The Essentials
You do not need a lot of equipment to cook Pakistani food well. Six items do most of the heavy lifting. Everything else is either a convenience or a luxury.
Karahi (Wok)
The karahi is the single most important piece of cookware in a Pakistani kitchen. It is a round, deep, heavy-bottomed wok with two handles — traditionally made of cast iron or carbon steel, though stainless steel works too. Its shape is what matters: the wide mouth allows liquid to reduce quickly, the curved sides make it easy to stir and toss, and the heavy base holds heat evenly for the long masala fry that most curries require. A 10 to 12-inch karahi covers everything from a quick sabzi to a full mutton curry for six people. If you cannot find a proper karahi, a heavy carbon-steel wok is a close substitute. Avoid non-stick — the high-heat frying that Pakistani cooking demands will destroy the coating within months.
Tawa (Flat Griddle)
A tawa is a flat or slightly concave round griddle used for cooking roti, paratha, and chapat, and for dry-roasting spices. It is essentially a large, seasoned metal disc with no sides. Cast iron or carbon steel is ideal because it holds the high, even heat that bread needs to puff and char properly. A 12-inch tawa is versatile enough for most home cooking. If you do not have one, a cast-iron skillet works for most things — you just will not get the same char on roti. The tawa also doubles as a heat diffuser: place it between your stove and a pot during dum cooking to prevent burning.
Pressure Cooker
Pakistani cooking involves a lot of lentils, beans, and tough cuts of meat. A pressure cooker cuts cooking times dramatically — what takes two hours on the stovetop takes 30 to 40 minutes under pressure. A 5 to 7-litre stovetop model is the sweet spot for most households. You will use it for dal, nihari, haleem, goat curry, and chickpeas. An Instant Pot works too, but stovetop pressure cookers heat up faster and give you more control over the pressure release. Either way, this is not optional if you cook Pakistani food regularly.
Large Heavy-Bottomed Pot (Degh)
Every Pakistani kitchen needs at least one large, heavy-bottomed pot — the kind your grandmother probably called a patila or degh. This is what you cook biryani, pulao, and large batches of curry in. It needs to be heavy at the base to prevent burning during the long masala fry, and large enough to hold layered biryani with room for steam to circulate. A 6 to 8-litre pot with a tight-fitting lid covers most home cooking. Enameled cast iron or heavy stainless steel with an aluminium core are the best materials. Thin pots create hot spots that scorch the bottom of your biryani — this is one piece of equipment where weight is a feature, not a drawback.
Fine-Mesh Strainer (Channi)
A fine-mesh strainer is used constantly in Pakistani cooking — for draining parboiled rice, rinsing lentils, straining stock, and sifting flour. Get a medium-sized one with a long handle and a rest so it sits across your pot. The mesh needs to be fine enough to catch grains of basmati rice. A cheap stainless-steel one from any kitchen supply store works perfectly. You do not need anything fancy here.
Wooden Spoon (Belna)
A sturdy, long-handled wooden spoon for stirring curries, mixing dough, and scraping the bottom of the pot. Wood does not scratch seasoned surfaces and does not conduct heat, so you can leave it in a simmering pot without the handle burning your hand. Get one with a flat edge for scraping. A wooden rolling pin (also called belna) is essential if you plan to make roti and paratha regularly.
Nice to Have
These items make certain tasks easier but are not strictly necessary. Get them as you go, when you find yourself reaching for them repeatedly.
Tandoor or Pizza Stone
A tandoor is the traditional clay oven used for naan, seekh kebabs, and tandoori chicken. Most home cooks do not have one, and that is fine. A pizza stone preheated in your oven at its highest temperature gives you enough radiant heat to get a reasonable char on naan and kebabs. It will not replicate a tandoor, but it gets you 70 percent of the way there.
Mandoline
Useful for slicing onions paper-thin for birista (fried onions) and cutting potatoes evenly for biryani. A sharp knife and some patience accomplish the same thing, but a mandoline saves time when you are prepping in bulk.
Spice Grinder
A dedicated electric coffee grinder used only for spices is one of the best investments you can make. Freshly ground cumin, coriander, and garam masala taste dramatically better than pre-ground. A mortar and pestle works for small amounts, but a grinder gives you a consistent, fine powder in seconds. Do not use the same grinder for coffee.
Cheesecloth
Used for straining yoghurt to make hung curd (for shrikhand and some kebab recipes) and for bundling whole spices so they can be removed easily from a pot. A clean cotton cloth works as a substitute.
What You Don't Need
Skip the following. They take up space and add nothing to Pakistani cooking:
- Rice cookers — they cannot parboil rice for biryani, which is the technique you actually need to master. Learn to cook rice on the stovetop.
- Non-stick pan sets — Pakistani cooking requires high heat and prolonged frying. Non-stick coatings degrade quickly under these conditions and the pans do not develop the fond that builds flavour.
- Specialised biryani pots — a good heavy-bottomed pot with a tight lid does the same job. The "biryani pot" label is marketing.
- Electric spice grinders with multiple attachments — a simple blade grinder for 15 dollars does the job. You do not need bowls and discs and settings.
- Silicone cooking tools — they cannot handle the sustained high-heat frying that Pakistani cooking requires. Stick to wood and metal.
The Basic Pantry Staples
Equipment is only half the equation. Keep these staples stocked and you can cook most Pakistani dishes without a trip to the store:
- Spices: cumin seeds, coriander seeds, turmeric, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt, black pepper, green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves
- Lentils: masoor dal (red lentils), moong dal, chana dal, urad dal, toor or arhar dal
- Aromatics: ginger, garlic, onions, tomatoes, green chillies, fresh coriander, fresh mint
- Grains and legumes: basmati rice, atta (whole wheat flour), chickpeas (dried or canned), kidney beans
- Oils and fats: vegetable oil or ghee, and mustard oil if you cook regional Sindhi dishes
For a deeper dive into individual spices, see our Pakistani Spice Guide.
Pots and Pans by Dish Type
If you are building your collection piece by piece, prioritise based on what you cook most often:
Biryani and Pulao
You need one large, heavy-bottomed pot with a tight-fitting lid — the patila. It should hold at least 6 litres and distribute heat evenly across the base. This is your biryani pot, your pulao pot, and your large-batch curry pot all in one. Enamelled cast iron is ideal but any heavy pot works.
Curries and Karahi Dishes
The karahi handles nearly every curry — chicken karahi, mutton karahi, aloo gosht, bhuna gosht. Its wide surface area reduces sauces quickly and the curved shape makes stirring easy. For dishes with more liquid like nihari or haleem, use the heavy pot instead.
Bread (Roti, Paratha, Chapati)
The tawa is the only tool you need for flatbreads. Cast iron or carbon steel, well-seasoned, heated until smoking. For naan, a pizza stone in a hot oven is the best home alternative to a tandoor.
Getting Started
Start with the karahi, the heavy pot, and the tawa. Add the pressure cooker when you start cooking lentils and meat regularly. Pick up the fine-mesh strainer and the spice grinder when you realise you need them. Do not buy everything at once — build your kit around the dishes you actually cook. The best-equipped kitchen is the one where everything gets used.