Pakistani Food - A Delectable Treat

Pakistani food is heavily influenced by the Mughal and Persian styles of cooking which is rich and extremely spicy. The food is most often cooked in clarified butter or ghee and garnished with a wide variety of dry fruits and cashew nuts.
The most common of all Pakistani food is the biryani which is a combination of meat and high quality rice cooked over steam or very low fire. Biryani is extremely rich and is served with a mixture of minced cucumber, tomato and onion in yoghurt.
Other very common delicacies in Pakistan are the kabbabs – these are meat pieces (chicken, mutton or beef) heavily marinated in different spices and cooked over charcoal or inside a tandoor (a special oven for naan and this type of meat). These kabbabs can be used as starters or as the main dish if accompanied by roti (unleavened bread), naan or tandoori roti.
The meal of the common man usually comprises of rice or roti, dal (which is a type of lentils cooked as a soup), a vegetable curry and/ or a meat dish. The every day cooking would not involve too many spices with the exception of the meat dish which is always treated as special. Some favorites are the mutton/ chicken karahi, Peshawari karahi or Lahori karahi.
The food is always eaten with the right hand; the left hand should not be used while eating as this is the hand with which is used to clean the body after defecation.