Farhan Afridi
Recipes by Farhan Afridi
Charsi Tikka
Charsi Tikka from Peshawar's Namak Mandi is the most audaciously simple chicken you will ever eat — just salt, a whisper of lemon, and the alchemy of charcoal heat and lamb tail fat. No food colouring, no marinade box, no yoghurt — just fire, fat, and a whole chicken that emerges crackling and golden. It will make you question everything you knew about flavour.
Peshawari Siri Paye
Peshawari Siri Paye is the pre-dawn breakfast of champions — beef or goat head and trotters slow-cooked for 6-8 hours in a broth so rich and gelatinous it sets like jelly when cold. In Peshawar, this is the meal that starts the day before fajr prayer, eaten with Peshawari naan in the amber light of old city shops. The broth IS the dish.
Peshawari Naan
Peshawari Naan is a thick, cloud-like flatbread from the ancient city of Peshawar — so large and puffy it barely fits on a standard plate. The dough is more hydrated than regular naan, giving it a pillowy interior with a slightly crisp exterior, and it is finished with nothing but a generous slick of butter.
KP Hareesa Gosht
The ancient grain-and-meat porridge of KP — hareesa is simpler than haleem, celebrating wheat and lamb in their most elemental form. Warm, sustaining, and profoundly comforting.
Peshawari Biryani
Peshawari Biryani is the KP take on Pakistan's favourite rice dish — aromatic, less spicy than its southern cousins, and heavy on the meat. Influenced by Afghani cooking traditions, this biryani relies on quality ingredients and restraint rather than complexity.
Traditional Bannu Beef Pulao
Traditional Bannu Beef Pulao is KP's most celebrated rice dish — slow-cooked beef in a deeply aromatic yakhni, finished with fragrant basmati and a generous hand with ghee. This is the pulao that made the small city of Bannu famous across all of Pakistan.
Bannu Pulao Wedding Style
Bannu Pulao Wedding Style is the full-scale celebration version of KP's most iconic dish — scaled for a feast, cooked in a large deg, and carrying the unmistakable flavour of a dish that has made wedding guests in KP very, very happy for generations.
KP Rice with Gosht (Chawal Gosht)
KP Chawal Gosht is the provincial home-cooking classic — mutton cooked in aromatic yakhni that then becomes the cooking medium for fragrant basmati rice. Simple in approach, extraordinary in flavour, and deeply representative of how KP cooks think about food.
Beef Chapli Kebab
Beef Chapli Kebab is Peshawar's most famous export — a flat, disc-shaped kebab packed with beef, tomato, pomegranate seeds, and whole spices, shallow-fried in beef tallow to produce a crispy edge and juicy centre that is genuinely addictive.
Afghani Chicken Tikka
Afghani Chicken Tikka from KP brings the cooking traditions of the Pak-Afghan frontier — whole spices, yoghurt, and aromatic herbs create a pale, fragrant tikka that's deeply flavourful without a single dried chilli powder in sight.
KP Chana Dal
KP Chana Dal is a hearty, robustly spiced split chickpea dal from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, cooked with whole spices and a generous hand with ginger — warming and deeply aromatic.
Peshawari Halwa Puri
Peshawari Halwa Puri features a thicker, crispier puri and a distinctly spiced, darker halwa enriched with nuts — reflecting KP's love of robust flavours and generous hospitality.
Peshawari Stuffed Chapati
Peshawari Stuffed Chapati is a thick, hearty KP-style flatbread filled with spiced potato and onion — cooked on a tawa with minimal fat for a wholesome, filling breakfast that fuels mountain people.
Swat Chapli Kebab — Valley Mountain Version
Swat Valley's distinctive take on chapli kebab — thicker than Bannu, with the addition of fresh mint and a touch of ajwain (carom seeds), reflecting the mountain valley's herb-forward cooking tradition.
KP Namkeen Gosht Karahi
KP's famous 'salty meat' karahi — defiantly minimal in spicing, cooked in its own fat in a karahi until tender and gleaming. The Peshawar take on namkeen gosht is coarser, oilier, and more satisfying than any masala-heavy alternative.
Afghani Hareesa — Cross-Border Style
The Afghan-influenced hareesa popular in Peshawar's Qissa Khwani Bazaar — richer with more ghee, finished with a cinnamon-scented tarka, and reflecting the cross-border culinary exchange that defines this frontier city.
Kashmiri Gushtaba — Yogurt Lamb Meatballs
The crown jewel of Kashmiri wazwan — giant hand-pounded lamb meatballs simmered in a silky, lightly spiced yogurt gravy. Gushtaba is traditionally the final savory dish of a wedding feast, signaling the meal is complete.
Kashmiri Rogan Josh — The Real Red Curry
Authentic Kashmiri rogan josh — its brilliant red color comes not from chili powder but from Kashmiri dried chilies (Kashmiri laal mirch) and dried cockscomb flowers (mawal), with no yogurt, no cream, and no tomatoes. This is the real thing.
Gurgur Chai — Hunza Butter Tea
The warming, savory butter tea of Hunza and Gilgit-Baltistan — strong tea churned with salt and butter (traditionally yak butter) into a thick, sustaining beverage that has kept mountain communities warm for centuries.
Shinwari Karahi — Peshawari Mountain Karahi
The legendary Shinwari karahi from Peshawar's Bara Road and Landi Kotal — made with fresh lamb in a karahi with only salt, ginger, green chilies, and tomatoes. No onion, no masala powder, no color. The purest karahi in Pakistan.