How Karachi turned me in to a cook


As a young girl, I had always loved baking. Cookies, cakes, pastries… you name it, I could bake it. But that’s about where my culinary expertise ended. Making everyday salan and roti was as baffling as ever to me. Which was quiet a shame, considering how much I loved food, never mind the fact that all girls over the age of 12 are expected to know how to cook at least a basic salan and make chappatis in our culture. However, none of this was ever imposed on me, and the only reason why I used to be intimidated by the concept of cooking was simply because I was unaware of how to go around doing it.

I had not the faintest idea ever of what ingredients, when cooked together, could ever yield something as unique as a salan’s paste. Nothing in the shopping trolley ever looked remotely anything like it; yet somehow it would be made, as if by magic. And the reason why I had never observed this thing being made up close and in detail was simply because my school, and later on college, were an almost 80miles from home. When I’d be leaving for school, it would usually be Fajr time, and when I’d be returning from school, it would be around 2:30’ish. By this time, the mystical salan  handia and bhujias would all be ready for serving. On weekends, it was the norm to not cook anything desi and to, instead, make something like lasagnes, pastas; or we’d simply visit over at my nanny’s place and skip the whole cooking bit altogether. To be honest, there was a time when I gave up thinking about how exactly a salan is cooked, and just decided to dig in and enjoy (and hence end up being overweight)

Imagine my amusement, when, after landing in Karachi when we moved permanently, I discovered that
a)      You CAN cook a salan without a pressure cooker
b)      And it’s actually a combination of onions, garlic and ginger, along with either yogurt or tomatoes that makes the actual ‘salan’

I still remember the day, a Friday, when I just decided to cook. I had not gone to the university that day, partly due to the horrifically hot weather and the absence of any air-conditioning anywhere. The best you could do on such days was to just take a cold shower, and lie down right smack under the fan (provided that the power is still on).

Anyways, to beat the heat and the agonising boredom associated with it, I just decided to cook lunch. When my mom told me the recipe, I was surprised, shocked and very much relieved. Surprised to discover that something I thought we rarely ate (onions) went in to my every lunch and dinner; shocked that you could cook it without a pressure cooker; and much relieved because it seemed fairly simple and straightforward.
Without further ado, I present to you, my very first salan recipe (and might I add that it turned out great!)
  • 2 Medium onions
  • 1 Garlic bunch
  • 1 Ginger (small piece)
  • 3 Medium Tomatoes
  • ½ Cup Oil
  • 1 Kilo Meat (Goat preferably)
a)      Fry the onions, garlic and ginger for a few minutes
b)      Add everything else + 4 cups of water
c)       Leave to cook on a medium flame for about 2-3 hours
d)      Once the water dries, turn up the heat and fry till the oil separates from the gravy
e)      Add ½ cup of water, bring to boil, and Voila!
And from that single fateful day in Karachi, I developed such a deep love for cooking, that now I find myself all able and comfortable with cooking for gatherings as large as 25 people at a time

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