KP's cuisine becomes most sought after item for Iftaar.

PESHAWAR -- No haggling can be done with 45-year old Arif Ahmad, a famous Chappli Kabab seller, who is busy as a bee to keep up deluge of the parcel orders of fasting people for mouthwatering Peshawar's traditional cuisine just prior to Iftaar.

Arif Ahmad, who looks well composed saddled up in high armchair amid hustle and jostle of shoppers with stretched hands at his shop established by his grandfather Jumma Khan in 1950, is working against the clock to meet the takeaway and home delivery orders usually weighting from one kilogram to five kgs as the sun has started setting down behind the Koh-e-Sufaid Mountains.

Sitting on left side of a long black frying pan beneath big gas flames cooking the famous Chappli Kabab and 20kg marinated meat in a tray on right side of his two-storey famous shop in front of Kanumgam Park, Arif said, 'these days most of Chappli Kabab lovers ask for parcels from one Kg to five Kg for Iftaar parties at home rather than eating it in hot restaurants' conditions,' Arif who inherited the hard-earned business from his father told reporter.

"I had inherited Chappli Kabab's business from my father, Jalil Ahmad after he took over it from his father, Jumma Khan in 1950. Following the death of my father, all his (Jalil Ahmed) six sons had carried forward the legacy of this hard-earned business and continued till date with a lot of hope to transfer it to the next generation,' he recalled.

'My grandfather had started chappli kabab business from a single 'Karahi' (frypane) 72 years ago and today with grace of Allah Almighty, we have six more shops including one at melody food street, Islamabad, two each at Firdous and University Road, one each at Gul Bahar and Faqirabad Peshawar,' he added.

"We use minced meat and once it is rightly crushed by experienced labourers, tomatoes, red chili powder, onions, dry coriander leaves, eggs, ginger, lemon juice, salt, masala and pomegranate seeds go into its marinated meat, making it delicious," he said, adding it takes only 10 minutes to make a complete Chappli Kabab served with chutney, katchup, salad, yogurt and naan to customers.

Eminent writer and traveler, Qari Javed Iqbal in his book 'Saqafat Sarhad Tarikh kay Ayeene Me' (frontier culture in mirror of history) wrote that people of united India were mostly vegetarians but all kings and invaders from the West including Mughals, Turks, Ghazni and Afghans who conquered India were carnivores.

They introduced the habit of eating meat in...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT