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306 recipes

Muji chetin

In the cold months, when long white radishes come up from the terraced fields around Muzaffarabad, Kashmiri households grate them into muji chetin, a peppery, cooling relish that turns up at almost every winter meal. The raw radish gives crunch and a gentle heat of its own, the yogurt softens it, crushed walnuts add richness and a pinch of red chilli brings colour. It is eaten with rice and a dish of yakhni or haak, and it is just as good with plain chapati. People often forget to squeeze the grated radish, so the chutney turns thin and watery within minutes. Chef's tip: salt the grated radish for 5 minutes, then wring it in a cloth before folding it into the yogurt.

15 min

Pakistani Chutneys & Dips

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Karela piaz

Bitter gourd divides every family in Punjab, but karela piaz is the version that wins over the doubters: the gourd is salted, squeezed and fried until its edges crisp, then tossed with almost as much browned onion as karela, so the sweetness of the onions softens the bitterness. In Lahore it is a summer dish, a staple of tiffin carriers and home lunches with chapati and a cooling bowl of raita, and some households pack it for long train journeys because it keeps well. The thing most people get wrong is skimping on the onions or rushing them; pale, half-cooked onions leave the dish harsh rather than mellow. Chef's tip: rub the slices with salt and a little turmeric, leave them for 30 minutes, then squeeze hard by the handful, which draws out much of the bitterness before cooking.

70 min

Pakistani Vegetarian

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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

Algerian Meat

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Rfis constantinois (date and semolina sweet)

Rather than toasting loose semolina, Constantine cooks first bake a thick semolina galette on the griddle, then crumble it while still hot and work it with melted butter and soft date paste until it turns into a fragrant, crumbly sweet. Rfis is made to celebrate a birth and for Mawlid, and is set out in a large dish, shaped into a dome and studded with almonds, for family to pinch from with coffee. It tastes of toasted bread, caramel-like dates and butter, with warm cinnamon at the end. Where rfis goes wrong is crumbling the galette after it has cooled; it must be broken up hot so the butter and dates bind it. Chef's tip: grate or rub the galette while it is hot; once it cools, it hardens and crumbles into coarse lumps instead of fine, even crumbs.

40 min

Algerian Desserts

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Tinday masala

Small, pale-green tinday arrive on Punjab's sabzi carts with the summer heat, and in Lahore and Faisalabad homes they are cooked through June and July, when nobody wants a heavy pot of meat. Cooked slowly with onion, tomato and a handful of green chillies, the little gourds turn tender and almost silky, soaking up the masala like a sponge while keeping a faint freshness that is a little like courgette. Expect to see it with hot chapati, a bowl of yogurt and a plate of kachumar for a light lunch. Many cooks drown tinday in water, and they end up soggy and grey; they release plenty of their own liquid and need only a splash. Chef's tip: choose small, firm tinday with soft fuzz on the skin, since large ones have hard seeds and a woody core.

35 min

Pakistani Vegetarian

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Ghiya chana daal

Bottle gourd is the vegetable Punjabi mothers reach for when someone in the house needs something gentle, and pairing it with chana daal turns that mildness into a proper meal. The split chickpeas cook until creamy but still slightly nubbly, the ghiya melts into soft, translucent pieces and lends the pot a quiet sweetness, and a last-minute tarka of cumin, garlic and dried red chilli wakes the whole thing up. You will find it on everyday tables from Gujranwala to Sahiwal, eaten with chapati or plain boiled rice and a little sliced onion on the side. A common slip is adding the gourd at the start with the dal, so it disappears completely by the time the lentils are soft. Chef's tip: give the soaked dal a 20-minute head start and add the ghiya only then, so both are done together.

55 min

Pakistani Curries

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Chorba beida (Algerian white chicken soup)

Unlike the red chorba of the rest of the country, the 'white' chorba of Algiers has no tomato at all: chicken, onion and a cinnamon stick are cooked gently in butter, simmered with chickpeas and fine vermicelli, then thickened at the end with egg yolks and lemon. It is a classic of Ramadan tables in the capital, and is also cooked for guests at weddings and family gatherings. The soup is silky and pale gold, mild and comforting, with a soft lemony tang. Serve it with bread and a squeeze of extra lemon. Chef's tip: once the egg yolks are in, never let the soup boil; boiling is the common mistake that curdles it into scrambled threads.

60 min

Algerian Soups

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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

Algerian Meat

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Reshmi kebab

Reshmi means silken, and the name is a promise: these long chicken kebabs are pale, soft and smooth, the minced chicken blended with cream, ground cashew, egg and gentle spice until it clings to the skewer. They are a wedding and dinner-party favourite in Lahore and Karachi, often served beside spicier seekh and tikka so that the platter has something mild, and they come with naan, onion rings and a bowl of mint raita. The texture should be bouncy and juicy, never crumbly. Many people buy ready-minced chicken, which is often too lean and coarse; mincing thigh and breast together yourself makes all the difference. Chef's tip: chill the mixture for an hour and oil your hands before shaping, so the soft paste wraps round the skewer without sticking to your palms.

45 min

Pakistani Chicken

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Halwat tabaa (stamped jam biscuits)

Ask anyone who grew up in Algeria about the night before Eid and they will mention the smell of halwat tabaa baking: buttery shortbread cut and printed with a patterned metal stamp, then sandwiched in pairs with apricot jam. Children love helping to press the patterns, and the biscuits fill the tins offered to neighbours on the morning of the feast. They are tender and short, with a clean vanilla flavour against the tangy jam, and keep well for a week. A fluted round cutter and the tines of a fork will do if you have no stamp. Avoid working the dough too much or letting it get warm, as the stamped pattern then spreads and blurs in the oven. Chef's tip: dip the stamp in flour and tap off the excess before every press; a sticky stamp blurs the pattern, which is the most common disappointment.

45 min

Algerian Baking

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Karachi halwa

Glassy, jewel-bright and chewy like a Turkish delight with more bite, Karachi halwa is the sweet that the city's mithai shops on Saddar and Tariq Road stack in orange, green and red slabs studded with cashews and melon seeds, and it travels well as a gift to family abroad. It is made from cornflour cooked with sugar syrup and lemon until it turns clear, then fed with ghee spoon by spoon until it shines and pulls away from the pan in one elastic mass. Across the border it is called Bombay halwa, and in Pakistan it is a staple for weddings, Eid and Diwali sweet boxes from the Hindu shops of Sindh. Lots of cooks lose their nerve and stop before the halwa has absorbed all the ghee and turned translucent, and it sets cloudy and sticky. Chef's tip: work the halwa with a flat wooden spatula and add the ghee only when the previous spoonful has disappeared; when the ghee starts to leak back out, it is done.

60 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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Daal mash

Walk into any dhaba on Lahore's Mall Road or in the lanes behind Anarkali after dark and daal mash is on the counter beside the tandoor, a pot of split white urad lentils cooked until each grain is soft but still separate, never a soup. It is eaten scooped up with hot tandoori roti, with a heap of raw onion rings and a squeeze of lemon, and it is rich enough to stand in for meat at a weeknight dinner. The flavour comes almost entirely from the last minute: a ladle of ghee crackling with garlic, ginger, green chilli and cumin poured over at the table. The usual mistake is adding too much water, which turns it to mush; it should cook in just enough to be absorbed. Chef's tip: soak the dal for 30 minutes and stir it as little as possible once it is in the pot, so the grains stay whole.

50 min

Pakistani Curries

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Shalgam ki sabzi

December fog over central Punjab means turnip season: purple-topped turnips pile up at every mandi, and village kitchens from Sheikhupura to Okara cook them down into this soft, sweet-savoury mash. Covered and steamed in their own juices with onion and tomato, the turnips lose their peppery bite, then a little jaggery and a final hard stir-fry turn them glossy and jammy. It is winter food through and through, eaten with makki di roti or wholewheat chapati, a dab of white butter for those who want it and a glass of lassi. Skipping the final bhuno, the open-pan frying at the end, is the classic error: it leaves the dish watery and flat instead of rich. Chef's tip: mash only half the turnips, leaving the rest in small pieces, so the sabzi has some texture.

50 min

Pakistani Vegetarian

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Aloo anday

Ask almost anyone who grew up in a Punjabi household in Pakistan what was cooked at the end of the month, when the meat money had run out, and aloo anday will come up with real affection. Halved hard-boiled eggs and chunks of potato sit in a loose, brick-red shorba of browned onion and tomato, thin enough to soak into a chapati and rice alike, with a cut green chilli on top. It is a weeknight and Sunday-brunch dish rather than a guest dish, and children tend to love it. Where it goes wrong is in the masala: if the onions and tomatoes are not fried until the oil separates, the gravy tastes raw and watery however long it simmers. Chef's tip: score the peeled eggs lightly with a knife and fry them in the masala for a minute before the water goes in, so they take on colour and flavour.

40 min

Pakistani Curries

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Djouzia (walnut and honey nougat)

Shops in old Constantine wrap djouzia in twists of paper and sell it by weight, a soft, pale caramel-coloured nougat of honey, whipped egg white and plenty of walnuts. It is chewier and darker than white Provençal nougat, with a deep honey flavour and the slight bitterness of walnut skins. Djouzia is a gift sweet, carried to weddings and offered with coffee to visitors, and keeps for weeks. A sugar thermometer makes it reliable. Chef's tip: cook the honey syrup to 125 °C; syrup that is pulled off too early is the most common mistake, and the nougat stays sticky and will not set enough to cut.

55 min

Algerian Desserts

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Djelbana (Algerian lamb and pea stew)

Spring markets in Algiers fill with sacks of fresh peas and violet artichokes, and that is the moment for djelbana, a light, pale stew of lamb, peas, artichoke hearts and potatoes cooked with onion, garlic and a little turmeric, finished with fresh coriander. Families serve it at lunch with plenty of bread to soak up the sauce; on meat-free days it is made the same way without the lamb. It tastes fresh, sweet and gently peppery rather than heavily spiced. Frozen peas and artichoke hearts are fine out of season. Chef's tip: add the peas only for the last 10 minutes; peas put in with the meat are the usual mistake and turn grey and mushy.

90 min

Algerian Curries

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Sfiria (cheese croquettes in chicken sauce)

Sfiria belongs to the old bourgeois cooking of Algiers, served on Ramadan evenings and at family celebrations: little croquettes of soaked bread, grated cheese and egg, scented with cinnamon, are fried golden and then laid in a pale chicken and chickpea sauce flavoured with cinnamon and white pepper. The croquettes are light and spongy, soaking up just enough sauce to be juicy, and the dish tastes delicate and faintly sweet. Day-old white bread without crusts gives the best texture. Chef's tip: add the croquettes to the sauce only at the last minute; leaving them to simmer is the common mistake, and they swell, go soggy and fall apart.

80 min

Algerian Chicken

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Tlitli (Algerian rice-shaped pasta with chicken)

Tlitli is a tiny pasta shaped like grains of rice, once rolled by hand and now sold dried, and in Algiers and Constantine it is cooked for family feasts such as Ennayer, the Amazigh New Year, or the return of a pilgrim. The pasta soaks up a red sauce of chicken, onion, tomato, paprika, cinnamon and chickpeas, and is piled on a platter with the chicken and halved boiled eggs on top. Expect a cosy, gently spiced dish, a bit like a red risotto, with soft pasta and tender chicken. Orzo is a good stand-in if you cannot find tlitli. Chef's tip: toast the pasta in oil before adding sauce; untoasted tlitli tends to clump and turn mushy, a common mistake.

75 min

Algerian Pasta & Noodles

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Trida (steamed pasta squares in chicken sauce)

Making trida is an afternoon's work shared around a Constantine kitchen table, especially before Mawlid or a family celebration: a firm semolina dough is rolled paper-thin, cut into small squares, dried, and then steamed twice over a pot of chicken and chickpea sauce flavoured with cinnamon and a touch of tomato. The squares come out tender with a slight bite, glossy with butter and sauce, and are piled on a platter under the chicken. A pasta machine saves a lot of rolling. Chef's tip: dust the cut squares well with semolina and let them dry for half an hour; damp squares are the usual mistake and stick into a single mass in the steamer.

120 min

Algerian Pasta & Noodles

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Mouna

Oran's mouna came over with Spanish settlers as the Easter mona, and it is still baked for spring outings, recalling the Easter Monday picnics once held at the Santa Cruz chapel above the city. It is a tall, light, golden brioche with a crackly sugar crust, softly flavoured with orange-flower water and lemon zest rather than butter-heavy, and it tears into long, feathery strands. Eat it with coffee or hot chocolate, plain or with jam. The dough is slow and sticky, so give it time. Chef's tip: let the dough rise slowly overnight in the fridge after the first knead; it becomes easier to shape and the flavour deepens.

75 min

Algerian Baking

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Multani sohan halwa

Packed in round tins and carried home from Multan's Hussain Agahi bazaar as a gift, sohan halwa is the sweet the City of Saints is known for across Pakistan, and families in Lahore and Karachi still wait for relatives to bring a box back after a visit. It is dark, dense and chewy, with a deep caramel flavour from milk and sugar cooked for hours, and its texture comes from samnak, a flour made from sprouted wheat, cooked in ghee until the fat seeps out around the edges. Almonds and pistachios are pressed into the top, and it is eaten in small squares with tea, especially in winter. Giving up too early is the classic error; pale, soft halwa has not been cooked long enough to caramelise and set. Chef's tip: stir constantly once the flour goes in and take your time; the mixture is ready when it turns a deep brown, leaves the pan in a single mass and the ghee pools freely. Take care, as the mixture is very hot and sticky.

165 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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Saraiki kalay chanay

Small, dark kala chana are the everyday protein of the Saraiki belt, and from Dera Ghazi Khan to Multan they are cooked dry, so that each nutty chickpea is wrapped in a thick coating of fried onion, tomato and spice rather than swimming in gravy. Ground pomegranate seed (anardana) gives a gentle sourness, and the dish has an earthy depth that the lighter white chickpea never quite reaches. Expect it at breakfast with tandoori roti and a glass of lassi, packed for field work, and in big pots at shrines on Thursday evenings. Undercooked chickpeas are the usual let-down: black chana take longer than you think and must be truly soft before they meet the masala. Chef's tip: soak them overnight and keep a little of the cooking water to loosen the masala during the final fry.

70 min

Pakistani Curries

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Anday ka halwa

Sweet, golden and grainy like a rich crumble, egg halwa is the quick showpiece of Hyderabadi and Karachi home kitchens, made when unexpected guests arrive or for a winter Sunday, and it fills the house with the smell of ghee and cardamom. Eggs are beaten with milk, sugar and milk powder, then stirred in ghee until the custard sets, breaks and finally fries into soft, sandy granules that cling together like khoya; there is no eggy taste once it is properly cooked. It is served warm in small bowls, topped with almonds and pistachios, sometimes with a few saffron threads. The commonest failure is stopping too soon, when the halwa is still wet and scrambled-egg-like, rather than cooking on until it turns granular and golden and the ghee separates. Chef's tip: strain the beaten egg mixture through a sieve before cooking, which removes the stringy whites and gives a smooth, even grain.

50 min

Pakistani Indian Sweets

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Matar pulao

Fresh peas flood the bazaars of Punjab from December to February, and that is when matar pulao appears on Sunday tables in Rawalpindi and Lahore, the pale grains scattered with bright green and threaded with ribbons of caramelised onion. The rice is cooked in a lightly spiced stock of whole cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and peppercorns, then left to steam so every grain stays long and separate. It is served with raita, kachumar and often a shami kebab or an egg curry on the side, and it is one of the first things a new cook in the house is taught. Stirring after the water goes in breaks the grains and makes the rice gluey, which is where many first attempts fail. Chef's tip: measure the water exactly and wait until small craters appear on the surface of the rice before covering it for its final steam.

45 min

Pakistani Rice & Grains

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