Zainab Tariq
Recipes by Zainab Tariq
Classic Lahori Nihari
The ultimate slow-cooked breakfast stew — beef shank and bone marrow simmered overnight in a dozen spices. Old Lahore's most legendary dish.
Classic Aloo Gosht
Pakistan's everyday comfort curry — tender mutton and golden potatoes simmered in a tomato-onion masala. The dish every Pakistani mother makes differently, and every version is correct.
Sheer Khurma
The Eid morning vermicelli pudding — toasted sevaiyan simmered in sweetened milk with dates, pistachios, almonds, and cardamom. No Eid is complete without it.
Lahori Channay
Lahore's famous spiced chickpea curry — dark, tangy, and loaded with whole spices. The inseparable partner of halwa puri Sunday breakfast.
Aloo Paratha — Spiced Potato Stuffed Flatbread
Aloo Paratha is Pakistan's most beloved breakfast bread — whole wheat flatbread stuffed with a spiced potato filling, cooked on a tawa (griddle) with butter or ghee until crisp and golden on the outside, soft within. It is the meal that gets children out of bed without argument.
Butter Naan (Home Tawa Method)
Soft, pillowy butter naan made at home on a tawa (flat griddle) — no tandoor required. Brushed with makhan (butter) the moment it comes off the heat, this leavened flatbread is the perfect vehicle for any Pakistani curry.
Shahi Chicken Korma
Shahi Chicken Korma is the crown jewel of Pakistani wedding food — rich, creamy, fragrant with whole spices, and built on a base of fried onions and whisked yoghurt. 'Shahi' means royal, and this curry earns the title.
Lahori Shami Kebab
Lahori Shami Kebab are silky-smooth pan-fried patties made from slow-cooked beef and split chickpeas — spiced, herb-flecked, and crispy at the edges. The quintessential Pakistani tea-time snack.
Pyaz Pakora (Onion Fritters)
Pyaz Pakora — crispy, lacy, golden onion fritters dipped in a spiced chickpea batter and deep-fried — is the first thing every Pakistani makes when it rains. The scent alone is enough to start a conversation.
Gajar Ka Halwa — Classic Pakistani Carrot Dessert
Gajar ka halwa is Pakistan's most beloved winter dessert — slow-cooked grated carrots in full-fat milk, sugar, and cardamom, finished with a shower of nuts and a knob of ghee. Rich, aromatic, and impossibly comforting, it turns a humble root vegetable into something genuinely spectacular.
Homemade Jalebi — Crispy Saffron Syrup Spirals
Jalebi are Pakistan's most theatrical street sweet — crispy, pretzel-shaped rings of fermented batter deep-fried until crackling and immediately dipped into hot saffron-scented sugar syrup. Best eaten scorching hot, sticky fingers and all.
Lahori Mutton Karahi — Restaurant-Style Wok Curry
Lahori mutton karahi is the king of Pakistani restaurant cooking — bone-in mutton cooked fast and furiously in a heavy steel karahi (wok) with tomatoes, ginger, green chillies, and a final flourish of fresh coriander and cream. Bold, fiery, and deeply satisfying.
Punjabi Achar Gosht
Achar Gosht is a bold Punjabi meat curry spiked with achari masala (pickle spices) — tangy, aromatic, and unapologetically punchy. Whole mustard seeds, fennel, and nigella seeds give this curry its unmistakable pickled flavour that sets it apart from every other gosht (meat) dish.
Lahori Gola Kebab
Lahore's most beloved kebab — silky ground beef and lamb balls skewered on wide seekhs, kissed by charcoal, and finished with dhungar smoke. A wedding staple and dhaba legend.
Lahori Katakat — The Chopping Rhythm Street Food
Lahore's most theatrical street food — offal and meat chopped rhythmically on a convex iron tawa with two metal spatulas, spiced on the fly. Named for the sound the blades make.
Daal Masoor (Masoor Ki Daal)
Pakistan's most-cooked everyday daal — red split lentils with a cumin-onion-garlic tarka, on the table in 30 minutes. Plus the kali masoor (whole black/brown lentil) variant for a heartier, earthier alternative.
Zafrani Pulao (Saffron Rice)
Mughal festive rice — long-grain basmati perfumed with saffron-soaked milk, cooked in ghee, and crowned with dry fruits fried until golden. Mildly sweet, deeply fragrant, no meat. Served at weddings alongside korma or nihari.
Tawa Chicken — Lahori Street Style
Tawa Chicken is Lahore's most theatrical street food — bone-in chicken cooked furiously on a massive iron tawa over high heat with tomatoes, green chillies, ginger, and butter, all chopped and stirred with a wide metal spatula in a cloud of steam and sizzle. It's fast, loud, intensely flavoured, and absolutely addictive.
Kadhi Pakora
Tangy yoghurt curry made with besan (gram flour) that's so comforting it feels like a hug in a bowl. Crispy besan fritters are floated in the sour gravy and finished with a sizzling red chilli tarka that makes a dramatic entrance. A Punjabi staple that every household makes slightly differently — and everyone claims their version is the best.
Phirni
A silky, chilled rice pudding that is the definition of elegant simplicity — creamy full-fat milk slowly thickened with coarsely ground soaked rice, perfumed with cardamom and saffron, and set in traditional clay shikoras (bowls) that give it an earthy, cool quality no modern container can replicate. Phirni is the dessert you serve when you want guests to feel truly looked after.
Kulfi
The original South Asian ice cream — denser, richer, and more intensely flavoured than anything you'll find in a tub. Made from full-fat milk slowly reduced to one-third its volume, sweetened and perfumed with cardamom and pistachios, then frozen solid in conical moulds. A single kulfi contains the concentrated goodness of three glasses of milk.
Besan Ka Halwa
A deeply satisfying Punjabi halwa made by slowly roasting gram flour in ghee until it turns a warm golden-brown and fills your kitchen with a nutty, almost butterscotch-like aroma — then enriched with fragrant sugar syrup and cooked until glossy and pulling away from the sides. Rich, warming, and wildly good.
Pinni
Punjabi winter energy balls made by slow-roasting whole wheat flour in ghee until toasted and golden, then mixed with powdered sugar, dried ginger, cardamom, and a generous handful of chopped nuts, and rolled into firm round balls while still warm. Dense, wholesome, and impossible to eat just one.
Bakarkhani
Bakarkhani is Lahore's layered, laminated breakfast bread — crisp on the outside, tender in the centre, with visible flaky layers that shatter satisfyingly when you break it. It is the Pakistani answer to a croissant, except it has been around longer than France, costs almost nothing, and tastes even better dunked in tea.
Mooli Paratha
Mooli Paratha is a Punjabi breakfast classic — a flaky whole-wheat flatbread stuffed with spiced grated daikon radish that packs a punchy, slightly peppery flavour. It is polarising in the best possible way: once you love it, you crave it on cold winter mornings with a cold glass of lassi. The secret is squeezing every last drop of water out of the radish, or your paratha will tear like a drama at dhabas.
Gobi Paratha
Gobi Paratha is a golden, ghee-kissed Punjabi breakfast flatbread stuffed with spiced grated cauliflower — fragrant with ajwain, sharp with green chilli, and warming with ginger. It is the kind of breakfast that makes you feel properly fed before a long day. The trick, which every Punjabi aunt will tell you sternly, is squeezing the cauliflower bone-dry before it goes anywhere near the dough.
Tandoori Roti
Tandoori Roti is a thick, slightly smoky whole-wheat flatbread traditionally baked by slapping it onto the scorching inner wall of a clay tandoor oven — where it puffs, blisters, and develops charred spots in a matter of minutes. It is chewier and more substantial than chapati, with an unmistakable smoky char from the intense heat. A home oven method using a cast-iron pan on maximum grill heat gives you a genuinely good approximation.
Khameeri Roti
Khameeri Roti is the leavened cousin of the everyday chapati — yeast-risen, slightly tangy, and wonderfully soft with a chewy pull that plain roti just can't match. It's the bread that Lahori roti shops start preparing before sunrise. Once you taste a fresh khameeri roti slathered with makhan, you'll understand the queue outside those shops.
Makki Ki Roti
Makki Ki Roti is Punjab's golden corn flatbread — thick, slightly grainy, and impossibly satisfying when eaten hot off the tawa with a mountain of sarson ka saag and a pat of white butter. It is not rolled with a belan; it is shaped with love, patience, and wet hands. Getting your first one right is a rite of passage in every Punjabi kitchen.
Beef Aloo Gosht
The beloved Punjabi household staple — beef cooked with potatoes in a spiced tomato-onion gravy that's been feeding Pakistani families for generations. Simple, reliable, and deeply satisfying.
Safed Korma Mughal
The regal white korma of the Mughal tradition — pale, aromatic, and finished with cream, cashew paste, and white pepper. No red chilli, no turmeric. Just elegance in a pot.
Matar Qeema Punjabi
Punjabi spiced minced beef with green peas — a classic combination that's greater than the sum of its parts. Sweet peas, spiced mince, and a well-bhunoed masala make this an essential weeknight staple.
Beef Qeema South Punjab
South Punjab's deeply spiced, generously sized beef mince — cooked with extra masala and a more robust hand with chilli and coriander than the northern Punjab version. Bold flavours, generous portions.
Lahori Aloo Gosht Variation
A classic Lahori aloo gosht with a few authentic upgrades — extra dhania seeds for texture, a proper bhunai technique, and the finishing touch of fresh garam masala that elevates a household staple into something special.
Lahori Chicken Biryani
Lahori Chicken Biryani is a bold, spice-forward rice dish from the heart of Punjab, layered with tender murgh and fragrant basmati. Unlike its Karachi cousins, the Lahori version leans heavy on whole garam masala and a generous hand with the lal mirch. This is weekend cooking at its finest.
Pakistani Vegetable Biryani
Pakistani Vegetable Biryani proves that you don't need meat to make something spectacular. Packed with seasonal sabziyaan (vegetables), aromatic basmati, and all the classic biryani masala, this is a crowd-pleaser for vegetarians and a brilliant weeknight option when you want biryani without the long prep.
Multani Biryani
Multani Biryani is the grand showpiece of South Punjab's kitchen — slow-cooked mutton layered with saffron-kissed rice, dried fruits, and the unique Multani spice palette that sets it apart from every other biryani in Pakistan.
Lahori Mutton Pulao
Lahori Mutton Pulao is the city's answer to a one-pot celebration meal — tender mutton cooked until the stock is deeply fragrant, then basmati rice finished in that stock until every grain tells the story of the gosht below.
Moong Dal Pulao
Moong Dal Pulao is a comforting, protein-rich one-pot dish that combines split green lentils with basmati rice in a lightly spiced tarka — a humble Pakistani classic that's as good for the body as it is satisfying to the soul.
Biryani Rice (Plain Sela Chawal)
Plain Sela Chawal is the perfectly cooked parboiled basmati that forms the foundation of every great biryani. Master this simple technique and you'll never have sticky, mushy, or undercooked biryani rice again — this is the most important building block in Pakistani rice cooking.
Dum Mutton Karahi
Dum Mutton Karahi combines two great Pakistani cooking traditions — the karahi's fierce open-fire bhuno technique with the dum (slow-steam) method — to produce fall-off-the-bone tender mutton in a masala so rich it barely needs an accompaniment.
Beef Seekh Kebab Lahori
Lahori Beef Seekh Kebab is the street food king of the Punjab — minced beef packed with fresh herbs and spices, skewered and grilled over coal until charred outside and juicy within. This is the kebab that defines Lahori food culture.
Dry Tawa Chicken
Dry Tawa Chicken is the masala-reduced, bhuno-intensive version of tawa chicken — where the masala is cooked almost completely away to leave behind intensely flavoured, almost dry chicken pieces with a sticky, caramelised spice coating.
Mutton Katakat
Mutton Katakat replaces organ meats with boneless mutton pieces for those who want the authentic katakat technique and flavour experience without the offal. Richly spiced, intensely bhunoed, and deeply satisfying.
Dal Gosht Punjabi
Dal Gosht is a beloved Punjabi one-pot wonder where tender mutton and creamy lentils slow-cook together into a deeply satisfying, protein-packed dish that's greater than the sum of its parts.
Methi Gosht
Methi Gosht is a distinctive Punjabi curry where the pleasantly bitter fenugreek leaves transform tender mutton into an aromatic, complex dish unlike any other. An acquired taste that becomes an obsession.
Keema Paratha Lahori
Lahori Keema Paratha is a masterclass in stuffed flatbread — whole wheat paratha packed with spiced minced meat, pan-fried in ghee until shattering-crispy on the outside, hearty and warming within.
Kulfi Falooda — Classic Street Style
Street-style kulfi falooda with dense, creamy cardamom-saffron kulfi served alongside chilled falooda sev, rose syrup and soaked basil seeds in cold milk. The ultimate Pakistani frozen dessert experience — richer than ice cream, more complex than a sundae.
Soft Gulab Jamun — Perfect Every Time
Melt-in-your-mouth gulab jamun made from khoya and flour, deep-fried to a deep brown and soaked in saffron-rose sugar syrup until plump and syrup-soaked. The most universally loved Pakistani dessert — at every wedding, eid, and celebration table for a reason.
Adrak Wali Chai — Ginger Tea
Warming Punjabi adrak wali chai (ginger tea) made by simmering crushed fresh ginger with tea leaves, milk and cardamom into a fragrant, throat-soothing cup. The go-to chai for cold days, monsoon mornings, and any time your body is asking for something comforting.
Chicken Shami Kebab
Light and flavourful chicken shami kebab made with chicken mince and chana dal, seasoned with fresh herbs and whole spices. A leaner alternative to the classic beef version that is quicker to cook, easier to shape, and just as delicious with green chutney.
Lahori Dahi Bhalla — Classic White Style
Authentic Lahori dahi bhalla — fluffy urad dal dumplings soaked in water, pressed and nestled in thick sweet yoghurt, crowned with tamarind chutney, green chutney, roasted cumin and a dusting of red chilli. The iconic white yoghurt-based chaat that Lahori dawats are incomplete without.