Pashtun cuisine

Some of the popular Pashtun dishes, from left to right: 1. Lamb grilled kebab (seekh kabab); 2. Palao and salad; 3. Tandoori chicken; and 4. Mantu (dumplings). The Pashtun cuisine includes a blend of Central Asian, Eastern Asian, South Asian and the Middle Eastern cuisines. Most Pashtun dishes are traditionally non-spicy.

Pashtun cuisine (Pashto: پښتني خواړه‎) refers to the cuisine of the Pashtuns, who are predominant in eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The cuisine of the Pashtun people is covered under Afghan cuisine and Pakistani cuisine, and is largely based on cereals like wheat, maize, barley and rice as well as a plethora of meat dishes that includes lamb, beef, chicken, and fresh fish. Accompanying these staples are also dairy products (yogurt, whey, cheeses), including various nuts, locally grown vegetables, as well as fresh and dried fruits. Cities such as Peshawar, Jalalabad, Kabul, Quetta and Kandahar are known for being the centers of Pashtun cuisine.

Dishes

Bolani

The following is a short and incomplete list of some food items that Pashtuns often eat. The dishes listed below, are Pashtun, Tajik, Uzbek and Turkman food.

• Kabuli pulao
• Pekhteh/Peshteh (beef/mutton ribs)
• naray ghwakha (mutton dish)
• Chopan Kabob (lamb chops, skewered and grilled on charcoal)
• Seekh Kebab (beef/mutton/chicken)
• Shami kebab
• Chapli Kabab
• Shinwari tikka, roasted lamb
• Kichrei, sticky medium grain rice cooked with mung beans and onions, topped with melted qurot sauce. This is mostly eaten during winter.
• Londei, (spiced lamb jerky cooked with rice)
• Shorwa (soupe)
• Aush (hand made noodles)
• Aushak (vegetable and chive-filled dumplings topped with tomato and yogurt sauces)
• Mantu (meat dumplings), usually served under a yogurt-based white sauce
• Bolani also called Piraki in Afghanistan
• Burrani, is a style of presentation, usually eggplant (Badenjan|Bonjon) sometimes potatoes (kachaloo|aloo) or pumpkin (kadoo), where the vegetable is sauteed in a tomato based sauce and garnished with yogurt. Not to be confused with Bolani.
• Bonjan, eggplant cooked in oil with potatoes and tomatoes
• Bendei, okra cooked in oil with onions and tomatoes
• Masteh (freshly made yogurt)
• Ghatay Rujay, literally big rice, is a rice dish, resembling risotto, prepared only in Charsadda where the small grain rice needed to make it is grown.
• Naan or Doday. Naan or, Doday, as it is called in Pashto, is a flat bread usually made in vertical clay ovens called in Pashto (Tanoor) and Urdu (tandoor)
• Shomleh/Shlombeh (sometimes called "triwai" in Kabul), a drink made from mixing yogurt with water and shaking it extensively. Then adding dried mint leaves and small amount of salt.

• Pashtun cuisine
• 
  Pashtun people eating lunch in Kunar Province of Afghanistan.
• 
  Pashtun dinner sitting on dastarkhan in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, with U.S. troops (in the background).
• 
  Roasted chicken, widely eaten by Pashtun people
• 
  Naan, the most widely consumed bread in Afghanistan and Pakistan
• 
  A typical Peshwari dinner course, with various dishes.

Breakfast items

• Chai, bread, eggs, and sometimes cheese (paneer).

See also

• Afghan cuisine
• Pashtun culture
• Pakistani culture

References