One of the highlights of my trip to Pakistan was a visit to Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan and the capital of its largest province: Punjab.
Everything about it is alive and vibrant: the sights, smells and colors!
Lahore is not only the cultural capital of Pakistan but also an exciting culinary city. People from Lahore are famous all over the country for their love for food.
Pakistan, up to this day, is a country, which is still waiting to be discovered and experienced. However, the presence of Lahori Khabay in the heart of Hayy Al Wazarat (Hara) in Riyadh is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a great selection of authentic food from Lahore.
Lahori Khabay’s menu features typical Lahori specialties such as “paya”, goat’s trotter’s curry. This delicacy is cooked for up to seventeen hours to achieve a rich, spicy broth topped with garam masala and fresh coriander leaves. It is eaten with freshly baked naans that you dip in the sauce.
Another traditional Lahori dish is “chicken haleem” also known as “hareesa”.
There are many versions of this dish which is also found in Arabian, Turkish, Bengali and Indian cuisine. This dish is also cooked with mutton or beef, wheat, lentils, ginger, garlic, red chili, turmeric and ghee. Haleem, which requires up to six hours of slow cooking, is served with crispy golden onions, and topped with chopped coriander, mint and green chilies.
“Chicken nihari”, another Lahori specialty, consists of pieces of chicken cooked in a sauce flavored with ginger and garlic paste, chili powder and garam masala.
In the dessert section, I found “ras malay”. The name is a combination of the Urdu word “ras” which means juice or nectar, and “malai”, which means cream. This dish is also popular in India and Bangladesh. Ras malai has an interesting combination of flavors and textures, from the spongy soft dumpling made essentially from powdered milk and egg to the delicate flavored milk.
Ras malai are poached in milk and served chilled, garnished with slivers of almonds and chopped pistachios. Sometimes a little crushed cardamom or cardamom powder is sprinkled for added fragrance and taste. They are very similar to the Bengali sweet known as “rasgulla”. Ras malai is not too sweet and sometimes has a yellow color when saffron is used.
“Shahi tukra” is a mouth-watering dessert and one of my favorites. It has quite a history, as the Moguls introduced it. Incidentally, whereas Pakistani cooking reflects culinary influences from Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East, much of Lahore’s food has been inspired by the Mogul cuisine. Shahi tukra is indeed a royal dessert, as its name suggests. The word “shahi” means royal and “tukra” means morsel or piece. Thus, shahi tukra can be translated as royal morsel. It is made with slices of fried bread, which are soaked in a thick evaporated milk flavored with saffron and kewra water (the extract distilled from the pandanus flower). It is garnished with sliced almonds and pistachios and served chilled. This exotic bread pudding is delicious beyond description. It just melts in the mouth!
Finally, you might like to try the Lahori version of “falooda”. Falooda is vermicelli made from arrowroot; it is boiled in water and when the vermicelli is cooked, it is placed in a glass of homemade thick evaporated milk flavored with rose syrup. Basil seeds are also added to this beverage cum dessert. They are known as “sabja seeds” or “tukamrin” and they have a gel like layer around the black seed after they are placed in a liquid. Floating in the kewra and rose scented milk, these dancing black dots give this Lahori milkshake its distinctive look. Lahori falooda is served preferably chilled, sprinkled with chopped pistachios. For a richer texture, a scoop of ice cream can be added but that remains optional. A perfectly sweet and cooling delicacy!
There’s a Punjabi saying that goes, “Jine Lahore nahin dekhya wo te jamiya hi nahi” which means those who hasn’t seen Lahore, haven’t lived.
Lahore is definitely a city with food in its heart and soul and Lahori Khabay offers a wide selection of authentic and mouth watering specialties.
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