'Pakistan' Is a Cookbook for the Fearless Flavor Seeker

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Welcome to “Cookbook of the Week.” This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While finding a particular recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has a magic all its own. 

I cook on a daily basis (no surprises there), and most of the time, the meals I make hit the spot. But there are some special meals I make that spur a spontaneous exclamation from my partner, or make me shake my head in disbelief that all of my intentions for this dish have been realized. The meal I made yesterday did exactly that, and the recipe was from Pakistan, my cookbook of the week. 

About the book

Pakistan is a new release, and the debut cookbook from Maryam Jillani. This cookbook, with possibly the most vibrant and mesmerizing cover I’ve ever seen, presents an expansive view of what Pakistani food is. Jillani includes dishes from Islamabad to Karachi in Pakistan but also dishes that originated in India and Afghanistan. It reminds me of when I learned that many of my favorite Thai dishes were originally from other places, like sweet and savory pad see ew from China, and thin, flaky Thai roti making its way over from India. Cuisine is not completely bound by borders and, like language, it influences neighbors and changes over time. 

Pakistan has a recipe for every craving you might have, like street food snacks, vegetarian sides, desserts, and hearty meat dishes. It is complete with chapter breaks that pair personal stories with beautiful photography—food, people cooking, and landscapes—all with a rather hypnotic contrast of light and shadow.  

While this might just be an artist’s trained eye coordinating lovely visuals, I can’t help but connect the balance and contrast in the photography with how the flavors present themselves in the dishes of Pakistan. 

A great cookbook for the fearless flavor seeker

This is not a cookbook for a person on a diet. It’s not going to be a fun cookbook for a person that says, “Oh I don’t do (fill in the blank).” Whether it’s a healthy dose of frying oil, a bold teaspoon of Kashmiri red chili powder, or sweet and tart tamarind paste, this cookbook is for the fearless. It’s for the home cook who purchased that mango powder in the Asian market but doesn’t know the first place to use it. Because the fearless cooks know that being surprised by new seasoning, ingredients, and flavors are likely going to be a massive revelation for your cooking as a whole. You enjoy new combinations and then you start using them in your own, brand new concoctions. 

That said, be aware that this cookbook may include ingredients that are hard to source for you depending on your region. While plain yogurt might be at your local supermarket, carom seeds or fresh curry leaves may not be. But don’t let that stop you in your tracks; there are a fair amount of recipes that completely use ingredients available in Western supermarkets. Additionally, Pakistan has an excellent section in the front of the book that discusses the fresh herbs and spices used in the recipes and how to substitute them if they can be. 

The dish I made this week

This week, I made Borani Banjan, or Afghan-Style Fried Eggplant in Yogurt. My partner and I ended up eating it alongside some pan-fried chicken thighs, and this is the meal that made us both stop and appreciate the food on our plates. 

I’d say this recipe is an eggplant-forward dish, but there are onions and tomatoes that share the spotlight. I chose it because the headnote says it’s well-loved for being so straightforward in preparation (I do love that) and because the picture showed me how it was to be served—red-orange stewed veggies over a sweep of tangy yogurt and herbs sprinkled over the top. I adore well-cooked (mushy) eggplant over yogurt. Add a spicy, salty sauce, and I have achieved all goals for the day. 

The recipe consisted of ingredients I grabbed easily at the store, barring the Kashmiri chili, sadly. I only had cayenne in my cabinet, so I said, "screw it," and used that instead. While I can’t wait to try this recipe with the indicated chili powder, I had the time of my life eating this tangy, warming, bitter, salty dish. The eggplant slices get fried in cooking oil, set aside, and other ingredients then get cooked in more oil. The eggplant gets added back in and everything steams together to make a robust and spicy side dish. Served on the cooling yogurt, you’re hit with hot, cold, herbal dry mint, and round background notes from the veggies and turmeric. It was a wild ride of massive flavors, and now I want more where that came from.

How to buy it

The hardcover of Pakistan is stunning, so I’d recommend you go all out and get it. But I understand that if you’re a voracious cookbook reader, you might prefer the less obtrusive ebook for a lower price. As with most new hardcover cookbooks, you’ll likely be able to spot it easily at your local brick and mortar bookstore too.