in a fragrant tomato and vegetable broth with turmeric, coriander and cinnamon. Ladled over flatbread for a complete meal.
Afghan leek and scallion dumplings topped with spiced ground beef and yoghurt sauce — a national treasure.
Afghan baked sweet pumpkin in a spiced tomato meat sauce, topped with garlicky yoghurt — a beautiful autumn dish.
Ripe tomatoes smell fragrant at the stem and give slightly to a gentle squeeze. For cooking out of season, good-quality tinned tomatoes often beat pale fresh ones.
Store at room temperature, never the fridge, which kills their flavour and texture. Score and blanch to slip off skins; salting slices draws out excess water for salads.
A low-calorie source of vitamin C, potassium and the antioxidant lycopene — which actually becomes more available when tomatoes are cooked.
Most of these 8 Afghan tomatoes recipes are ready in around 101 minutes from start to finish. The quickest, Afghan Borani Banjan (Eggplant with Yogurt), takes about 50 minutes, while the slower-cooked dishes run up to 135 minutes.
Across this collection they range from about 280 to 560 kcal per serving, averaging 470 kcal — Afghan Borani Banjan (Eggplant with Yogurt) is the lightest option at 280 kcal.
Afghan Borani Banjan (Eggplant with Yogurt) is a great place to start — it's rated easy and comes together in about 50 minutes. 25% of the recipes here are beginner-friendly.
In these recipes, tomatoes is most often paired with ground coriander, dried mint, onion, garlic, turmeric and plain flour. Afghan kitchens also lean on its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends.