Pak chefs bridge the India-Pak divide

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Pakistani chefs bridge the divide

Exchanging recipes with their Indian colleagues

By BBC News Online’s Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi
With Delhi gearing up to receive Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf this weekend, residents of the Indian capital are enjoying some unusual fallout from the faster tempo of diplomacy between the two neighbours.

One enterprising hotel has taken advantage of pre-summit fever by inviting two celebrity chefs from the Pakistani city of Lahore to one of their restaurants.

We have come with memories and flavours

Mehboob Ahmad Khan
Mehboob Ahmad Khan and Mohammad Asghar have been serving up their own dishes at Delhi’s Maurya Sheraton for the last few days.

“We have come with memories and flavours,” Chef Khan told BBC News Online.

Most of the more than 100 recipes they have brought over reflect the cuisine of the Pakistani province of Punjab, which was separated from Indian Punjab in 1947.

And some of the dishes have come from the streets and alleyways of Lahore’s famous Anarkali bazaar, in the city’s ancient Mughal quarter.

Lost memories

The aromatic kebabs and fiery curries have gone down very well with Delhi patrons, but have evoked special memories for a particular section of the capital’s residents.

Chief Khan serves it up

KK Nagpal was one of several thousand Lahoris who fled the city during partition, and relocated to Delhi.

“This is a bitter sweet moment for me,” he said.

“It brings back memories of the city of my youth - but it also reminds me of what we lost,” he said.

Mehboob Ahmad Khan says many former Lahoris have been flocking to sample his food hoping to rekindle their memories.

“Our style of cooking is somewhat different from that of north India,” he said.

“Although we use similar ingredients and spices, there are variations,” he added.

A big challenge for the two Pakistani chefs was to cater to the needs of a large number of vegetarians - a key difference between the dietary habits of the two countries.

“But it was made easier by the fact that you get a lot of exotic and fresh vegetables in India, allowing us to experiment and innovate.”

Taking back recipes

The chefs plan to do some sightseeing of their own before they head back home.

And apart from the memories they have, they also plan to take back a uniquely Indian recipe.

At breakfast on their very first day they were served dosas - south Indian rice and lentil pancakes and a very popular fast food dish in India.

“We’ve never had anything like it before. We plan on learning how to make it and recreate it in Lahore,” Mohammad Asghar said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1433000/1433358.stm

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mmmmmm...i would love to eat dosa for lunch.

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Rani, dosa sucks. Your desire of dosa (queer, shut up!) over naan cholay shows your culinary prejudice towards anything Pakistani.

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I wish they open a dosa shop in Lahore, like they have Pondarosa in Karachi. I'd hate to eat dosa in Hilton (Avari), as dosa is best enjoyed in a less formal setting! :~P

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Hey hey stop..

Kulchay cholay are typical Indian Punjabi lunch....would love to have them. Thanks to u and durango, my sandwich lunch is ruined.

[This message has been edited by Rani (edited July 11, 2001).]

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There you go again! Kulchay is not same as Naan. Kulchay look like Naan but they are more fluffy and hulkay phulkay and sometimes even lil smaller, sprinkled with sesame seeds, and are served for breakfast with dahi, lassi etc.

Naan, on the other hand (No johny, I said the other hand) are little bigger and heavier. They may or may not have spread of sesame seeds but in the case of kulcha, sesame seed is a must.

You can eat Naan even if it was made few hours ago with Cholay but kulchay, you have to have right off tandoor.

What's up with you Punjabi Indians? Not only you guys screw up our dishes the minute you cross borders, you also mess up the terminology? (ay hooni Chann aanda hoay ga 'jabaan' tay 'zahaan' dee aaN galaaN dassan 'zaiday' onooN paisay milday nay apni company waloN 'rojana' internet tay parhn day).

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Romna yaar real Punjabis are very khullay dulley of khiyal(not khiyalaat

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

)…they care less what it is called as long as it is eatable or tasty(or both). we also speak from our hearts and not consult some one else’s dictionary every 30 seconds to make sure we comply with the linguistics of some place 3000 miles away

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

jo dil ch hunda ohi bullaN te…koi converter shervertor nahi wich vichaalay

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

kulchay are allright. I like pooriyan and bhaThooray much better.
A plate of chholay pooriyan and a big glass of lassi for the breakfast and you will feel like night was never over.

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and not consult some one else's dictionary every 30 seconds to make sure we comply with the linguistics of some place 3000 miles away

Chann ji, 3000 miles hoon gay tuhaday layee, saday layee tay exit# 13 dee maar ay.

Pair daso, pathoray de jagah luch naee pasand? Kadi talay jay kay har waqt 'paanday' ee rainday o?

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i luv pathoorey they r my favorite and kulchey well i luv eating them with makhan and milk ah thats one reason why i luv being a lahori

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/biggrin.gif

To err is human and to keep on doing so is essentially me

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Roman, yes Luche or Luchian are only known west of Bias river. Not many people on East side know about it.

During my last trip backhome one afternoon we were shopping running from store to store in Amritsar's Katra jaimal singh and Hall bazar and after a while I was too hungry and I let the ladies on their own and walked in the bazar with my 10 yr old niece who is canada born. Her mother was really worried about kids' health and was not letting them eat anything from the bazar. While walking in the bazaar we saw a Kulcha raiRee the guy had a big tawa full of chollay-paneer sizzling and kulchas. Both of us ate Kulchay with chollay paneer to our hearts content. after we left the raiRee I realized I had just put her life in danger(atleast according to her mother).
That whole evening I was asking her every 10 mints about her stomach but amazingly she was feeling great and maaring big dakaars. She had just passed the raiRee test. That day onwward that raiRee was our favourite place whenever we were in the bazar during our stay.
I can still feel the taste of that spicy chollay paneer in my taste buds.

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Both of us ate Kulchay with chollay paneer to our hearts content.

and u said u didn't like Kulchay...what happened the Raiyrey wallah ran out of greasy Bhaturay or Puri.

mmmmmm.....i would love to have a hot crisp dosa, north India style...yummmmm

[This message has been edited by Rani (edited July 12, 2001).]

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mmmmmm.....i would love to have a hot crisp dosa, north India style...yummmmm

Ok Rani, I gave up - you can't be reformed.

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hey, when you see that stuff after such a long time anything tastes better. and YES pooriyan are better than all

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

I stand by my statement

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

For Some reason tradition is to eat chollay pooriyan for breakfast but kulchay and bhathooray are available all day long. Also Pooriyan and BhaThoray need immediate frying so you need more space and equipment than kulcha stall.
damn sounds like i used to have my own raiRee.

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One thing my grandad really missed after leaving India in '48 was dosas.... from 1948 until 2000 he never had a dosa 'till my parents took him to a South Indian restaurant in London.....

There's a family from Madras who live near me..... dang but the wife in that family makes some seriously yummy dosas!!!!!!