Charsadda Rice (Ghata Roje, Ghage Ruje)

No recipe but I think we can do this.

The guys at Corner Market / Gyro Grill, in Milwaukie, where I often stop to fill up on caffeine after making Portland CSA deliveries, were making this for a staff meal.

I asked what they were making because it smelled like lamb, and they explained the process and gave me a bowl (no charge). They called it Ghage Ruje, but from what I can tell it is something more commonly known as Charsadda rice — and it has all the characteristics of a perfect “comfort food”. The end result is similar to a meaty and rich risotto, but with long-grain rice.

You can find videos online of street vendors making this in bulk for crowds of working men. I’m told it’s one of those holiday foods where every family has their own traditional take on the dish. It is not spicy (it tastes like lamb) but I’m sure there are some herbs and spices mixed in. Presumably things that are easy to get in Charsadda or Peshawar and that complement the flavor of the lamb. There are recipes online for Charsadda rice, but they have more ingredients than this basic family recipe comfort food.

To make the basic version of the dish, as far as I can understand, you first make a lamb stock with a lot of meat in it: I think meaty neck bones would likely work well. The guys making it said that any pieces with connective tissue work well — I think the collagen helps the final dish. Cook that for several hours untiil the meat is falling apart and any collagen has broken down. Then you remove any bones, shred the meat, mix it with long-grain rice, and cook the rice-and-shredded-meat in the stock liquid for three or four hours. Since the end result is reminiscent of a creamy risotto, I am guessing a 4-to-1 liquid to rice ratio. After the rice absorbs a lot of the liquid, add in hot, rendered lamb fat, and then stir until the rice has absorbed the rest of the liquid and it is the consistency of a creamy risotto.

It makes sense that this is a holiday/festival food; given the almost full day of preparation time you would probably want to make a big pot and feed a lot of people. The bowl that I had was good enough that, for the past few weeks when I get hungry, it is the first food I think about.