I just got back and the first thing I missed this morning was breakfast. I don't normally have breakfast - more of a cup of coffee and go kinda personality. But at home, home home (whatever that means or is meant to mean), I revert to some indeterminate age wherein I used to have three meals a day, plus chai, plus snacks.
The funny thing is that I don't seem to remember any age when I was a breakfast kind by choice.
So my usual is a paratha + tea.
And sometimes a baqarkhani + green tea.
Another option, not to be taken lightly, is Sri Pa'ie, i.e. Goat Feet.
And the final, typical Lahori, option is Biryani.
Lunches can be slightly lighter - considering.
Spinach is an old favorite.
Karhi, as well.
Chukander or Beets makes all kinds of things red.
The stuffed paratha (stuffed with anything from meat to potato to meat and potato).
There is the Kebab and Naan option.
But nothing, and I mean nothing, can beat the good old daal roti.
For reasons that you will soon learn, we had Lots of Goat to eat.
Hence, Goat spiced.
Leg of Goat (Amma burned her hand during this)
Some more Goat.
And some extra Goat.
And some Goat Pulaoo.
And some Goat with Turnip.
There was even some Goat Intestine aka Ojaris that I did not, I repeat, did not touch.
Funny story about them ojaris. In me youth, there was some furniture that I thought was immovable next to our dining table. For a good long while, I would chuck whatever I did not enjoy eating (ojari, anything green) behind that furniture when my Amma was not looking. I would have a clean plate and a good reputation. Except when it came time to move, and the movers moved the furniture. Anyways.
One can end it all with some amazing Carrot halwa.
All food courtesy of the extraordinary chef that is my dearest mother.
COMMENTS
omar ali | February 04, 2009
Mouth wateringly good. I wish I was back in lahore for a few days....
Red | February 04, 2009
I think I just drooled over my keyboard.
sarahjane | February 04, 2009
omg i am dying over here! YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
elizabeth | February 04, 2009
oh yum. having had the great pleasure of eating at that table, I second the adjective "extraordinary"--sepoy's Amma is the best cook I met in homistan. oh those kababs, and the gajjar halwa! also there was some channa dish that was magic. I am very hungry now. (also: my younger sister employed your ojari-disposal strategy with vitamins as a child--as we discovered when we moved the couch to catch a mouse one of the cats had brought in, and found eighty-some pairs of chewable flintstone vitamins nearly tucked beneath the rim...)
Buster | February 04, 2009
OK, goat with turnip--I want the recipe. I love both but I've never had them together. Willingness to share?
Salman Javaid | February 04, 2009
manaan bhai..... Ure reminding me of amma !!!! I miss all such food items that she used to cook for me back home in lahore.... Too bad I didn't like the Goat stuff a lot but still was Delicious with a capital D..... Long live Amma.... Amen
Szerelem | February 04, 2009
oh good lord. I want to eat all that, sigh. Though off topic moong dal halwa >>> gajjar halwa. And what do you have against ojaris?
Robina | February 04, 2009
Such delicious food!!! It can seduce anyone's palate. Am going to Lahore in March, can't wait. Was great to see these pics. Thnx for posting.
Zack | February 04, 2009
I can never understand how Lahoris can have such a heavy breakfast. Were you there for Eid or was there an aqeeqa?
biryanilady | February 05, 2009
it is not at all acceptable to post such luscious lajawab-food photos without a recipe, or two, or seven. Not.At.All.
Desi Italiana | February 05, 2009
Supersize all of this, please.
Desi Italiana | February 05, 2009
That kadhi looks damn good (NB: Gujarati kadhi is sans the big chunks of besan in contrast to the Punjabi one). And the dishes are prepared in such an aesthetically pleasing display! One question, if you know the answer: how many goats went into making those dishes?
sepoy | February 05, 2009
DI: If you click on the Image ( to FLickr), you can supersize all of them. More on Goats soon. On the recipe front, I will see what someone else can do.
Another Damned Medie | February 05, 2009
mmmmmmmm ..... goat! mmmmmmm .... dal for breakfast. Except that I only have a murgh makhni and something with aubergine. And none of it looks as good as goat.
desiknitter | February 05, 2009
Please please post your Amma's kadhi recipe! I love Punjabi kadhi and the subtle variations that so many families have in their recipes. Also the chukander. The kebabs look fab, even to this non-red-meat eater. I totally know what you mean about the sudden ability to eat seven large meals in a day. Most mysterious...
2.4.09 Featured blogs of the day – Student Bloggers | February 05, 2009
[...] there’s nothing like a home cooked meal. We’re getting sick of the same old campus food, or having a scarce amount of it. [Chapati [...]
Jonathan Dresner | February 05, 2009
My parents do that -- not cook great Indian, but take pictures of their food when they're traveling. Lovely, lovely stuff. Now all we need is that next-generation peripheral to make the browsing experience complete: iAroma environmental adaptor....
Jonathan Dresner | February 05, 2009
Sorry, not "Indian": homistani. I suppose, though, that mid-American Jewish is my homistani quisine....
raver | February 05, 2009
I want some of your amma's karhi with the yummy pakoras all floating in yogurty besany goodness.
Baraka | February 05, 2009
You're killing me, man, killing me. My stomach is rumbling and I am longing for a paratha and chai for brekkie. Alas, it is yogurt and fresh fruit for me, the quintessential SF brekkie which pales in comparison to all this ghee-laden fineness. *sigh*
Sacrifice « The Moor’s Last Word | February 06, 2009
[...] a full day later, it occurred to me that this very goat was led to its death and reincarnated into sumptuous dishes. Such an angelic goat [...]
hemlock | March 01, 2009
how long were you visiting after? im assuming you returned from perdais after a long time - hence the lavish dasterkhwan? let it be know, you are envied. i miss real food. real desi food. real homemade desi food. *sigh*
Amit Julka | May 26, 2010
slurrrrrrp...