Learn Pakistan before you go

10 phrases to learn

In Urdu. Capital letters show the stressed part. Tap the heart to practise a phrase later.

At the table

• Eat and pass food with your right hand. The left hand is seen as unclean for eating, so keep it for other tasks.
• Wash your hands before and after the meal. At many homes and restaurants a basin is offered, and bread is torn with the fingers of the right hand and used to scoop up curry.
• Hospitality is a point of honour. Your host will offer more food again and again; leaving a little on your plate shows you have had enough.
• Food is halal. Do not bring pork or alcohol as a gift, and ask before offering food to others.
• During Ramadan most Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. Avoid eating, drinking or smoking in public during the day, and if you are invited to iftar, the evening meal, arrive on time: the fast is broken at the call to prayer, often with a date and water.
• Tea is offered to almost every guest, in homes and even in shops. Accepting a cup is polite, and refusing everything may seem cold.

Local tips

Dishes to try

• Chicken karahi (چکن کڑاہی): Chicken cooked quickly in a karahi, a deep round pan like a wok, with tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chillies. Unlike most curries of the region, the traditional version has no onions. It is brought to the table in the pan and eaten with hot naan.
• Nihari (نہاری): A deep, silky stew of beef or lamb shank cooked slowly for many hours, often overnight, with bone marrow and warm spices such as long pepper. It is topped with fresh ginger, green chillies, coriander and a squeeze of lemon, and eaten with naan.
• Haleem (حلیم): A thick, comforting stew of meat, wheat or barley and lentils, cooked slowly for seven or eight hours and then beaten until it becomes smooth. It is served with fried onions, ginger, green chillies and lemon, and is especially popular during Ramadan.
• Sindhi biryani (سندھی بریانی): Layers of long-grain basmati rice and spicy meat, usually mutton or chicken, cooked with potatoes, tomatoes, yoghurt, fried onions and plenty of green chillies, and sometimes dried plums. It is one of the most eaten dishes in Pakistan.
• Chapli kebab (چپلی کباب): A large, flat patty of spiced minced beef or mutton with tomato, onion, green chilli, coriander and crushed coriander seeds, fried in fat until the edges are crisp. It is a favourite of Pashtun cooking and is eaten with naan and yoghurt chutney.
• Seekh kebab (سیخ کباب): Minced beef, lamb or chicken mixed with ginger, garlic, green chilli, garam masala and fresh herbs, pressed around long metal skewers and grilled over charcoal. It is served with sliced onions, lemon, mint chutney and naan.
• Sajji (سجی): A whole leg of lamb or a whole chicken, seasoned with little more than salt, and roasted slowly on skewers until tender, often stuffed with rice. In Balochistan it is eaten with kaak, a hard bread, while in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad it is usually chicken served with rice.
• Aloo gosht (آلو گوشت): Everyday home cooking at its best: meat, usually lamb, mutton or beef, simmered with potatoes in a thin, spiced gravy until tender. It is eaten with roti or plain rice, and for many Pakistanis it tastes of home.

Cities to see

• Islamabad (capital): The Faisal Mosque, Margalla Hills National Park, The Pakistan Monument.
• Rawalpindi: Old bazaars, The Pakistan Army headquarters, The nearby ruins of Taxila.
• Lahore: The Lahore Fort and Badshahi Mosque, The Shalimar Gardens, The Walled City.
• Faisalabad: Textile mills, The Clock Tower and its bazaars, Farming and cotton.
• Multan: The Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam, Sufi shrines, Sohan halwa.
• Bahawalpur: The Noor Mahal palace, The Cholistan Desert, Lal Suhanra National Park.

Landmarks and the city map are on the Pakistan trip