Pakistan has a rich heritage and culture. Traditional food items and Pakistani cuisines are bombarded with flavors. Apart from famous halwa poori, briyani, siri payee, nihari, sarsoun ka saag, there are many lesser known food items that are equally delicious and rich in flavors. Pakistan has five provinces, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan. This article is about few of the unusual yet scrumptious food items from Pakistan that may not be common but are very popular in their local vicinity.
Panjiri
Panjiri is a Punjabi dish and it has a very unique finished form. It is a sweet prepared with wheat flour consisting of herbal gums and lots of dried fruits. It is fried with sugar in ghee and it looks like a brittle powder with nuts like coconut, almonds, pistachio. It is considered a natural supplement and is consumed mostly in winters along with warm milk .
Sattu
It is a Punjabi cold beverage that is used in summers. It is made with a mix of spices and powdered gram flour. The powdered mix is soaked in water in a mud pot. It is considered a refreshing drink that makes the body cool and calm in hot weather. People in villages love drinking it from the same mud pot or glass as it refreshens them and gives instant energy.
Punj Ratani Daal
Punj means five and daal means lentils. In Pakistan, there are a variety of lentils available that are cooked in almost every household. Generally, lentils are cooked separately or two at a time. But in few localities of Punjab a special dish is made with five different types of lentils soaked and cooked together. This dish is served with roti (flat bread) or rice along with mint chutney and pickles.
Sai Bhaaji
It is a sindhi dish that is not very common but is very creative and scrumptious. Sai means Green and Bhaaji means vegetables. This dish is a creative blend of lentils and different vegetables like spinach and aubergine. It is eaten with rice.
Thadal
Thadal is a drink that is a speciality of Sindh. Almond is the main ingredient but it also include poppy seeds and various spices that makes it a refreshing drink. It has cooling effect and is consumed in large quantities by the people of Sindh in summers.
Kheer Kharkun
Kheer is a version of rice pudding that is enjoyed by Pakistani people especially during special events and functions. Kheer is a common sweet that is easily available across Pakistan but Kheer Kharkun is another speciality of Sindh that is not very common. This kheer is prepared with dates and milk instead of typical rice.
Roosh
Roosh is a Balochi dish that is cooked with chicken. Balochi cuisine has less spices. It has very simple flavors with very few spices, only yogurt and green masala. Rosh is served with fresh salad and roti. There is nothing fancy about the ingredients of Roosh but it tastes amazing.
Kata kat
Katakat Organ Meat Ingredients SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons
Kata-kat also known as taka-tak is from Punjab . It is a meat dish that includes various meat organs like brain, kidneys, testicles, liver, lungs, lamb chops and heart. All the ingredients are put together on the griddle and it is cut, mixed and cooked with sharp blades. The name of this dish is an onomatopoeia from the hiting sound of those sharp blades on the griddle.
