Hina Jatoi
Recipes by Hina Jatoi
Bun Kebab Karachi Style
Karachi's original street burger — a spiced lentil patty tucked in a bun with sweet-tangy chutney, egg wash, and raw onions. The 50-rupee meal that punches above its weight.
Karachi Chana Chaat
Karachi Chana Chaat is the city's most beloved street snack — spiced boiled chickpeas tossed with crunchy onions, tangy tomatoes, tart imli (tamarind) chutney, cool dahi (yoghurt), and a snowfall of masalas. Every bite is simultaneously sweet, sour, spicy, and salty — a flavour explosion that Karachi has made its own.
Bihari Boti — Karachi's Partition Kebab
Paper-thin strips of beef tenderloin, pounded flat, marinated overnight in mustard oil and poppy seeds, skewered flat and grilled. A Karachi classic born from the Bihari community's journey at Partition.
Karachi Khausa — The Memon Coconut Noodle Bowl
A Burmese coconut noodle soup adapted by Pakistani Memons who fled Burma at Partition — a fragrant coconut chicken curry poured over noodles and finished at the table with a customisable array of toppings.
Honey Chilli Chicken
The showpiece Pakistani Chinese starter — shatteringly crispy chicken cubes in a glossy, fiery-sweet glaze that is all heat first, honey second, and completely impossible to stop eating.
Salt and Pepper Chicken
The cleanest dish on any Pakistani Chinese menu — bone-in chicken stir-fried at blistering heat with cracked black pepper, green chillies, and spring onion. No gravy, no sauce, no apologies.
Chicken Lollipop
Chicken wingettes with the meat pushed down the bone into a dramatic lollipop shape, marinated in chilli-ginger-soy, battered crimson, and deep-fried to a crackling crisp. The showstopper starter of every Pakistani Chinese menu.
Bombay Biryani (Pakistani Style)
The Muhajir community's answer to Karachi biryani — more fragrant, more Nawabi, with fried potatoes, aloo bukhara (dried plums), kewra water, and a sweeter, more layered aromatic profile. Born in Bombay, perfected in Karachi.
Dal Pakwan
Creamy chana dal poured over shatteringly crisp, sesame-flecked fried bread — Dal Pakwan is the Sindhi community's most beloved breakfast and one of the great unsung classics of Pakistani cuisine. It sounds simple, but the contrast of textures and the bold tadka make it something you'll dream about. Sunday morning will never be the same.
Bhee Aloo (Lotus Stem and Potato Curry)
Crunchy, hollow lotus stems (bhee) cooked with soft cubes of potato in a tangy, spiced tomato-tamarind masala — this Sindhi speciality is one of those dishes that makes you reconsider everything you thought you knew about vegetables. The lotus stem has a satisfying crunch and a mild, almost nutty flavour that soaks up the sour masala beautifully. It looks dramatic on the plate, it tastes even better.
Bajra Roti
Bajra Roti is pearl millet flatbread — dense, dark, and deliciously earthy, with a deep nutty flavour that wheat roti simply cannot compete with. It's the bread of Sindh's farmers and herdsmen, built for cold winters and hard work. Modern nutritionists have caught up with what rural communities knew all along: bajra is remarkably good for you.
Beef Nihari Karachi Style
Karachi-style beef nihari slow-cooked with aromatic spices and finished with fresh garnishes. This iconic breakfast dish is a Karachi staple, rich with marrow and bold flavour. The ultimate Sunday morning flex.
Karachi Haleem
The iconic Karachi haleem — slow-cooked beef with lentils and wheat, pounded to a velvety, fibre-rich stew that feeds the soul and the neighbourhood. This is street food royalty.
Karachi Namkeen Gosht
Karachi's beloved salt-and-pepper meat dish — tender gosht cooked with minimal masala and maximum fresh garnish. Simple enough for weeknights, impressive enough for guests who ask for the recipe.
Karachi Chicken Handi
Karachi's bold, tomato-forward chicken handi — red-orange in colour, spicier than the Punjab white version, and finished with fresh herbs and green chillies. Urban street food confidence in a clay pot.
Karachi Beef Biryani
Karachi Beef Biryani is the city's unofficial love language — spicy, hearty, and unapologetically bold. Slow-cooked beef mingles with fragrant sela rice in a masala that's been building flavour for hours. This is the biryani that fuels a city of 20 million.
Biryani with Yogurt Marination
This Sindhi-style Biryani with Yogurt Marination showcases how a proper dahi marinade transforms chicken into something remarkably tender and flavourful. The yogurt not only tenderises but carries spices deep into the meat, creating a biryani that's complex from the very first layer.
Karachi Chicken Karahi
Karachi-style Chicken Karahi is bold, tomato-forward, and cooked on high flame for that signature smoky dhaba (roadside eatery) flavour. This is the karahi that built Karachi's street food reputation — fast, fiery, and absolutely unforgettable.
Sindhi Chicken Karahi
Sindhi Chicken Karahi brings the distinct flavours of interior Sindh — bold spicing, generous use of whole spices, and a rustic cooking style that turns simple ingredients into something deeply satisfying. This is home-cooked karahi with a Sindhi soul.
Sindhi Safed Karahi
Sindhi Safed Karahi brings the white karahi concept southward, adding Sindh's characteristic touch of whole spice complexity and a slightly more generous use of cream. Elegant, aromatic, and deeply comforting.
Karachi Tikka Boti
Karachi Tikka Boti is the city's beloved bite-sized BBQ — small cubes of marinated chicken threaded on skewers and grilled to perfection. Quick to cook and impossible to stop eating, this is Karachi's favourite party food.
Karachi Tawa Chicken
Karachi Tawa Chicken brings Sindh's bold spicing and love of tomato to the tawa — cooked faster and more aggressively than Lahori style, with a saucier masala and distinctive Karachi additions that make it uniquely satisfying.
Karachi Katakat
Karachi Katakat brings the famous chopped organ meat dish to Sindhi territory — with characteristic Karachi boldness, more tomato, and a spice profile that's both familiar and distinctly different from the Lahori original.
Hyderabadi Kadhi
Hyderabadi Kadhi from Sindh's historic city carries a distinctive character — slightly sweeter, heavier on dried fruit and nuts in its regional variations, with a unique spice balance that reflects the city's cosmopolitan culinary history.
Sindhi Kadhi Pakora
Sindhi Kadhi Pakora takes the traditional gram flour curry in a unique direction — made without yoghurt and with tamarind tang instead, creating a thinner, more vegetable-forward kadhi with crispy fritters.
Sindhi Fried Pallo Fish
Sindhi Fried Pallo Machli is the celebration dish of the Indus — hilsa fish marinated in bold spices and deep-fried to a shattering, golden crisp. A seasonal treasure that Sindhis wait all year for.
Pallo Fish Curry Sindhi
Sindhi Pallo Fish Curry is a rich, aromatic masala preparation of hilsa fish — the bold Sindhi spice profile complements pallo's natural richness, creating a curry worthy of the king of Indus fish.
Bhee Aloo Sindhi
Bhee Aloo is Sindh's beloved lotus stem and potato curry — a uniquely textured, deeply flavoured dish that showcases one of Sindhi cuisine's most distinctive ingredients in a warming, aromatic gravy.
Shahi Tukda — Karachi Double Ka Meetha Style
Karachi's beloved shahi tukda features golden-fried bread soaked in saffron sugar syrup, then topped with thick condensed rabri and a crown of pistachios and silver leaf. Mogul-era luxury you can make at home in under an hour. Rich, sweet and completely unforgettable.
Karachi Gola Kebab — Seekh on Charcoal
Authentic Karachi-style gola kebab — minced beef marinated with raw papaya, red chillies and aromatic spices, hand-moulded around flat seekh skewers and cooked over charcoal until charred and smoky. The crown jewel of Karachi's BBQ culture, requiring technique but delivering spectacular results.
Karachi Gol Gappay with Imli Paani
Karachi-style gol gappay (pani puri) — hollow crispy semolina shells filled with spiced potato-chickpea mash and drowned in a tangy, spicy tamarind-mint water (imli paani). Making the shells from scratch is a labour of love that produces results no shop can beat.