Food of Pakistan

 Pakistani food is rich, packed full of spice, generous with ghee, and unbelievably tasty.In this list of the 21 dishes to eat in Pakistan, I’m going to share with you the best dishes I tried during my trip to Pakistan.Get ready for some serious Pakistani flavor and regional specialties. Enough introductions, lets get to all the dishes.

To start this list off right, I just have to talk about Nihari.This dish is truly a game-changer for me when it comes to Pakistani cuisine. I would easily consider this among the best breakfasts I have ever had anywhere in the world.Nihari begins as a heap of dry spices frying in vegetable oil and animal fat. The meat ingredients follow (most commonly beef shank), and a very healthy portion of Desi Ghee (home-made local clarified butter). The slow-cooking stew is then stirred altogether in a glorious cauldron of a pot.The consistency is oozing and thick, so full of ultra-tender meat chunks literally floating in desi ghee. It has a deep red color from the spice and infused ghee.Eaten from communal plate-trays, you garnish the Nihari from a side-plate of fragrant sliced ginger, spicy green chilies, and a squeeze from a fresh lime or two.In Lahore you can try nihari at Waris Nihari, and in Karachi, I would highly recommend Javed Nihari.

Haleem is an incredibly hearty dish made with a combination of barley, local wheat varieties, and chana (chickpeas). This dish shows the influence on Pakistan that comes from the Middle East, and people have been enjoying Haleem here for centuries.Slow-cooking, for up to an entire day, on very low heat is a technique used to give haleem its warm, home-cooked flavor.Onions (fried separately), mint leaves, both green and dry chilies, and then some masala spices go into the mother-pot, and a final garnish comes from generous squeezes of lemon juice at the end.This is a great food to have in the morning, or for an early lunch. Its very rich, full of calories to keep one’s  energy up throughout the day. The flavor in a good bowl of haleem can be so rich that simply eating it with roti, and then sipping on a few cups of milk or green tea, can leave you perfect and content.Enjoy a wonderful meal of Haleem in the Old City area of Lahore, you can watch the video here. I was blown away and surprised how good it was!