Spidee Scoop

Pakistanis are passionate about their cuisine, which is full of flavor and bursting with color. And they love to eat.

Here are some of the best dishes to try:

Pakoras

These easy-to-make crispy, fried fritters are a classic finger food served as a starter or a side dish.

Vegetables are thinly sliced before being soaked in a seasoned and spice gram flour batter and then fried for a few minutes.

Grab them while they are hot. If you prefer a meatier option, fish pakoras are also a favorite.

Kebabs

Served as a snack or appetizer, there are many types of kebabs in Pakistani cuisine.

There’s the popular seekh kebab, which is ground meat grilled on skewers.

We also recommend the chapli kebab – so called because it is thought to be shaped like a chappal (sandal) – and the shami kebab, which features small patties made with minced meat mixed with split chickpeas, finely chopped onion, mint, green chili and egg to hold it all together.

Gol gappa

This popular street food was once sold by cart-pushing vendors who would sing out their presence while hawking their wares. While the advent of more snack food restaurants has made this less common, the popularity of the gol gappa has not waned.

The round shell is made with semolina and fried. Once it cools and becomes brittle, a hole is created and filled with a mixture of tamarind chutney, chili, chaat masala, potato, onion and chickpeas. It is served with a bowl of spicy tamarind dip.

Biryani

Thought to have developed in the royal kitchens of the 16th-19th century Mughal Empire, this rice dish is often served on special occasions.

It can be made with lamb or beef but chicken biryani is a favorite.

The meat and rice are cooked separately before being layered and cooked together with an assortment of spices.

Haleem

Warm and comforting, this dish may look simple enough but a combination of lentils, wheat, barley and minced beef (or other preferred meat) is slow-cooked for hours in gentle spices.

The sticky consistency is achieved by constant stirring.

Paya

Paya literally translates to trotters and this warming goat curry, with a soup-like consistency, is often eaten on cold winter mornings.

Again, slow-cooking will ensure that all of the spices have been infused into the perfectly tender meat.

Lobia daal

Packed with protein and fiber, black-eyed peas curry – lobia daal – is a particularly healthy option as well as a tasty one.

Peas are soaked overnight for best results and the curry is made with a tomato base.

It’s best eaten with roti (flatbread), in which case the curry sauce should be kept a little thicker, or with rice.

Paratha

Pakistanis make a range of perfect melt-in-your-mouth flatbreads including roti and naans but the paratha, made with clarified butter is a particularly delicious indulgence.

Eaten for breakfast, you can go for the plain option but there are also various fillings to choose from including mincemeat, potato or the mooli paratha – made with a radish filling.

Zarda

Traditionally served on special occasions, this brightly colored sweet rice is a Pakistani favorite.

Made with sugar, milk and food coloring and flavored with cardamoms, raisins, pistachios and almonds, zarda is either yellow or made with various food colorings to give it a multicolor effect.

Halwa poori and channa

A breakfast of champions, this combination of a poori (deep-fried bread), which is light and fluffy, is served with the rich-tasting halwa (made with wheat semolina, sugar and butter) and channa (a chickpea curry).

It’s often consumed on Eid morning but can also be found as a street food breakfast or brunch option.