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47 recipes

Qeema matarMinced meat and pea curry

In Lahore and across Pakistani Punjab, qeema matar is the mince dish that appears on a Tuesday when nobody has time for a slow salan: minced mutton or beef browned hard, cooked down with tomato, ginger and garlic, then studded with sweet green peas. It is dry enough to scoop with a hot roti or paratha, with a little sliced onion and lemon on the side. The usual mistake is adding the tomatoes before the mince has lost its raw, wet look, which leaves it boiled and grey instead of rich and brown. Chef's tip: break the mince up with the back of a spoon while it fries, so it cooks into fine crumbs rather than lumps.

30 min

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Shinwari karahiLamb karahi

On the Grand Trunk Road out of Peshawar and in the Namak Mandi lanes, Shinwari cooks fry lamb in a vast iron karahi with nothing but its own fat, salt, tomatoes and green chillies, and diners sit cross-legged in the dera to eat it with naan straight from the pan. There is no onion, no powdered spice and hardly any water, so the meat tastes deeply of lamb and the sauce is short, glossy and tangy. The mistake is adding water to speed it up: it boils the meat grey; instead keep the lid on over a low heat and let the meat steam in its own juices. Chef's tip: use bone-in shoulder with its fat (or add 50 g of lamb fat), because the rendered fat is the sauce.

75 min

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Seekh kebab

The long, charred seekh kebab is the first thing grilled when the coals glow on Lahore's food streets and on Karachi's Boat Basin in the evening, eaten hot off the skewer with naan, onion rings, lemon and green chutney. Coarsely minced beef (or mutton) with some fat is kneaded with onion, ginger, garlic, green chilli and roasted spices until it turns sticky enough to cling to a flat skewer, then grilled until smoky outside and juicy within. The classic failure is a kebab that slides off into the coals, which happens when the onion is left wet or the mince too lean; squeeze the onion dry and use mince with about 20 per cent fat. Chef's tip: chill the shaped skewers for 20 minutes before grilling so the fat firms and holds the meat in place.

45 min

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Karahi qeemaMinced meat karahi

Karahi qeema is what home cooks across Punjab make when guests arrive unannounced, and what roadside karahi shops in Rawalpindi and Lahore fry to order for a quick lunch: beef or mutton mince stir-fried hard in an iron wok with tomato, ginger and green chilli until dry and glossy. It is scooped up with roti or stuffed into a paratha the next morning. The usual mistake is crowding the cold mince into a lukewarm pan, which stews it; get the oil smoking hot and break the meat up quickly so it fries. Chef's tip: finish with a handful of julienned ginger and a squeeze of lemon off the heat, for a fresh bite against the rich meat.

30 min

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Mutton chaap

Mutton chaap belongs to Lahore's Gawalmandi and Lakshmi Chowk, where chops are pounded thin, rubbed with raw papaya and spice and slapped onto a hot tawa or a charcoal grill late into the night; families order them by the plate for Eid gatherings and weekend dinners. The papaya enzyme and yogurt make the meat tender enough to pull off the bone, while the chilli-spiced crust chars and turns sticky. People often leave papaya paste on for too long or overnight, and the meat goes mushy; two hours in the fridge is plenty. Contains milk. Chef's tip: finish the chops with a knob of butter and a squeeze of lemon on the tawa for the last minute, which is how the Lahori stalls get their glossy glaze.

175 min

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BusecaTripe and white bean stew

Buseca arrived in Montevideo with Italian immigrants from Lombardy and became a classic winter dish of Uruguayan bodegones and family kitchens, eaten on cold June and July days. Honeycomb tripe is simmered until tender, then stewed with white beans, pork chorizo, bacon, peppers, tomato and paprika into a thick, warming stew served with crusty bread. Buy tripe that is already cleaned and blanched (dressed). The usual mistake is undercooking the tripe: it needs a full 2 hours, until it's soft enough to cut with a spoon. Slow-cooker option: after step 4, cook on low for 8 hours. Chef's tip: a little grated lemon zest and parsley stirred in at the end lifts the rich, gelatinous sauce.

185 min

Paraguayan Meat

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Morcilla dulceSweet blood sausage with walnuts

No Uruguayan parrilla is complete without morcilla dulce: a soft pork blood sausage sweetened with sugar and scented with orange peel, studded with walnuts and raisins, grilled until the skin crisps and served first, as part of the achuras, while the beef is still cooking. It is pork throughout: pork blood, pork back fat and natural pork casings. Making it at home is a project. Buy fresh pork blood with an anticoagulant added from a butcher who supplies it for sausage making, keep it chilled below 4 °C and use it within a day. The common mistake is poaching at a rolling boil, which bursts the casings. Chef's tip: keep the water at 80–85 °C, just shivering, and prick a sausage after 25 minutes: it is done when brown, not red, juice comes out.

120 min

Paraguayan Meat

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SchnitzelsemmelSchnitzel in a bread roll

Austrians setting off on a train journey, a ski day or a building-site shift pack a Schnitzelsemmel: a crisp Kaisersemmel roll holding a cold, golden pork schnitzel (veal for special days), a leaf of lettuce and a squeeze of lemon, sometimes with a smear of mustard or a gherkin. Leftover Sunday schnitzels are made for it. The common mistake is pressing the breadcrumbs on hard; they should sit loosely so they puff up and ripple away from the meat as it fries. Chef's tip: shake the pan constantly while frying so hot fat washes over the top, and the crust soufflés into those famous waves.

35 min

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Lagan ni seekhBaked spiced mince with egg

At a Dawoodi Bohra thaal in Karachi's Saddar or Burhani Park, the meal opens with a pinch of salt and a sweet, and lagan ni seekh is often among the first savoury dishes passed round the big shared tray: a "seekh kebab baked in a lagan", the shallow pan that names it. Spiced mince with fried onion, green chilli and mint is pressed into a dish, covered with beaten egg and baked until the top puffs and turns golden, then cut into squares. It is eaten warm with paratha or just as it is, and it is a favourite at Eid and wedding feasts. Skipping the step of cooking the mince dry first is the mistake to avoid; raw mince releases water under the egg and the squares go soggy. Chef's tip: lay a few rings of tomato and green chilli on the egg before baking, the way Bohra aunties do, so every square has a bright top.

65 min

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Chbah essafra (almond fritters in lamb sauce)

Cooks in Algiers bring out chbah essafra for weddings and grand family dinners, where it is served as the sweet main course: diamonds of almond paste scented with lemon and cinnamon are dipped in egg, fried golden and laid around tender lamb in a pale, buttery sauce sweetened with sugar and orange-blossom water. The contrast of savoury meat and soft, sweet almond is the point, and the dish is rich, so small portions with bread are usual. Chicken can replace the lamb, with a shorter cooking time. Chef's tip: warm the fritters in the sauce only at the table; dropping them into bubbling sauce is a common mistake, and they fall apart.

130 min

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Chakhchoukha (torn flatbread in lamb sauce)

Biskra claims chakhchoukha as its own, though Constantine and the whole east cook it for weddings, Eid and the arrival of guests: sheets of thin rougag are torn into small pieces, softened with steam and soaked in a fiery red sauce of lamb, tomato, chickpeas and whole green chillies, then served from one big wooden or clay dish. The bread turns soft and silky, almost like pasta, and soaks up the peppery, deeply savoury sauce. Use homemade rougag or the dried sheets sold in Algerian shops. Chef's tip: moisten the bread with sauce a ladle at a time and toss between additions; pouring it all over at once is the usual mistake, and the bread turns to paste.

120 min

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Kata-kat

You hear kata-kat before you see it: on Karachi's Burns Road and around Lahore's Gawalmandi, the cook stands over a tawa a metre wide, chopping kidneys, hearts and meat with two heavy steel blades in a clattering rhythm that gives the dish its name. Butter, tomatoes, green chillies and spice go in by the handful, and the mix is cooked down until rich and sticky, then scooped up with naan late at night. Traditional versions include brains, cooked in at the end; here they are optional. The danger is undercooking the offal while the meat is still chewy, so start the meat first and add kidney and heart later, cooking until there is no pink at all. Chef's tip: soak the kidneys in salted water for 20 minutes after removing the white core, which takes away any strong smell.

50 min

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Aab goshtMutton in spiced milk

Pale, gentle and fragrant with green cardamom, aab gosht is the Kashmiri kitchen's answer to anyone who thinks the cuisine is all chilli. Mutton on the bone is first boiled with whole spices, then finished in reduced milk with fennel and dry ginger until the sauce turns ivory and thick, almost like a savoury kheer. It is a wazwan dish and a family favourite for Sunday lunch among Kashmiri households in Muzaffarabad and Lahore, eaten over plain rice with a sharp green chutney on the side for contrast. Boiling the milk hard is what ruins it, since it catches on the base and leaves a scorched taste through the whole pot. Chef's tip: reduce the milk in a separate wide pan while the meat cooks, then combine them; it thickens faster and is far less likely to burn.

100 min

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Achar goshtPickle-spiced mutton curry

Sour, hot and pungent, achar gosht borrows its whole flavour from a jar of pickle: fennel, nigella, fenugreek, mustard seed and cumin fried in mustard oil, with lemon and long green chillies stuffed with the same spices. It belongs to the Urdu-speaking kitchens of Karachi and Hyderabad, where it is made for dinner guests and shared at office lunches, and it is eaten with naan or tandoori roti, never with a delicate pulao. The gravy is thick and clings to the meat, glistening with oil. The step people rush is roasting the pickling spices; they must be toasted and coarsely crushed, not used whole, or the curry tastes raw and seedy. Chef's tip: mustard oil gives the true pickle tang; heat it until it smokes, then let it cool for a minute before adding anything, so it loses its harsh edge.

95 min

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Aloo goshtMutton and potato curry

If one curry stands for a weekday dinner in a Pakistani house, from Rawalpindi flats to Karachi's Nazimabad, it is aloo gosht: mutton on the bone and halved potatoes in a loose, peppery shorba meant to be soaked up with chapati or poured over plain rice. Nothing about it is fancy; its comfort comes from a long bhuna of onion, tomato and spice before any water goes in, so the thin gravy still tastes deep. The potatoes go in once the meat is half done and come out soft at the edges, having drunk the gravy. Adding them at the start leaves them falling apart while the meat is still chewy, so wait. Chef's tip: when the masala is fully fried, add the water boiling hot, not cold, so the meat keeps cooking and the shorba stays clear rather than greasy.

90 min

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Bakra Eid kalejiStir-fried goat liver

The first thing cooked in countless Pakistani homes on the morning of Eid-ul-Adha, just after the sacrifice, is kaleji: the goat's liver, still very fresh, sliced and stir-fried in a karahi with onion, tomato, ginger and green chilli, then eaten at once with hot paratha or naan while the rest of the meat is being divided. The dish is quick and fierce, tender in the middle, sharp with chilli and lemon. Outside Eid, butchers in every city sell goat or lamb liver for the same breakfast. Overcooking makes liver rubbery, but undercooking is not safe, so cut it into even pieces and cook until it reaches 71 °C with no pink left; it will still be tender. Chef's tip: add the salt only at the very end, as salting liver early draws out moisture and toughens it.

25 min

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Khaddi kebabRoast spiced lamb over rice

A khaddi, in Baloch country, is a pit dug in the ground and lined with hot stones; a whole goat or lamb, rubbed with salt and spices and stuffed with rice, is lowered in, covered with earth and left for hours, then dug out for weddings and tribal feasts. Few home cooks have a pit, so this version roasts a bone-in lamb shoulder low and slow under foil, then sets it on a tray of part-cooked rice so the rice drinks the dripping juices, the same marriage of meat and rice the pit gives. The meat should pull apart with a spoon and the rice taste deeply of lamb. Stuffing raw rice inside a big joint is where cooks go wrong at home: the centre stays underdone and is not safe, so cook the rice under the meat instead. Chef's tip: roast the lamb the day before, chill it in its juices and lift off the hard fat, then reheat with the rice; it carves more neatly too.

300 min

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Kunna goshtClay pot mutton

Chiniot, the furniture town on the Chenab, claims this dish as its own: mutton and marrow bones packed into a narrow-necked clay pot called a kunna, sealed with dough and left to cook slowly in the embers of a bakery oven. The result is a deep red, almost syrupy gravy that clings to every piece, with a layer of spiced ghee floating on top, and it is eaten on Sundays and at family gatherings with hot naan straight from the tandoor. At home a heavy casserole sealed with foil under the lid does the same job. People often lift the lid to check, and every peek lets out the steam that makes the gravy glossy; trust the clock and the low heat. Chef's tip: ask for a few pieces of shank and marrow bone in the mix, because the gelatine from them gives kunna its sticky shine.

170 min

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Marchwangan kormaFiery red mutton korma

The name says it all: marchwangan means chilli, and this is the wazwan's hottest course, mutton cooked in a deep crimson gravy of Kashmiri chillies, mustard oil, fennel, dry ginger and a breath of cinnamon, with a spoonful of tamarind for sharpness. Kashmiri chillies bring colour more than ferocity, so you need a lot of them, and a few hotter dried chillies give the real kick. It is served at weddings and family feasts in Azad Kashmir and by Kashmiri households in Lahore and Rawalpindi with plain rice, alongside milder dishes like gushtaba to cool the palate. Scorching the chilli paste is how it goes wrong; it turns bitter and brown, so fry it on a moderate heat with a splash of water. Chef's tip: soak the whole dried chillies in hot water and blend them rather than using only powder, for a smoother, glossier gravy.

110 min

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Namak mandi tikkaSalt-seasoned grilled lamb

Namak Mandi, the old salt market inside Peshawar's walled city, is now a street of smoke and sizzling skewers, and its tikka is famous because it needs almost nothing: chunks of lamb threaded between cubes of dumba tail fat, salted and grilled over charcoal until the fat melts and bastes the meat. You eat it at a long table off a sheet of hot naan, with raw tomato wedges, onion and green chilli, and pots of green tea afterwards. It tastes of lamb, salt and smoke and nothing else, which is the point. Over-marinating is what goes wrong, oddly enough: piling on spices or yogurt hides the meat, and salting too early draws out moisture, so salt just before grilling. Chef's tip: if your butcher has no tail fat, use well-marbled shoulder and thread a few pieces of the lamb's own fat between the cubes.

35 min

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Namkeen goshtSalted lamb in its own fat

Pashtun cooking has a proud streak of minimalism, and namkeen gosht (salted meat) shows it best: lamb on the bone cooked slowly in a karahi or heavy pot in its own fat with salt, then finished with tomatoes and green chillies, and nothing else bar a crack of black pepper. In Peshawar and the tribal districts it is made in big pots for jirga gatherings and Eid, and on cold Swat evenings it is what the family eats with thick naan and a plate of raw onion. The meat ends up meltingly tender, the gravy is a glossy reduction of fat and juices. Adding water too early is the misstep; the lamb should first release and fry in its own liquid. Chef's tip: choose fatty pieces like ribs and shoulder; lean leg alone will turn dry and stringy with this method.

120 min

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Nargisi koftaEgg-stuffed mince koftas

Cut a nargisi kofta in half and you see why it is named after the narcissus flower: a white and yellow egg ringed with a band of browned, spiced mince, sitting in a deep red gravy. The dish came down from Mughal kitchens to Pakistani wedding menus and Eid dinners, and it is still the showpiece many families make for guests, served with naan, sheermal or pulao. The meat casing is soft and fragrant with garam masala, and the gravy rich with yogurt, onion and a little cream. Shells that crack open in the pan are the common grief; dust the eggs in gram flour first so the mince grips, and keep the casing an even thickness. Chef's tip: halve the koftas only on the serving dish, just before they go to the table, with a sharp, wet knife for a clean cut.

90 min

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Palak goshtMutton and spinach curry

When the winter spinach comes in around Gujranwala and Sheikhupura, bunches of it are piled on carts by the armful, and palak gosht is what many Punjabi kitchens make with them. The spinach is cooked into the mutton until it collapses into a dark green, garlicky gravy, loose but not soupy, with flecks of ginger and the warmth of green chilli rather than a lot of red spice. It is eaten with makki ki roti or plain chapati and a glass of lassi. Puréeing the spinach to a smooth paste is a frequent misstep; Punjabi cooks chop it and let it melt so you can still see the leaves. Chef's tip: add a knob of butter or ghee and a pinch of dried fenugreek leaves at the end, which rounds off the iron edge of the spinach.

95 min

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Raan roastSpiced yogurt roast leg of lamb

On the second or third day of Eid-ul-Adha, once the sacrificed animal has been shared out with neighbours and the poor, many Pakistani families keep back one leg for a raan: scored deeply, rubbed with raw papaya, then soaked overnight in yogurt, garlic, chilli and garam masala and roasted slowly until the meat pulls from the bone in soft, spiced shreds. It is the centrepiece of the Eid dinner table, carved at the table and served with naan, a crisp salad, mint raita and sometimes fried potatoes. The crust should be dark and sticky, the inside juicy. Roasting it hot from the start is the misstep; the outside burns while the bone end stays tough, so go low and covered first. Chef's tip: let the leg sit at room temperature for an hour before roasting, and baste it with the pan juices every 30 minutes once the foil comes off.

240 min

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