Pakistani cuisine can be characterized as a blend of regional cooking styles and flavours from across South, Central and Western Asia. Pakistani cuisine is influenced by Persian and Arab cuisine. The cuisine of Pakistan also maintains certain Mughal influences within its recipes and cooking techniques. The country's various cuisines vary across the country. Pakistan's ethnic and cultural diversity, diverse climates, geographical environments, and availability of different produce options reason for the uniqueness of pakistani cuisine.
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.
Pilaf or pilau is a rice dish, 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 most 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 for the meat. Sometimes eggs and/or potatoes are added.
Clay pot cooking is a process of cooking food in a pot made of unglazed or glazed pottery.
A dhaba is a roadside restaurant in the Indian subcontinent, primarily across Pakistan and India. They are on highways, generally serve local cuisine, and also serve as truck stops. They are most commonly found next to petrol stations, and most are open 24 hours a day.
Sanbeiji is a popular chicken dish in Chinese cuisine and one of the most iconic dishes of Jiangxi cuisine. The dish originates from the Jiangxi province of southern China, and is a specialty of Ningdu. The dish has become especially popular in Taiwan, being introduced to the island by the Hakka people. It is also served as a postpartum confinement food by the Chinese community of Malaysia. The Jiangxi style has a complex flavor and is spicy, while the Taiwan variant has a more simplistic flavor and is non-spicy.
Flattened rice is a type of rice dish made from raw, toasted, or parboiled rice grains pounded into flat flakes. They are eaten as is, toasted, fried, or used as ingredients or toppings for other dishes. Depending on their use, they can be crispy, crunchy, chewy, or soft in texture with a light nutty flavor. They are traditional to many rice-cultivating cultures in Southeast Asia and South Asia. It is also known variously as rice flakes, beaten rice, pounded rice, pressed rice or chipped rice.
Jollof, or jollofrice, is a rice dish from West Africa. The dish is typically made with long-grain rice, tomatoes, chilies, onions, spices, and sometimes other vegetables and/or meat in a single pot, although its ingredients and preparation methods vary across different regions. The dish's origins are traced to the Senegambian region.
Sindhi cuisine refers to the distinct native cuisine of the Sindhi people from Sindh, Pakistan. Sindhi cuisine has been influenced by Central Asian, Iranian, Mughal food traditions. It is mostly a non-vegetarian cuisine, with even Sindhi Hindus widely accepting of meat consumption. The daily food in most Sindhi households consists of wheat-based flat-bread (phulka) and rice accompanied by two dishes, one gravy and one dry with curd, papad or pickle. Freshwater fish and a wide variety of vegetables are usually used in Sindhi cuisine. Restaurants specializing in Sindhi cuisine are rare, although it is found at truck stops in rural areas of Sindh province, and in a few restaurants in urban Sindh.
Kadhi, or karhi, is a popular dish mainly consumed in South Asia. It consists of a thick gravy or soup based on gram flour, and it may contain vegetable fritters called pakora, which include dahi (yogurt) for a sour taste. It is often eaten with cooked rice or roti. Varieties of kadhi include those from Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, and Sindh, all of which are located in present-day India and Pakistan.
Bhojpuri cuisine is a style of food preparation common among the Bhojpuri people of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh in India, and also the Terai region of Nepal. Bhojpuri foods are mostly mild and tend to be less hot in terms of spices used. The cuisine consists of both vegetable and meat dishes.
Sevai, shavige, saemia and santhakai is a type of rice vermicelli popular in India. While typically made from rice, varieties made out of other food grains like wheat, ragi, and others can also be found.
Cooked rice refers to rice that has been cooked either by steaming or boiling. The terms steamed rice or boiled rice are also commonly used. Any variant of Asian rice, African rice or wild rice, glutinous or non-glutinous, long-, medium-, or short-grain, of any colour, can be used. Rice for cooking can be whole grain or milled.
Bihari cuisine is eaten mainly in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, as well as in the places where people originating from the state of Bihar have settled: Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius, South Africa, Fiji, some cities of Pakistan, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Jamaica, and the Caribbean. Bihari cuisine includes Bhojpuri cuisine, Maithil cuisine and Magahi cuisine.
Bap is a Korean name for cooked rice prepared by boiling rice or other grains, such as black rice, barley, sorghum, various millets, and beans, until the water has cooked away. Special ingredients such as vegetables, seafood, and meat can also be added to create different kinds of bap. In the past, except for the socially wealthy class, people used to eat mixed grain rice together with beans and barley rather than only rice.
Andhra cuisine, culturally known as Telugu cuisine, is a cuisine of India native to the state of Andhra Pradesh and is the culinary style of Telugu people. It is generally known for its tangy, hot, and spicy taste.
Malaysian Indian cuisine, or the cooking of the ethnic Indian communities in Malaysia, consists of adaptations of authentic dishes from India, as well as original creations inspired by the diverse food culture of Malaysia. Because the vast majority of Malaysia's Indian community are of South Indian descent, and are mostly ethnic Tamils who are descendants of immigrants from a historical region which consists of the modern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka's Northern Province, much of Malaysian Indian cuisine is predominantly South Indian inspired in character and taste. A typical Malaysian Indian dish is likely to be redolent with curry leaves, whole and powdered spice, and contains fresh coconut in various forms. Ghee is still widely used for cooking, although vegetable oils and refined palm oils are now commonplace in home kitchens. Before a meal it is customary to wash hands as cutlery is often not used while eating, with the exception of a serving spoon for each respective dish.
Khao chae is "rice soaked in cool water". "Khao" means "rice" and "chae" means "to soak". Around the time of King Rama II, the recipe was adapted from a Mon dish and then modified. It was meant to be made and consumed in the hot season, from mid-March to the end of April. Ice was not then available in Thailand, so the water was kept cool during hot season by putting it in an earthenware vessel in a shaded place. Some old recipes call for the use of camphor to cool the dish.
Rice-cooking utensils are tools used for cooking rice and similar foods.
