Ahmed Khan
Recipes by Ahmed Khan
Chicken Malai Tikka
Cream and cheese-marinated chicken grilled until charred and smoky — Lahore's favourite non-spicy appetiser that melts on your tongue.
Gol Gappay
Crispy hollow puris filled with spiced chickpeas and tangy tamarind water — Pakistan's most addictive street snack. Once you start, you physically cannot stop at one.
Daal Mash — White Lentil Dal with Tarka
Daal Mash is Pakistan's most beloved weeknight comfort food — creamy white lentils slow-cooked until silky smooth, finished with a sizzling tarka (tempering) of ghee, fried onion, garlic, and whole red chillies. Pair with plain chawal (rice) for the Pakistani meal that fixes everything.
Lahori Chicken Tikka
Lahori chicken tikka — yoghurt and spice-marinated chicken pieces grilled in a tandoor until smoky, charred, and deeply flavoured. This is not the pale orange mild tikka of British-Indian restaurants; this is the real thing: fiery, caramelised, and smoky with a yoghurt-based marinade that has been doing its job overnight.
Lahori Paya — Slow-Cooked Trotters
Lahori Paya is a slow-cooked dish of goat or beef trotters simmered for 6-8 hours until the collagen melts into a rich, gelatinous, deeply spiced gravy. It is traditionally eaten for breakfast (yes, breakfast) in Lahore's old city, served with naan from the tandoor, and considered the ultimate cold-weather restorative.
Lahori Halwa Puri with Channay
Lahori Halwa Puri is the iconic Pakistani Sunday breakfast — a full spread of suji (semolina) halwa, deep-fried puri bread, and spiced channay (chickpeas), served together as a feast. It is the meal that families plan weekends around, the one that means everything is okay with the world.
Aloo Samosa (Crispy Potato-Filled Pastry)
Aloo Samosa is Pakistan's most iconic street snack — a perfectly crispy, triangular pastry filled with spiced mashed potatoes and peas, deep-fried to a golden crunch. Sold on every corner from Karachi to Peshawar.
Meethi Lassi — Sweet Punjabi Yoghurt Drink
Meethi lassi is Punjab's legendary sweet yoghurt drink — thick churned dahi (yoghurt) blended with sugar, cardamom, and sometimes rose water, topped with a thick layer of malai (cream). It is Pakistan's most refreshing summer drink and the original desi smoothie.
Doodh Pati Chai — Pakistani Milk Tea
Doodh pati chai is Pakistan's national drink — tea brewed entirely in full-fat milk with no water, producing an intensely creamy, deeply rich cup that bears little resemblance to the tea served anywhere else on earth. Strong, sweet, and non-negotiable.
Malai Boti
Malai Boti is Pakistan's most indulgent BBQ dish — tender cubes of chicken or mutton marinated in a rich cream-cheese marinade, skewered and grilled until just charred at the edges. Mild, melt-in-mouth, and dangerously easy to eat too many of.
Lahori Tikka Boti
Lahori Tikka Boti is the smoky, spiced mutton centrepiece of Pakistani BBQ culture — bone-in chunks marinated in yoghurt, spices, and raw papaya, then grilled over coal until charred and juicy. The real one comes from the coal, not the oven.
Lahori Biryani
The Punjabi biryani — more aromatic, less fiery, more balanced than its Karachi cousin. Built on overnight-marinated meat, a bouquet of whole aromatic spices, and a dum layer fragrant with saffron, kewra, and rose water. Lahori confidence in every grain.
Daal Tarka (Dhaba-Style)
Pakistan's most-ordered restaurant daal — defined not by which lentil you use but by a sizzling, smoking tarka of fried onion, tomato, garlic, and ghee that is poured dramatically over the cooked daal at the final moment. Plus the dhaba-style version with a fried egg broken on top.
Shahi Tukda
The royal bread pudding of the Mughal kitchen — thick slices of day-old white bread fried until shatteringly golden, soaked in fragrant sugar syrup, then generously drowned in saffron-and-cardamom-scented rabri (thickened sweetened milk) and finished with silver leaf and pistachios. Every bite is rich, sweet, and unapologetically indulgent.
Roghni Naan
Roghni Naan is the Rolls-Royce of Pakistani bread — leavened, egg-enriched, oil-glossed, and studded with sesame and nigella seeds, baked until golden and billowy. It is the bread that makes any meal feel like a celebration, and once you've baked your own, the bakery version will never quite measure up.
Garlic Naan
Garlic Naan takes everything great about a classic leavened naan and then — at the very last second — hits it with raw garlic butter and fresh coriander that cook against the bread's scorching heat. It is aggressively good, impossible to stop eating, and ready in under 10 minutes of baking.
Keema Naan
Keema Naan is the ultimate Pakistani stuffed bread — spiced minced meat cooked dry and packed inside leavened naan dough, sealed, and baked until the crust is golden and the filling is fragrant and juicy. Served with cold yoghurt and mint chutney, it is a complete meal that happens to look like bread.
Kulcha
Kulcha is Lahore's beloved leavened flatbread — softer than naan, richer in fat, and baked on the floor of the tandoor where it develops a flat base and an irresistibly puffy top. Whether you eat it plain with just a slick of butter or stuffed with spiced potato or paneer, it is the kind of bread that ruins all other bread for you.
Sheermal
Sheermal is a royal saffron flatbread from Mughal kitchens — slightly sweet, impossibly fragrant, and golden enough to look like it was baked by the sun itself. The dough is enriched with milk, ghee, and saffron, then pricked all over before baking so it stays flat and tender rather than puffing up.
Lachha Paratha
Lachha Paratha is the showstopper of Pakistani flatbreads — a multi-layered, flaky paratha made by the coil method that creates dozens of crisp, butter-kissed layers visible when you hold it up to the light. When you pull it apart, it falls into beautiful golden ribbons. It is the kind of bread that makes people ask who made this and then look at you differently.
Keema Paratha
Keema Paratha is a Punjabi breakfast powerhouse — a whole-wheat flatbread stuffed with fragrant dry-cooked spiced minced beef, sealed shut, and cooked golden on a ghee-slicked tawa. It is substantial enough to carry you through a long morning and flavourful enough to ruin all other breakfasts for you permanently. The key word is DRY — your keema filling must have zero gravy or the paratha tears apart at the seams.
Chapati
Chapati is the everyday whole-wheat flatbread at the heart of Pakistani home cooking — thin, soft, and cooked on a tawa before being placed directly on the gas flame to puff up into a golden, steam-filled balloon. It is the simplest bread you will ever make and the most forgiving, requiring nothing more than flour, water, and practice. Once you make good chapati at home, you will never look at store-bought the same way again.
Rumali Roti
Rumali Roti is a paper-thin, silky flatbread folded like a handkerchief — 'rumal' literally means handkerchief in Urdu. It's the bread of grand restaurants, wedding banquets, and show-offs, because watching a skilled cook stretch it paper-thin and slap it onto an inverted karahi is genuinely theatrical. At home, it's more achievable than it looks and absolutely worth the effort.
Chicken Qeema
A lighter, quicker take on the classic qeema using minced chicken — cooks in half the time of beef, absorbs spices beautifully, and makes an excellent weekday dinner or paratha filling.
Creamy White Chicken Handi
Punjab's beloved restaurant-style white chicken handi — tender chicken in a creamy, mildly spiced gravy that's become one of Pakistan's most ordered dishes. Silky, indulgent, and surprisingly achievable at home.
Slow Dum Chicken
Punjab's take on dum cooking applied to chicken — yogurt-marinated chicken sealed and slow-cooked so every piece is impossibly tender and infused with spiced aromatics. Restaurant quality at home.
Beef Haleem South Punjab
South Punjab's generous, heavily spiced beef haleem — cooked in the daig tradition with extra masala and a more assertive spice profile than northern Punjab. Multan's answer to Karachi and Lahore's versions.
South Punjab Mutton Biryani
South Punjab Mutton Biryani is a slow-cooked masterpiece from the region that takes its food as seriously as its chai. Rich with mutton, layered with saffron and fried onions, this is biryani made for special occasions and family gatherings that stretch into the night.
Kofta Biryani
Kofta Biryani layers fragrant basmati with spiced mince meatballs cooked in a rich tomato-based masala. The koftas stay whole through the dum, creating pockets of intensely flavoured meat in every serving — a biryani variation that will change how you think about mince.
Aloo Gosht Pulao
Aloo Gosht Pulao combines Pakistan's most beloved curry — aloo gosht — with fragrant basmati in one pot. The potatoes absorb the spiced gosht stock, creating pockets of soft, flavourful aloo throughout the rice that make every bite a small discovery.
Wedding Pilau (Dawat Wala Pulao)
Wedding Pilau is the ultimate celebration pulao of Punjab — the dish that appears at every mehendi, baraat, and walima, scaled for crowds and made with a generosity of ghee and spices that marks every grain as something special. This home version captures that celebratory magic.
Vegetable Fried Rice Pakistani Style
Pakistani-Style Vegetable Fried Rice is a colourful, quick, and satisfying meatless meal that uses the high-heat wok technique with a Pakistani spice sensibility. Loaded with seasonal vegetables and finished with soya sauce and black pepper, this is a brilliant weeknight vegetarian option.
Tahri (Aloo Chawal)
Tahri is Punjab's beloved spiced potato rice — the vegetarian one-pot meal that generations of Punjabi families have eaten for weekday lunches and simple dinners. Vibrant with turmeric and whole spices, tahri is comfort food in its purest form.
Chicken Seekh Kebab
Chicken Seekh Kebab is the lighter, equally delicious cousin of the beef original — minced chicken thigh meat seasoned with fresh herbs and subtle spices, grilled to juicy perfection. Perfect for those who prefer white meat without compromising on flavour.
Malai Seekh Kebab
Malai Seekh Kebab is the luxurious white sibling of the classic seekh — mince marinated in cream, cheese, and mild spices, then grilled to a pale golden perfection. Mild, melt-in-your-mouth, and spectacularly good.
Punjabi Chicken Tikka
Punjabi Chicken Tikka is the template from which all tikka derives — generously spiced, boldly marinated with yoghurt and mustard oil, and cooked in a clay tandoor for a smoky char that defines Pakistani BBQ culture.
Lahori Malai Boti
Lahori Malai Boti is the creamy, mild, utterly addictive BBQ that has taken Lahore by storm — boneless chicken marinated in a rich cream and cheese mixture, grilled to silky golden perfection. The kebab that converted spice-phobic relatives everywhere.
Punjabi Gola Kebab
Punjabi Gola Kebab has a distinctly Lahori spice profile — more garam masala, more ginger, and the characteristic Punjabi love of fresh mint — producing round, beautifully flavoured kebabs that are Lahore's favourite tawa snack.
Punjabi Maash Ki Dal
Punjabi Maash Ki Dal is a creamy, protein-rich urad dal slow-cooked with aromatic spices and finished with a sizzling tarka. This beloved comfort dish is a staple of Punjabi households and dhaba culture alike.
Mixed Dal Tadka
Mixed Dal Tadka combines three types of lentils into one nourishing, flavour-packed pot. Finished with a classic Punjabi tarka of ghee, zeera, and garlic, this is your ultimate weeknight dal.
Dhaba Dal Tadka
Dhaba Dal Tadka is the legendary roadside restaurant dal — smoky, aromatic, and aggressively seasoned in the best way possible. This recipe cracks the secret of why dhaba food always tastes better.
Paalak Gosht
Paalak Gosht is a luxurious Punjabi curry of tender mutton slow-cooked in a vibrant spinach gravy, fragrant with whole spices and enriched with cream. Nutritious never tasted this indulgent.
Aloo Paratha South Punjab
South Punjab Aloo Paratha is a rustic, generously spiced potato-stuffed flatbread with a more assertive spice profile than the Lahori version — reflecting the bold culinary personality of Multan and beyond.
Badam Kheer (Almond Milk Pudding)
Luxurious badam kheer made with blanched almonds ground into a paste, simmered in full-fat milk with saffron and cardamom for a rich, nutty Pakistani dessert. Thicker than regular kheer and utterly indulgent, this is the dessert you serve when you want to impress.
Mango Kulfi — Aam Wali Kulfi
Luscious mango kulfi made with Chaunsa or Sindhri mango pulp blended into a condensed milk and cream base — no cooking, no stirring, freeze and serve. Captures peak mango season in every mold and delivers pure Pakistani summer joy.
Phirni for Eid — Saffron Rice Pudding in Clay Pots
Creamy Punjabi phirni made with coarsely ground rice cooked in full-fat milk until silky, set in traditional clay pots (matke) and chilled overnight with saffron and cardamom. The dessert that tells guests they are truly welcome — set in matke and garnished with silver leaf.
Namkeen Lassi — Lahori Salted Buttermilk
Frothy Lahori namkeen lassi made with thick dahi, chilled water, salt, roasted cumin and a pinch of kala namak — blended until light and airy. The savoury alternative to sweet lassi that serious Lahori breakfast spots swear by, and the world's best digestive drink.
Mango Lassi — Summer Special
Thick, creamy mango lassi blended from ripe Pakistani mangoes, full-fat yoghurt and a touch of cardamom — the drink that defines a Pakistani summer. Sweet, cool, and thirst-destroying, this is peak seasonal simplicity in a glass.
Lahori Shami Kebab — A Classic Variation
Classic Lahori-style shami kebab made with beef mince and chana dal slow-cooked with whole spices, ground and shaped into patties and fried to a golden crust. Served with green chutney and salad, this is Punjab's favourite kebab — at every dawat table from Lahore to Faisalabad.
Bun Kebab Lahori Style
Lahori bun kebab featuring a spiced shami-style patty and an egg omelette tucked into a toasted bun with tamarind chutney, green chutney, pickled onions and chaat masala. Punjab's answer to the burger — messier, spicier, and infinitely more satisfying.
Daal Pakora — Crispy Split Pea Fritters
Crunchy daal pakoras made from soaked and coarsely ground chana dal (split chickpeas) mixed with onion, green chilli and spices, then deep-fried until shatteringly crispy. Punjab's rain-day snack of choice — denser and crunchier than besan pakoras with a satisfying lentil depth.