An Unexpected Meal During Cram Time

Ok, so I know I haven't updated in a few days, but it's all for a good cause!  Studying has been engulfing and today I took my last class exam for nursing school and put myself one step closer to the big goal.  LICENSURE!  During one of the cram sessions at a friend's house, the study group was treated to a little home cooked Pakistani food.  It just so happens I've never had any food like it!

This was the general set up, a little bit of 3 different preparations with long grain rice common to this genre of food.  As a Filipino, I'm definitely a big rice eater except I've gotten used to short grain soft rice.  With the long grain rice, it's definitely a lot more dry but the food is soo (for the lack of a better term,) mushy that it pairs really well.

We'll start with the top right corner.  This has been explained to me as Chicken Ka Salan, or chicken curry.  The sauce to the curry is a thin wetter preparation than I'm used to when it comes to curry and contains some intense flavors that sets itself apart from other curries.  The first thing to hit is the strong taste of cumin which works with the big starchy cuts of potato.  The next flavor you get is of strong bayleaf which really penetrates the pieces of chicken.  The chicken and bayleaf combo really reminds me of adobo, especially when the pepper kicks in.  That's how this one ends, after a big of chewing, you start to feel the heat really come out and it lingers on the palate which you can feel from mouth to throat.  The familiar flavors are really comforting but the heat had me coming back for more.

 

Next the bottom left of the plate has a ground beef dish called Keema.  Seems simple but this is anything but!  First of all the meat is ground up really well so when it's cooked it's very pliable with the rice and seems to have taken on flavors really well because of it.  The flavor profile of this is very complex.  You start off with with a strong flavor of peppercorn, and not just the flavor, incredible spice too!  The heat is definitely on the front end on this one but dissipates pretty quickly.  Once the heat dies down a bit you get hints of cinnamon in between the strong citrus-like tangs of garlic and ginger.  This again went well with the rice, simple concept with pretty amazing flavors considering it's just ground meat.

 

Last but definitely not least is Biryani, simply explained as a chicken bake.  As you read my blog you'll come to find out I LOVE ONIONS!  Take a bite of this and you get a great onion flavor that sweetens the dish, it can be subtle to some but obvious to those with a little extra affinity for onion.  The chicken is shredded and held together by a thick sauce which I suspect is the yogurt binding it all together.  My second favorite flavor to emerge is the cardamom.  The cardamom gives a nutty, pistachio-like flavor adding that extra dimension that really finishes the dish off.  Biryani seems like a great comfort dish, a big bowl of this and rice would be real hearty at the end of a long day.

I'll be the first to admit it, the food won't win any awards for looks or style but if you're more interested in the strong complex flavors Pakistani food can provide, you'll enjoy each and every bite of all these dishes.  For me it's definitely motivated me to try more.  I couldn't have asked for a better first time bite with some homemade dishes made the right way.