It took Amina Mohammad three attempts to get her dream off the ground.

But it was well worth the wait.

“I love to cook,” Mohammad said.

So much so that her dream was to one day start a catering business, maybe in a brick-and-mortar building.

But life got in the way of her first two attempts.

“I got married and had four kids,” she said. Then she had health issues.

But the very driven and confident Mohammad was not giving up.

“I said one day, ‘I’m going to have this,’” she said. “I catered food for a friend and got a great reaction. And I told my husband I was going to do this. He said OK.”

So she approached her dream a third time.

And last fall, she was able to open Tri-Cities Afghan Food in the Pasco Specialty Kitchen.

“It’s been good,” Mohammad said. “We don’t have (much) Afghan food here (in the Tri-Cities). People like coming here. It’s something different. And a lot of them come back for more.”

She said that kids love the food.

“It’s healthy. It’s not fast food,” she said. “Everything is made from scratch.”

She said she has become known as the Afghan Girl to some of the locals.

“They say, ‘Hey, you’re Afghan Girl,’” she said with a laugh.

Finding a place

It’s one thing to start a catering business or restaurant, but how do you go about it?

Maybe start with a food truck? Do some pop-up events?

She visited Portland and Seattle to eat at Afghan restaurants and felt she could do better.

A relative told her about the Pasco Specialty Kitchen, a place in downtown Pasco that helps fledgling entrepreneurs work toward their goals by offering commercial kitchen space.

She met Alma Aguirre, the Pasco Specialty Kitchen coordinator, last September.

“I just gave her the information,” Aguirre said. “Every time somebody comes in, I give them the information. But I’m happy with what she’s been doing.”

The launch of her new enterprise happened soon after.

“I was very surprised to tell you the truth,” said Aguirre, who gets a number of people come to her with an idea that maybe doesn’t pan out, or they give up too quickly. “But Amina is a go-getter. I was not expecting to see her so soon. Especially for her being brand new starting out.”

Mohammad got her business license on Sept. 15, 2024.

Within a month, she was selling her food.

But it wasn’t set up as a catering business – her original plan.

The specialty kitchen had a walk-up window available, and she and other city officials convinced Mohammad to sell her food from the window. There was, after all, no Afghan restaurant in Pasco.

“(Amina) knew (some of the kitchen) equipment wasn’t in yet. But she didn’t want to wait,” Aguirre said. “The parklet has also really helped the kitchen and her business, as did the taco crawl.” The parklet offers a nearby shaded seating area with six tables. 

Afghan tacos?

Some local business owners convinced Mohammad to come up with a taco for the annual Pasco Taco Crawl in April that benefits the local Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties.

Tacos are not normally part of the Afghan food culture.

But Mohammad said tacos were her thing and it was for a good cause so she entered the contest.

“I made chicken kabob tacos. They were like street tacos,” she said.

She placed sixth in the crawl.

“Everybody loved the taco. So we added it to the menu,” she said. “I do listen to my customers. People want to try them.”

Mohammad feels Aguirre is now part of her family, helping her navigate hurdles to get to her end goal.

“And the city of Pasco has helped a lot,” she said. “They brought in new equipment, and we got it a couple of months ago. Our first day was in October for a soft opening. So many people were lined up at the window.

“My first day I had to use all of the extra kitchens in here. Thank God no one else was open in here that day,” she said. “Everybody came over from the city of Pasco. Council members. Officials. I didn’t know any of them.”

And they supported her.

It takes a village

Amina and her husband, Ghulam Mirza Mohammad, immigrated from Afghanistan in 2002 with the help of World Relief during the war.

They were both 14 years old at the time, and they went to Kennewick High School.

Neither knew who the other one was.

But they found each other, fell in love and have built a life together.
 “My husband is a good man. He works at Conagra Foods,” she said. “He’s been great and very supportive. He gets off at work and comes here to work with me.”

And the rest of her family chips in, too. Her mother helps the couple with their kids. Her sisters help in the kitchen.

Afghan food

Mohammad said the Tri-Cities region has a small Afghani population so most of her customers have been first-timers.

But she’s also getting customers from Walla Walla, Sunnyside and Yakima.

“First-timers might want to try the chicken kabobs,” she said.

One of the more popular dishes is Kabuli Pulao, a dish with lamb and rice with raisins, carrots and spices.

Another popular dish is Kofta, ground beef meatballs mixed with spices and herbs, and served with naan or rice.

And for a quick fix, don’t forget about those tacos.

“I love knowing that I can do this every day,” Mohammed said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to go home, and when I get up the next day, and I get to come back here. Every day. Cooking makes me happy.”

Hours are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Call 509-405-2294.

Tri-Cities Afghan Food: 110 S. Fourth Ave., Pasco.