Pakistani cuisine can be characterized as a blend of regional cooking styles and flavours from across South, Central and West Asia. Pakistani cuisine is influenced by Persian, Indian, and Arab cuisine. The cuisine of Pakistan also maintains certain Mughal influences within its recipes and cooking techniques. Pakistan's ethnic and cultural diversity, diverse climates, geographical environments, and availability of different produce lead to diverse regional cuisines.
Vindaloo or Vindalho is an Indian curry dish, originally from Vasai and Goa.
Punjabi cuisine is a culinary style originating in the Punjab, a region in the northern part of South Asia, which is now divided in an Indian part to the east and a Pakistani part to the west. This cuisine has a rich tradition of many distinct and local ways of cooking.
Rogan josh ; Kashmiri:[roːɡandʒoːʃ]), also spelled roghan josh or roghan ghosht, is an aromatic curried meat dish originating from Kashmir.
Pilaf, pilav or pilau is a rice dish, usually sautéed, or in some regions, a wheat dish, whose recipe usually involves cooking in stock or broth, adding spices, and other ingredients such as vegetables or meat, and employing some technique for achieving cooked grains that do not adhere to each other.
Biryani is a mixed rice dish, mainly popular in South Asia. It is made with rice, some type of meat and spices. To cater to vegetarians, in some cases, it is prepared by substituting vegetables or paneer for the meat. Sometimes eggs or potatoes are also added.
A karahi is a type of thick, circular, and deep cooking pot that originated in the Lucknow, India. It is used in Indian, Nepalese, Sri Lankan, Pakistani, Bangladeshi/Bengali, Afghan, and Caribbean cuisines. Traditionally press-formed from mild steel sheets or made of wrought iron, a karahi resembles a wok with steeper sides. Today, they can be made of stainless steel, copper, and nonstick surfaces, both round and flat-bottomed, or of traditional materials. The word Karrahi emanates from Karah, a bigger version of wok traditionally used in the subcontinent for boiling milk and producing thick cream, that stems from the Persian word کرہ karah meaning circular.
South Asian cuisine, includes the traditional cuisines from the modern-day South Asian republics of Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, also sometimes including the kingdom of Bhutan and the emirate of Afghanistan. Also sometimes known as Desi cuisine, it has been influenced by and also has influenced other Asian cuisines beyond the Indian subcontinent.
Afghan cuisine is influenced by Persian, Central Asian, and South Asian cuisines due to Afghanistan's close proximity and cultural ties. The cuisine is halal and mainly based on mutton, beef, poultry and fish with rice and Afghan bread. Accompanying these are common vegetables and dairy products, such as milk, yogurt, whey, and fresh and dried fruits such as apples, apricots, grapes, bananas, oranges, plums, pomegranates, sweet melons, and raisins. The diet of most Afghans revolves around rice-based dishes, while various forms of naan are consumed with most meals. Tea is generally consumed daily in large quantities, and is a major part of hospitality. The culinary specialties reflect the nation's ethnic and geographic diversity. The national dish of Afghanistan is Kabuli palaw, a rice dish cooked with raisins, carrots, nuts, and lamb or beef.
Hyderabadi cuisine, also known as Deccani cuisine, is the cooking style characteristic of the city of Hyderabad and its surrounding area in Telangana, India.
Mughlai cuisine consists of dishes developed or popularised in the early-modern Indo-Persian cultural centres of the Mughal Empire. It represents a combination of cuisine of the Indian subcontinent with the cooking styles and recipes of Central Asian and Islamic cuisine. Mughlai cuisine is strongly influenced by the Turkic cuisine of Central Asia, the region where the early Mughal emperors originally hailed from, and it has in turn strongly influenced the regional cuisines of Northern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Awadhi cuisine is a cuisine native to the Awadh region in Northern India and Southern Nepal. The cooking patterns of Lucknow are similar to those of Central Asia, the Middle East, and Northern India and western India with the cuisine comprising both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The Awadh region has been influenced by Mughal cooking techniques, and the cuisine of Lucknow bears similarities to those of Central Asia, Kashmir, Punjab and Hyderabad. The city is also known for its Nawabi foods.
Meat plays a much more dominant role in Pakistani cuisine, compared to other South Asian cuisines. Of all the meats, the most popular are chicken, lamb, beef, goat, and fish.Beef is particularly sought after as the meat of choice for kebab dishes or the classic beef shank dish nihari. Seafood is generally not consumed in large amounts, though it is very popular in the coastal areas of Sindh and the Makran coast of Balochistan.
Mutton curry is a dish that is prepared from goat meat and vegetables. The dish is found in different variations across all states, countries and regions of the Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean.
A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients can include any combination of vegetables and may include meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef, pork, venison, rabbit, lamb, poultry, sausages, and seafood. While water can be used as the stew-cooking liquid, stock is also common. A small amount of red wine or other alcohol is sometimes added for flavour. Seasonings and flavourings may also be added. Stews are typically cooked at a relatively low temperature, allowing flavours to mingle.
Arab Indonesian cuisine is characterized by the mixture of Middle Eastern cuisine with local Indonesian-style cuisine. Arab Indonesians brought their legacy of Arab cuisine—originally from Hadhramaut, Hejaz, Sudan and Egypt—and modified some of the dishes with the addition of Indonesian ingredients. The Arabs arrived in the Nusantara archipelago to trade and spread Islam. In Java, since the 18th century AD, most of Arab traders settled on the north coast and diffuse with indigenous, thus affecting the local cuisine culture, especially in the use of goat and mutton meat as well as ghee in cooking.
Indian Indonesian cuisine is characterized by the mixture of Indian cuisine with local Indonesian-style. This cuisine consists of adaptations of authentic dishes from India, as well as original creations inspired by the diverse food culture of Indonesia. Indian influence can be observed in Indonesia as early as the 4th century. Following the spread of Islam to Indonesia and trading, Muslim Indian as well as Arab influences made their way into Indonesian cuisine. Examples include Indian biryani, murtabak, curry and paratha that influenced Acehnese, Minangkabau, Malay, Palembangese, Betawi and Javanese cuisine.
