When I first started cooking my mother’s recipes on my own in Sydney, I spent an embarrassing amount of time wandering through Woolworths looking for things that simply weren’t there. Green cardamom pods. Dried Persian limes. Long-grain basmati that actually tastes like basmati. Saffron that isn’t mostly food colouring.

Afghan cooking relies on specific ingredients, and while the basics are available anywhere, getting the good stuff - the spices that actually smell right, the rice that cooks properly, the dried fruits that taste like the ones from home - requires knowing where to look.

I’ve been hunting down Afghan ingredients in Sydney and Melbourne for years. Here’s what I’ve learned.

The Essential Spices

Afghan cooking uses a relatively modest spice palette compared to Indian or Thai cuisine, but the quality matters enormously. The core spices you’ll need:

Green cardamom (hel) - Used in rice, tea, desserts, and meat dishes. Supermarket cardamom is usually fine for tea, but for cooking, you want whole pods that are bright green and aromatic. Old, grey-brown pods have lost most of their flavour.

Cumin (zeera) - Whole seeds and ground. Used in almost everything.

Coriander seeds (gashneez) - Whole and ground. The flavour is quite different from fresh coriander leaves.

Turmeric (zardchubeh) - Ground. Afghan cooking uses turmeric more subtly than Indian cooking - for colour and gentle earthiness rather than as a dominant flavour.

Black pepper - Whole peppercorns, freshly ground. Pre-ground pepper from the supermarket is a poor substitute.

Saffron (zafaran) - The expensive one. A pinch of real saffron in rice or sweet bread is irreplaceable. You don’t need much, but it needs to be genuine.

Dried Persian limes (limoo omani) - These are sun-dried limes that add a distinctive tangy, slightly bitter flavour to soups and stews. They’re not widely available in regular supermarkets.

Sydney: Where to Shop

Auburn and Merrylands. These are ground zero for Afghan groceries in Sydney. Auburn’s South Parade and Merrylands Road have multiple Afghan and Middle Eastern grocery stores carrying everything you need. The spices are fresh, the prices are good, and the shopkeepers can help you find specific items.

Look for the shops with bulk spice displays and bags of basmati rice stacked to the ceiling. That’s where you want to be. A 5kg bag of quality Afghan-style basmati from these shops costs about $12-18, compared to $8-10 for a smaller, inferior bag at a supermarket.

Lakemba. Haldon Street in Lakemba has a strong selection of Middle Eastern and South Asian groceries. Not specifically Afghan, but you’ll find most of what you need. The butchers here also carry halal lamb and goat cuts suitable for Afghan cooking.

Harris Farm Markets. For fresh herbs - big bunches of coriander, mint, dill - Harris Farm is consistently good. Their spice selection has improved over the years too, though it’s still more expensive than the specialty shops.

Online: The Essential Ingredient carries quality saffron and some harder-to-find spices. Useful if you don’t live near the western suburbs.

Melbourne: Where to Shop

Sydney Road, Brunswick. Melbourne’s go-to strip for Middle Eastern and Afghan groceries. Multiple shops along this stretch sell basmati rice, spices, dried fruits, and specialty items. The bread from the bakeries here is excellent too.

Dandenong. The shops around Foster Street and Thomas Street in Dandenong carry a strong range of Afghan and South Asian groceries. Good for bulk buying rice and spices.

Queen Victoria Market. The deli hall at the Vic Market has spice vendors who carry quality cardamom, saffron, and dried fruits. Prices are fair and the turnover is high, which means the spices are usually fresh.

Footscray. Not traditionally Afghan, but Footscray’s grocery shops carry a lot of overlap ingredients - basmati rice, spices, dried fruits, specialty flours. The prices in Footscray are often the cheapest you’ll find.

The Rice Question

I can’t overstate how important rice quality is for Afghan cooking. Kabuli pulao made with cheap jasmine rice is not kabuli pulao. You need long-grain basmati - the kind that’s been aged for at least a year and has grains that stay separate and fluffy when cooked.

The best basmati for Afghan rice dishes (in my opinion and my mother’s, which is the opinion that matters) is Tilda or a comparable aged Indian/Pakistani basmati. The grains are extra long, they expand beautifully, and they don’t go mushy if you cook them properly.

Some Afghan shops in Auburn sell rice specifically marketed for pulao. It’s usually a premium basmati from Pakistan or India that’s been aged longer. Worth the extra cost if you’re making a proper pulao.

Avoid: “quick cook” basmati, jasmine rice, any rice that says “suitable for sushi.” These won’t give you the right texture.

Dried Fruits and Nuts

Afghan cooking uses a lot of raisins, almonds, and pistachios, particularly in rice dishes and desserts. The quality difference between supermarket dried fruit and the stuff from specialty shops is significant.

For raisins, look for Afghan or Iranian golden raisins (kishmish). They’re larger, sweeter, and have a more complex flavour than the small, dark raisins at Coles. Afghan shops in Auburn and Brunswick usually have them in bulk.

For almonds, whole blanched almonds work best. Slivered almonds from the supermarket are fine for garnishing but don’t have the same flavour impact when cooked into a dish.

Pistachios should be Iranian or Afghan - green, fresh-tasting, and ideally unsalted if you’re using them for cooking. The American pistachios common in supermarkets are a different variety with a different flavour profile.

A Few More Specialty Items

Qroot (dried whey) - A fermented dairy product used in some traditional dishes. Very hard to find commercially. Some Afghan families in Australia make their own. Ask around at community gatherings.

Lavash (thin flatbread) - Available at most Middle Eastern shops and increasingly at supermarkets. Useful for wrapping kebabs and scooping dips.

Rose water - Used in desserts and some drinks. Available at most Middle Eastern groceries and some supermarkets. Cortas brand is reliable.

The reality is that cooking Afghan food in Australia has become much easier over the past decade. The Afghan community here is large enough that shops cater specifically to these ingredients, and the broader availability of Middle Eastern and South Asian groceries fills most gaps.

My advice: find a good Afghan grocery shop near you, become a regular, and don’t be afraid to ask the shopkeepers for help. They know their products and they’re usually happy to recommend the best rice, the freshest spices, and the right ingredients for whatever you’re cooking.

Good ingredients make good food. My mother said it, and she was right about everything.