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Best Pakistani Foods
Keema is a stew that is usually prepared as a curry with ingredients such as minced lamb or chicken meat, green peas, ginger-garlic paste, chili, onions, ghee, and garam masala spices. The name of the dish means minced meat in Urdu. Although keema is most popular in north India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, some believe that the dish has Persian origins due to the fact that it was first mentioned as a recipe in Ain-I-Akbari (a document about emperor Akbar's empire).
Keema is commonly served as a main dish, accompanied by pav buns or naan and other flatbreads. It can also be used as a filling for samosas and parathas.
OTHER VARIATIONS OF Curry
Golden-brown in color, flaky and layered, paratha is a type of Indian bread that is typically consumed for breakfast. The name comes from a combination of words parat and atta (flour), referring to the cooked, layered dough. It consists of whole wheat flour that is baked in ghee (Indian clarified butter) and comes in round, triangular, square, or heptagonal shapes.
Parathas are often stuffed with ingredients such as boiled potatoes, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, chili, paneer, or radish. They are sometimes accompanied by pickles, yogurt, homemade chutneys, or meat and vegetable curries. In Punjab, paratha is traditionally paired with lassi, a popular yogurt-based drink.
VARIATIONS OF Paratha
Chaat is a term signifying a huge variety of Indian street foods, snacks, or small meals which usually combine salty, spicy, sweet, and sour flavors. The name chaat is derived from a Hindi verb chaatna, meaning to lick, possibly referring to the finger-licking good quality of the dishes.
Chaats are usually small, consumed on their own as a snack, or combined with other dishes to form a big meal. Throughout India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, chaat can be found at chaatwallas (street vendors), serving various dishes, from stuffed bread to deep-fried pastries with accompanying dipping sauces.
VARIATIONS OF Chaat
Chicken karahi is a poultry dish that is popular in Pakistan and North India. The word karahi in its name refers to a thick and deep cooking-pot similar to a wok in which the dish is prepared. Apart from chicken, the dish is made with red chili powder, cumin, garam masala, ginger, allspice, cardamom, tomatoes, and garlic.
When prepared with mutton, the dish is known as gosht karahi. It is traditionally served with rice, roti, or naan.
MOST ICONIC Murgh karahi
MAIN INGREDIENTS
A specialty of Pashtun cuisine, this spicy meat patty is prepared with a combination of minced beef or mutton. The unique taste of chapli kabab comes from spices such as dried coriander and pomegranate seeds, green chillis, and mint. Its name is derived from a Pashto word chaprikh, meaning flat, and even though chapli kabab is often said to have originated in Peshawar, today it stands as a favorite throughout Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India.
Chapli kababs are traditionally served with yogurt sauce, salads, and naan bread.
OTHER VARIATIONS OF Kebab
MOST ICONIC Chapli kabab
Halwa poori is a traditional and Indian breakfast that features semolina pudding or halwa and a soft fried dough called poori. Halwa is typically made with a mixture of fried semolina and sugar syrup, which is then combined with nuts such as pistachios and almonds.
The sweet dish is flavored with aromatics like green cardamom pods, kewra essence, and cloves, and it is usually enhanced with yellow or orange food coloring for a more vibrant dish. Poori is a soft and fluffy fried bread consisting of a dough made with flour, water, salt, and oil.
Due to their crunchy texture and a variety of different flavors, samosas provide a perfect introduction to the world of Indian cuisine for newcomers. These deep-fried, triangular pastries are filled with a variety of ingredients ranging from vegetables to meat, such as onions, lentils, spiced potatoes, peas, or ground meat.
It is said that the popular, golden-brown snack travelled to India along the old trade routes from Central Asia, which is why samosas are also prevelent in Middle Eastern countries where they are typically served for Ramadan. In Saudi Arabia, for example, they are typically filled with meat or cheese and can be shaped as triangles, squares, and rolls.
VARIATIONS OF Samosa
Nihari is a popular meat-based dish originating from Old Delhi. When Pakistan gained independence in 1947, numerous immigrants from Delhi settled in Karachi, where they established their own restaurants, so nihar is also associated with Pakistani cuisine.
The dish consists of slowly cooked meat such as beef shanks, mutton, or chicken. The meat is cooked together with stock and numerous spices such as cumin, cloves, garam masala, and cardamom in big vessels which are sealed with dough. It takes anywhere from six to eight hours for nihari to be cooked properly, and it is traditionally consumed for breakfast, since the name of the dish is derived from the Arabic word nahar, meaning morning.
MOST ICONIC Nihari
View moreMAIN INGREDIENTS
Panipuri is a street snack that is extremely popular in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal. Small in size, it consists of a hollow puri that is fried until crispy, then stuffed with a combination of flavored water called pani, tamarind chutney, chaat masala, potatoes, onions, hot chillis, and chickpeas.
In North India, panipuri is known as golgappa, gol referring to the crispy shell, and gappa referring to the eating process, since these small snacks are typically eaten one at a time. It is believed that panipuri originated in Uttar Pradesh and gradually spread in popularity throughout the country and outside of it.
Sindhi biryani is one of the most popular Pakistani dishes originating from the province of Sindh, hence the name. It is prepared with a huge variety of ingredients, including basmati rice, tomatoes, yogurt, potatoes, onions, prunes, spices (red chili powder, ginger, cardamom, turmeric, cloves, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, mint, and bay leaves), and either chicken, goat, or lamb meat.
This layered rice dish is usually served with raita on the side.
OTHER VARIATIONS OF Biryani
MOST ICONIC Sindhi biryani
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Best Pakistani Food Producers
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Best Pakistani Food Products
Picuda is a type of extra virgin olive oil produced by Mueloliva, a renowned Spanish brand known for its high-quality olive oils. This product is distinguished by its rich and balanced flavor profile, characterized by fruity notes with a slight bitterness and pungency.
Mueloliva utilizes traditional methods to extract oil from Picuda olives, which originate from the southern region of Spain, specifically Andalusia. This olive oil is often praised for its vibrant green color and its suitability for both cooking and raw applications, such as drizzling over salads or enhancing the flavor of various dishes.
AWARDS
ATHENA IOOC - Double Gold
2018
ATHENA IOOC - Gold
2017
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 44 Pakistani Foods” list until March 20, 2025, 3,565 ratings were recorded, of which 2,584 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.