Through mulberry valleys
Summer fruits in harsh winters
The rugged splendour and romantic rusticity of northern Pakistan is captivating, but it is the people, and most of all their simple seasonal food, that has always inspired me. The arduous journey through isolated valleys is made easier by the welcoming aromas of smoky wood burners cooking local breads and the fresh mountain breeze carrying with it the scent of brewing qawa (green tea) and sweet dark oranges.
The mountainous regions of Chitral, Swat, Hunza and Gilgit boast snowy peaks during winter, and in late summer and autumn are breathtaking. A view from a height captures a vision of ingeniously irrigated green cornfields weaving through valley floors, the air fragrant with the jasmine-like scent of Russian olives and blackberries, the trees aflame with apricots and mulberries, the mountainsides dotted with large baskets of fruit left to be sun-dried before the harsh barren winter ahead.
The hospitality of the locals is endearing – visitors are greeted with warm honey milk, a dastarkhwan (dining floor mat) laden with walnuts from the trees, plums, figs, ripe cherries or apricots in platters, local cheeses and bread, all washed down with buttery salted tea, while sucking on misri (rock sugar).
Northern Pakistan is hugely diverse: there is deep history to its rustic cuisine, which bears influences of the Silk Road and invaders from other lands. I have always had a personal passion for the region’s history and its untouched beauty. Its ethos of eating locally and preserving food for the rest of the year (as well as sharing with friends and family) draws me back to this part of my homeland both in mind and spirit.
◁ Spiced apple samosas
These sweet samosas are inspired by the bountiful supply of apples in the north. They are gently spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and mace, which offer a warm comfort with each mouthful. Apples are also made into murraba (p89) and then eaten through the year.
Preparation 25 minutes | Cooking 20 minutes | Makes 6–8
For the pastry
150g/51/2 oz/1 cup plus 2 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp fine semolina
water, as needed
vegetable oil, for oiling and deep-frying
For the filling
6 Royal Gala apples, peeled, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
100g/31/2 oz/1/2 cup golden caster (superfine) sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3–4 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground
a pinch of ground mace
To serve
150ml/5 fl oz/2/3 cup cream, whipped with 1 tsp rose water
1 tsp dried rose petals
Begin by making the pastry. Combine the flour, salt and semolina in a bowl, then slowly add enough water to bring all the ingredients together into a dough. Knead the dough on a clean floured work surface and form into a soft dough. Lightly grease your hands with oil, pat the dough down, cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest at room temperature.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Heat a saucepan, add the apples, sugar and spices and cook over a medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, or until the apples are soft, glistening and the sugar is dissolved and shiny. Take off the heat and allow to cool.
Knead the dough on a floured surface, then roll it out to 5mm/1/4 inch thick. Using a 5-cm/2-inch diameter round pastry cutter, cut out 6–8 circles.
To fill the samosas, place about 1 teaspoon of the filling for each samosa, on one half of the circle, then fold the dough into half moons and press the corners with a fork to close. When all the samosas are made heat the oil for deep-frying in a large deep frying pan to 180°C/350°F, or until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds.
Drop the samosas into the hot oil in batches. Deep-fry each samosa for 2–3 minutes on each side, then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Serve immediately with whipped cream decorated with rose petals.
◁ Chitrali rishiki
Pancakes with mulberry syrup
These are wheat-based pancakes topped with pine nuts, walnuts and mulberry syrup. On a trip to Chitral I was served these with a homemade sheerni – a laborious slow-cooked black mulberry syrup which takes a whole night to prepare. The end result is an intense and heady flavour. It’s treated like liquid gold. If you can’t find fresh mulberries or mulberry syrup in the shops, then honey and salty cottage cheese make a great substitute.
Preparation 15 minutes + 30 minutes resting | Cooking 15 minutes | Makes 6–8
250g/9 oz/13/4 cups wholemeal (wholewheat) flour
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
250ml/9 fl oz/generous 1 cup whole milk
ghee, for cooking
For the topping
1 tbsp mulberry syrup
1 tbsp walnuts, roughly chopped
1 tbsp pine nuts
fresh mulberries (or dry mulberries or blackberries)
Sift the flour, salt and sugar together into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the beaten eggs, then slowly add the milk and whisk until everything is combined. Cover with a tea towel and set aside for 30 minutes at room temperature.
To make the pancakes, heat a flat pancake pan or a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Rub the pan with a little ghee, then pour in a ladleful of the batter. Using the back of the ladle, spread the batter out in circular motions to form a really thin pancake. You will need to do this very quickly as the batter starts to cook immediately.
When you see tiny bubbles on the surface (1 minute) turn over and cook for another 1 minute on the other side. Remove the pancake from the pan and keep warm in a foil pouch. Repeat until all the batter is used up.
Serve the pancakes warm with fresh mulberries, mulberry syrup and nuts.
◁ Chamborogh
Stewed Hunza apricots with cream and apricot kernels
Stewed fruits are very popular in Hunza and Chitral. This recipe is a classic Chitrali dish where fresh or dried apricots are stewed and served with toasted apricot kernels and fresh cream. The simplicity of this dessert is a true representation of the region.
Preparation 20 minutes + overnight soaking | Cooking 20 minutes Serves 6–8
200g/7 oz/11/3 cups dried Hunza apricots
80g/3 oz/scant 1/2 cup caster (superfine) sugar
250ml/9 fl oz/generous 1 cup double (heavy) cream, to serve
To decorate
1 tbsp dried cherries
2 tbsp apricot kernels or chopped dry-roasted almonds or walnuts
1 tbsp dried rose petals
Place the apricots in a bowl and pour in enough water to cover. Make sure they are completely submerged. Allow to soak overnight.
The next day, squeeze the stones out of the apricots, then pour the water used for soaking the apricots together with the stoned apricots into a saucepan. Add the sugar and cook over a medium heat for 15–20 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved and the apricots are glistening. Do not stir. Take off the heat and allow to cool in the pan, then chill completely before serving.
Decorate the chilled apricots with dried cherries, apricot kernels or nuts and rose petals and serve with the cream on the side.
◁ Apple halva
with cardamom and pomegranate
Apples are bountiful during the cooler months in the north, so this is another Chitrali-inspired dessert – apples are cooked down slowly with a sugar syrup to create a thick concentrate and then served cool with whipped cream.
Preparation 20 minutes + 1 hour chilling | Cooking 25–30 minutes | Serves 4
5–6 Royal Gala apples, peeled, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 tbsp ghee
3–4 cardamom pods, seeds removed and crushed
200g/7 oz/generous 1 cup caster (superfine) sugar
150ml/5 fl oz/2/3 cup double (heavy) cream, whipped, to serve
To decorate
a handful of pomegranate seeds
a handful of blanched slivered (flaked) almonds
Blitz the apple pieces in a food processor until a smooth purée has formed.
Heat the ghee in a saucepan over a medium heat, add the cardamom and apple purée and cook for 15–20 minutes until brown and all the water from the apples has been absorbed.
Next, add the sugar and begin to stir vigorously as the apple starts to thicken and glisten. Keep stirring until the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan and it is dark brown and shiny.
Transfer the halva to a bowl, cover with clingfilm and allow to cool, then chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
When ready to serve, decorate with the pomegranate seeds and almonds and serve cool with whipped cream.
◁ Mulberry and cherry fruit leather
with crushed walnuts and pistachios
Fruit leathers are found in many parts of Pakistan. In the south they are made with mangoes, while in the north they are made from cherries, mulberries or apples. In Chitral and Hunza, you can find these dark, stained glass-like sheets drying in the mountain sun. The locals love to crush walnuts or pistachios finely and spread them on the fruit leathers, then eat them as a snack. This recipe is based on the Chitrali dessert shakarpostik, where dried mulberries and walnuts are ground together and then dried into a fruit leather.
Preparation 15 minutes + 15 minutes soaking | Cooking 2–3 hours | Serves 2–3
100g/31/2 oz/2/3 cup dried black mulberries or Hunza apricots
300g/11/2 cup/101/2 oz cherries, pitted
50g/13/4 oz/1/4 cup caster (superfine) sugar
1 tbsp honey
a pinch of salt
3 tbsp crushed pistachios
3 tbsp crushed walnuts
Soak the mulberries in a heatproof bowl of hot water for 15 minutes, then drain and set aside. If using apricots, soak them overnight, then drain and remove the stones.
Place the cherries, drained mulberries or apricots, sugar and honey in a saucepan and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes, or until soft and pulpy and the moisture has gone.
Preheat the oven to 90°C/200°F/lowest possible gas mark.
Transfer the mixture to a blender, add the salt and whizz to a purée. Pour 2 tablespoons of the mixture onto a sheet of greaseproof paper and spread it out as thinly as possible with a palette knife. Repeat on separate pieces of greaseproof paper once or twice more. Place each piece of paper on a baking tray and sprinkle the crushed nuts evenly over the mixture. Bake in the oven for 2–3 hours, or until shiny and dry. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Once cool, the fruit leather should peel off easily.
Cut the fruit leather into 5cm/2-inch strips, then roll up and store in an airtight container for 2 weeks.
◁ Mulberry and blackberry stew
This dessert is a celebration of the region. Stewed mulberries and blackberries are a wonderful autumnal dessert served with a ginger and rose-flavoured cream. Mulberry trees are bursting with berries during early summer in the Kalash valley of Chitral, home to the ancient tribes people of Kalash who are said to be descendants of Alexander the Great’s army. You can see their gorgeous children, wearing traditional dress, shaking the branches and catching the fruit on large sheets below, before indulging in their haul.
Preparation 15 minutes | Cooking 30 minutes | Serves 5–6
200g/7 oz dried black mulberries
300g/21/4 cup/101/2 oz blackberries
150g/3/4 cup/51/2 oz cherries, pitted
1/2 tsp ground ginger
about 250ml/9 fl oz/generous 1 cup water
3 tbsp honey
To serve
handful of walnuts, roughly chopped
200ml/7 fl oz/scant 1 cup thick double (heavy) cream whipped and flavoured with ginger and rose water
Bring the mulberries, blackberries, cherries, ginger and water to the boil in a saucepan. Turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes, adding water as you need, to keep the berries covered.
After about 20 minutes, add the honey, stir and take the pan off the heat. Allow to cool in the pan.
Serve with chopped walnuts and the flavoured whipped cream either at room temperature, or chill in the fridge until later.
◁ Pomegranate, rose and cardamom halva jelly
This is more of a jelly-like dessert than a traditional halva, but it is inspired by the flourishing pomegranate trees that grow in areas of Pakistan – those lush green leaves that hide away a shiny fruit heavy with jewel-like seeds. This dish is best served in small pretty glasses, decorated with gold leaf, either as a light finish to a heavy meal, or a palate cleanser between courses.
Preparation 40 minutes + chilling | Cooking 10 minutes | Serves 4–6
5 pomegranates, seeds only
250ml/9 fl oz/generous 1 cup water
2 cardamom pods, seeds removed and finely ground
120g/41/4 oz/2/3 cup caster (superfine) sugar
1 tsp agar agar powder
1 tsp rose water or kewra (screwpine extract)
To decorate
gold leaf
pomegranate seeds
Blitz the pomegranate seeds in a blender or juicer, then pour it through a sieve to remove the seeds.
Pour the juice into a bowl, allow to settle, then add the water, finely ground cardamom and sugar. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and heat gently. Do not let the juice come to the boil, keep it on a simmer, and slowly add the agar agar, stirring until dissolved.
Add the rose water or kewra and turn off the heat. Allow to cool for 2 minutes so it doesn’t crack the serving glasses. (Agar-based jelly can set without refrigeration so don’t leave it any longer.) Pour the jelly into glasses and chill in the fridge for around 30 minutes, until set.
To serve, decorate with gold leaf and pomegranate seeds.
◁ Fresh curd burutz cheese
with walnuts, apricots, figs and honey
This dish is a memory of mountain hospitality – a platter filled with fresh fruit from the garden, nuts dried from the season before and homemade curd cheese from cow’s milk. Traditionally made in Hunza, burutz cheese is a buttermilk-based cheese where buttermilk is bashed about in the dried sheep belly skin until the fat separates and forms a thick cheese. This is a quicker way of making it with Greek yogurt. Serve either after dinner, as an afternoon teatime snack or as part of a light lunch.
Preparation 20 minutes + overnight standing | Serves 6–8
For the cheese
400g/14 oz/13/4 cups Greek yogurt
a pinch of salt
honey, to serve
For the fruit platter, a selection of:
fresh figs, grapes, apricots or greengages
dried apricots
dried figs
raisins
walnuts
pistachios
To make the cheese, place a piece of muslin cloth in a colander over the sink. Mix the yogurt and salt together in a bowl until combined.
Pour the yogurt into the muslin cloth, then bring the corners of the cloth together, tie into a knot and hang over the tap overnight to let all the whey drip into the sink.
In the morning it should be a soft cheese. Serve with fruits and nuts or store in an airtight container in the fridge for 1–2 days.
◁ Pakwan
Wheat flour and jaggery rolls with aniseed
Eaten as an afternoon snack in the north, pakwan is a healthy small round bread, which is made with wholemeal flour, jaggery and aniseed. The mouth-watering aromas of this bread cooking on a tawa, the smokines from a wood burner and the smell of cardamom green tea slowly simmering on the stove is relived when I make these in my kitchen at home.
Preparation 20 minutes | Cooking 15 minutes | Serves 7–8
150g/51/2 oz/1 cup wholemeal (wholewheat) flour, plus extra for dusting
2 tbsp fine semolina
150g/51/2 oz/generous 1 cup jaggery or muscovado sugar, plus 2 tbsp for melting
3–4 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground
1 tsp ground aniseed
2 tbsp desiccated (dry unsweetened) coconut
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 egg, beaten
milk for kneading
300ml/10 fl oz/11/4 cups vegetable oil or ghee, for frying
Place all the ingredients, except the 2 tablespoons of jaggery for melting and oil for frying, in a bowl and knead into a soft dough using enough milk to bind it together.
Heat the oil for frying in a wok over a medium heat. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until it is 5mm/1/4 inch thick. Using a 2cm/3/4-inch round pastry cutter, cut out 7–8 circles and carefully drop them into the hot oil in batches. Deep-fry for 2–3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
Melt the reserved 2 tablespoons of jaggery in a pan and drizzle over the pakwan. Eat warm.
◁ Gajar mukhadi
Semolina and carrot pudding
I was taught this recipe from a Pathan lady, who incorporated two of my favourite dessert ingredients – carrots and semolina – in this Pathan/Punjabi pudding. However, this is one of those recipes that is usually served with a variety of savoury barbecue dishes.
Preparation 10 minutes + 20 minutes soaking | Cooking 25 minutes | Serves 4–5
160g/53/4 oz/1 cup fine semolina
3 tbsp ghee
3 cardamom pods, seeds removed and finely ground
120g/41/4 oz/2/3 cup caster (superfine) sugar
6 carrots, finely grated
To serve (optional)
chopped pistachios
Soak the semolina in a bowl of cold water for 20 minutes, then drain.
Heat the ghee in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat, add the ground cardamom and sugar and allow the sugar to dissolve.
Add the soaked semolina and cook for 5–6 minutes. Add the grated carrots and start to stir vigorously. Continue cooking for another 6–8 minutes until the halva comes together, the ghee separates out and the mixture comes away from the side of the pan.
Serve hot with chopped pistachios and khoya, if you like.