Which dishes best represent the cuisine of Pakistan?

[u/theflavorvortex]

Hi Pakistan! I am doing a cooking challenge in which I cook food from a different country each week. Pakistan is coming up soon and I'd love some help working out what I should make. Throughout the week, I can fit in a few dishes, including mains, sides, snacks, breakfast, and sometimes dessert.

So far, I'm interested in making:

• Nihari
• Peshwari naan
• Chapli kebab
• Chapshuro

There are lots of dishes that sound delicious but I'm struggling a bit because you seem to share a lot of dishes with India and other countries. I want to try and make dishes that are more representative of Pakistan specifically if possible.

Please let me know what I should add or remove from my list! I would also appreciate recipe links if you have them; they do not have to be in English. Thank you :)

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[u/M0nocleSargasm]

No Biryani?

Mutton is best. If you're not doing another mutton dish. Or chicken, if you don't already have a chicken dish.

[u/Hefty-Owl6934 → u/M0nocleSargasm]

I think that they may have excluded it because Biryani is also incredibly popular in India:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/biryani-remains-top-of-the-charts-as-indias-favourite-dish/article69019317.ece

They wanted a dish that is more limited, and therefore peculiar, to Pakistan.

[u/Horror_Preference208]

You're gonna have a hard time finding dishes that we don't share with other countries. We share chapli kebab with Afghanistan btw.    I am just gonna share a list of delicious food i know excluding the famous ones like biryani but they're probably also Indian so you'll have to search it up yourself. If i get some time later, i'll edit it and do it for you.

Meals:  Festive-sajji, malai kebab, reshmi kebab, gola kebab, pasanday, handi Everyday food- gobi aloo(my personal favorite), bhindi, turrai, loqi, dhaal with simple chapati made from whole wheat flour or rice. -look up Pakistani sindhi cuisine or ask on r/sindh about food that they eat and you're sure to find food that is specific to Pakistan.

Bread: sheer maal(i really recommend this, litr the best), taftaan

Sweets/snacks: kheer, namak paray, shakar paray, gajrela, gajar ka halwa, multani halwa(this is probably just Pakistani), naan khattai (a biscuit), reveri, rabri, bateesa

So, chapli kebab is actually the food of an ethnic group called pushtuns who also exist in Afghanistan so it is not just a pakistani dish. From what i know though, it originated here so it's fine. Even non-pushtuns here grew up eating it but just informing you.

-i am gonna recommend some bihari sweets and food here cuz i am bihari(bihar is in india but i am Pakistani) but it's not related to what you asked tho : mehboobi, balu shahi, anday ki katli, bihari kebab. These are my favs. 

[u/knowledge-isstake → u/Horror_Preference208]

I remember Aftab Iqbal's show used to mention local specialties of Pakistan. If there's any regular watcher of it, they might know the local specialities.

[u/Jolly-Astronaut6149]

Anday Wala burger

[u/Shaajee]

Snacks: namak parey

Breakfast: halwa poori

[u/nurse_supporter]

Curry Khausay

Memon Biryani (beef/mutton with potatoes, fried onions, yoghurt, and spices with less food coloring)

Laal Khaavo

Anday Aalu waali Akni is very common in Sindh, Kutch, and Kathiawar

Daal Paalak with the al dente lentil pieces (as opposed to the soupy dish Northerners eat) also very common in Sindh, Kutch, and Kathiawar

Haleem

Gola Kabab / Koftay

The use of meat in a Tandoor and resulting dishes like Chicken Tikka Masala/Butter Chicken are fundamentally Pakistani as well, it’s a fiction that somehow they are Indian, these basically come from Peshawar and are a product of trade between the different regions of Pakistan, particularly Lahore and Karachi

There are also a lot of seafood dishes in Karachi from the Makrani and Memon communities

I want to add that greater Junagadh (Kathiawar) is part of Pakistan, hence, Memon cuisine is part of Pakistan for this reason and all of our amazing globally inspired dishes

[u/Pak-Khan]

Lahori naan chanay, Bong Paaey, Kashmiri Chae (It can be a geopolitical conversation starter too), Makhaddi Halwa, Sohan Halwa