Pakistanis getting to know our Indian Muslim members

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

Im a Kashmiri Butt - my life revolves round food

Your food is absolutely delicious. I cooked some Kashmiri dishes recently like Rogan Josh. Wow.

And ofcourse Kashmiri chai is a decadent delight. I can never have enough.

 

[Pappa Alpha]

Kashmiri chai

The best chai in the world!

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

"Saalan" I believe is mainly used in Punjabi based cultures, here, some Urdu and Hindi speakers may also be familiar with it, but most others would not be familiar with that word.

Most of my Indian friends here are not, so much so that I've stopped using it outside of my Pakistani circle of friends.

We Punjabis mostly call everything salaan by default, then later we can specify when we get a closer look.

Traditional foods of my area (Lahore, Faisalabad) are Nihari, Haleem, Saag w/ Makki di roti, shami kabab w pulao, lahori fish, bhattair (quail,) daal chawal, and kareley (although I loathe them.)

 

[peagle]

Im a Kashmiri Butt - my life revolves round food

You only had to say Kashmiri Butt, we would have assumed the rest

 

[peagle]

Mirchi ka salan, often paired with a good biriyani as a gravy. The mirchi/pepper traditionally used is the big fat not very hot one but sometimes they cheat and will just throw in a small hari mirch (hot as hell)

it's good just with plain rice too.

I know what you mean, and yes it is very tasty, although not with biryani, in my book, its sacrilege to add anything to a biryani, except maybe yoghurt if it is too spicy never forget the next morning toilet visit lol

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

I know what you mean, and yes it is very tasty, although not with biryani, in my book, its sacrilege to add anything to a biryani, except maybe yoghurt if it is too spicy never forget the next morning toilet visit lol

As Pakistanis, we are very puritan about our food. I always add yogurt to Biryani, lemon sprinkled on onions for tandoori chicken and sometimes daal, etc.

This is because most of these dishes were invented, codified, and passed on to us by the great cooks of the Mughal empire.

For example, the story behind Shami Kabab is about a old, toothless sultan who wanted to eat meat still. His Shami/Syrian cook invented this dish for him and served it with pulao. Hence the name.

On the other flank of the Muslim world, most dishes of Arab Levant, Turkey, Caucasus, and Balkans owe their origin to the great cooks of the Ottoman empire.

Great, powerful empires produced the best food, hence why the food culture in Turkey and Pakistan is so robust and specific.

 

[peagle]

Hello PIP,

I used to occasionally lurk for a long time on this forum, but what got me to join is the overflow of the Right Wing Sanghi propaganda that was taking over this forum and the false narratives that was being created against the Indian Muslims. As you all may have seen, much of the Sanghi propaganda is all lies and based on a sense of victimhood (laughable I know).

The only thing I would love to learn from Pakistanis is how to make Peshawari Karahi.

Other than that, the wish I have is for India and Pakistan to have peaceful relations like USA and Canada, so that at least for us Indian Muslims, we can meet easily go across the borders and meet people. I am sure many normal Indians have the same desire as well.

This Proud British/Pakistani happily seconds your wish, may it come true.

 

[Sharma Ji]

I know what you mean, and yes it is very tasty, although not with biryani, in my book, its sacrilege to add anything to a biryani, except maybe yoghurt if it is too spicy never forget the next morning toilet visit lol

it's generally a small side katori, not meant to drown the whole rice dish in.

it goes along with the raita side.

 

[Musings]

You only had to say Kashmiri Butt, we would have assumed the rest

Lol so true......

 

[Sharma Ji]

The story behind Shami Kabab is about a old, toothless sultan who wanted to eat meat still. His Shami/Syrian cook invented this dish for him and served it with pulao. Hence the name.

We have a legend about tunday kebab, almost the same thing

story goes, the toothless or the "leisure loving" nawab couldn't be bothered to chew so they made it almost pasty in texture

the cook/chef had only one good hand so he'd make the mince and squish it in his underarm before setting it on the tawa to fry slowly

disabled, only one hand.. hence tunday.. from Lucknow.

there's a chain called tunday kebabi here in India.. no beef but they do a variety of UP style mullah food, mutton and chicken kebabs, warqi parathas (not a fan) and a few other really nice grills.

 

[Zapper]

I didn't realize how many Kaddu dishes there were until I grew some in my house. Large number of family friends (mostly Indian Muslims) gave us great recipes for making Kaddu dishes.

Vegetable dishes in Pakistan are very confined and specific. For example no self-respecting Pakistani will eat Saag (spinach) without makki di roti (flat bread made of corn.)

Chaney (chickpeas,) also called choley, are usually eaten with roti, or puri.

I came to appreciate Indian Muslim aptitude for cooking vegetable dishes.

This is because Pakistani food is very meaty.

How many times a week does a middle class Pakistani family consume meat? I'm sure it's higher than an average Indian family but meat consumption in India really depends on the region. South and North East Indians consume more than Northies. My family had 3 times a week...chicken, mutton and seafood

 

[peagle]

Sorry for the delay. Took time off for dinner and TV.

I too like the sweet and slightly bitter ( from the browning ) taste.



The Kahwa and the Pink Tea seem to be staples in the Kashmir region. Then there is the Sulaimani Chai ( a black tea ) which is popular in the Southern state of Kerala which may be so because of long time influence from the Arab countries. The Sulaimani is similar to the Pakhawari qehwa you mentioned. And then there is the Hyderabadi Irani Chai.

Other than this the Indian Muslims drink the market available teas like Taj Mahal and Red Label. Though when guests come the tea can be added with elaichi and even some patta ( Cinnamon ).

Are you sure you are Indian lol
Every Indian tea I have ever been served has ginger, it has become a joke among my Indian friends, not to add ginger if I am in the group, elaichi is definitely the way to go, at least it is among Pakistanis, commonalities huh

I recently switched from milk tea to Sulaimani tea, it is drunk in some regions of Pakistan also, lost some weight recently too, not sure if it is linked?

I do make a mean Kashmiri tea myself, make a batch leave it in the fridge, and prepare when the mood strikes. Surprisingly easy to make once you learn how, YouTube zindabaad.

 

[padamchen]

We have a legend about tunday kebab, almost the same thing

story goes, the toothless or the "leisure loving" nawab couldn't be bothered to chew so they made it almost pasty in texture

the cook/chef had only one good hand so he'd make the mince and squish it in his underarm before setting it on the tawa to fry slowly

disabled, only one hand.. hence tunday.. from Lucknow.

there's a chain called tunday kebabi here in India.. no beef but they do a variety of UP style mullah food, mutton and chicken kebabs, warqi parathas (not a fan) and a few other really nice grills.

The super soft melty one in Delhi is galoti kabab.

Sinful.

Cheers, Doc

 

[peagle]

Thanks first of all for tagging me. This is a good thread with like minded inviduals. Belated Eid Mubarak to all of you.

Why did you join PDF?
So, to be honest, I have followed PDF since 2012 and found it to be (pardon me) infested with Sanghis. Even then, I found this forum to be a breath of fresh air - compared to the cesspool of Twitter or social media in general. Of course, I was only starting out on Twitter then. Did not join PDF then, but kept checking out posts for Neelum valley pics taken by members - pics that you don't find on Google easily.

What did you hope to learn from Pakistanis?
I have interacted with Pakistanis ever since I left India - and to be honest, apart from a few Pak nationalists who condemn us to genocide, I don't see any large difference. To be fair, the religiousity of an average non resident Pakistani is slightly less pronounced when compared to Indians, but besides that there is little difference.

How has your experience been on this forum?
There are a lot of things that you have in your mind but are not able to share in public posts. PDF allows a more personal channel of communication. So, yeah, overall very positive.

Was there anything interesting?
Yes. I had a hypothesis with regards to the source of all the ills that plague the Indian society (that is Hindu society is morally bankrupt and the source is Hinduism). I found it largely validated here as well. The very fact that many if not most of the social ills of India that I am sure must have existed in pre partition Punjab and Sindh no longer do. For instance the numerous riots in unified Punjab or tensions in Sindh and resulting loss of innocent Muslims have been avoided. I can't claim this is a complete validation, to be fair. But it is convincing to me, it makes sense. I already knew that Pakistanis are (in general) better human beings and their moral compass remains in the right place. The same cannot be said about Hindus in our country.

Communal and religious riots are not a thing in Pakistan, except for an odd occurrence of maybe 1 or 2 in a decade, even then I have to think hard to recall any.

Most of the problems we face today stem from the Afghan war of the 80s and the continued civil war in Afghanistan and the resultant instability, combined with the Iran/Saudi Arabia funded Sunni/Shia issues, but this aspect has largely been bought under control.

 

[AfrazulMandal]

Communal and religious riots are not a thing in Pakistan, except for an odd occurrence of maybe 1 or 2 in a decade, even then I have to think hard to recall any.

Most of the problems we face today stem from the Afghan war of the 80s and the continued civil war in Afghanistan and the resultant instability, combined with the Iran/Saudi Arabia funded Sunni/Shia issues, but this aspect has largely been bought under control.

exactly my point, actually.