SPICY STREET FOOD in Pakistan MUTTON KORMA & Trying Goat Testicles in Lahore

Hey guys, Mike Chen here in Lahore, Pakistan. This place is one of the most popular cities in this country and is known for its many gardens and parks. That's why it's known as the City of Gardens. It's an ancient city with over 2,000 years of history, with a lively atmosphere, deep culture, and of course we're here to check out the food scene. I'm here with my guide Naveed. We're gonna go for some chickpeas, chickpeas and mutton balls. That's smelling good. Oh wow. Holy moly. That smells incredible. We're starting out at a place called Haji Gulam Rasoon and this place has been in operation for over 30 years and they cook up one of the best chickpeas mutton meatballs in the whole city. And this place, people love coming here. They told me this is one of the cleanest places to go to, one of the most delicious traditional breakfast foods you can get. And this is what I got. I got the chickpeas and the mutton meatballs. I got the mutton and chickpeas and then of course some naan to eat it with and to lap up every single drop of that delicious broth. I'm getting a little ahead of myself but I got some dessert already. Some gulab jamun, just two because anymore it'll just completely knock me off of the day. And this is very typical of like most breakfast you get here in Pakistan. You got your bread, you got either curries or some sort of very saucy dish to dip your bread in. And trust me, for breakfast it's hard to get more satisfying and fulfilling and better smelling than this. And look at that, oh there's so much fat inside the chickpeas and this is all that mutton fat. You see a layer of the film forming on top of this dish. I feel like I kind of know what to expect when I see certain dishes in this country. I know it's deeply flavored. It's going to have a great meaty taste without it being too funky. And I know the chickpeas is going to be creamy when I bite into it. The bread is going to be super doughy with a nice little crush on the outside. And I know it's going to have some spice. It's almost impossible to come to this country and have traditional food or traditional street food or any sort of traditional dishes without it being spicy. And I think that's the part of it I embrace the most. I love the most about this place. Because you don't even have to ask for it. It's already spiced up for you. In a meal like this, it looks seemingly simple. But it's good to chickpeas into that particular texture with all that great spices and seasoning completely penetrating every single one of them. And to have that melting texture when you bite into it with just a perfectly baked naan. Oh man, mutton meatball. That man with the beard, I think I'm going to start calling him Gandalf from now on. Purely because to make a meatball like this requires really high level wizardry. It's got such a nice chew to it. Secondly, no funkiness. Those of you who don't like mutton or lamb because you can't stand that smell, that little funkiness that comes with the meat. This has zero of that. Completely annihilated by the spices. You got some numbing peppers in here, coriander, chilies. Like it's spicy, numbing, so amazingly flavorful. And as you're chewing it, the flavor releases, the spices release. That's like what this country is so known for and is so good at. Burying those spices inside the food items and it just has that different levels. It's like battling a boss in a dungeon video game. You know how every single level you get new enemies, new treasures. This is kind of like eating this meatball. Every single time you chew, every single time you open and close your mouth, you chomp your teeth onto this magical meatball. New flavor and fragrance releases onto your taste buds. Oh, this, you know this is gonna be a tender, right? Oh, look at this, look at this. They can make the mutton, you see this? You see the juice oozing out of it wherever I'm touching? They can make the mutton into the most fall-apart, mouth-watering piece of meat. It's like somebody just kissed me softly on the lips. Incredibly tender. So, so juicy. Oh, look at that. Oh, I think calling this falling off the bone would be insulting it. No, I can use this as a fork now. This is mutton innovation. Some of those tender, juicy pieces of mutton you can put in your mouth. It's found in this country. This is breakfast. They do not get around in this country. I mean, most people don't eat spicy for breakfast. Most people are not gonna eat a mutton shank. But here, these people, I like how they think. In this thing, there's a cart across the street selling these delicious dessert items. Again, this is why I love, like, so many little shops everywhere. It's kind of working together. And trust me, after eating this, you'll want some of this. All right, I'm not gonna say I've had many belob jumbies in my day. This is the best one I had so far. Usually, it's just sweet. This thing is sweet. It's buttery. This is just a meal of balls right now. Like, you got the mutton ball, the dessert balls, the little chickpeas that kind of look like little balls. This is basically just a baller of a breakfast. We're heading to the old Anak Kali market, and it's a Sunday right now. So everybody's out and about. We got vendors everywhere selling nuts, dried fruits, vegetables. We got a famous juice bar, apparently. In this market, it looks like anything you want, like jackets, pants, clothing, utensils, kitchenware. But we're here for a particular dessert. This reminds me of a scallion pancake. This is fried dough. There's vegetables inside, some onions, I think a little bit of eggs. I think that's ghee he's pouring on top of this. Smells incredible. It is so crusty, toasty looking. All right, this is the paratha. Like I said, outside it looks just like a scallion pancake. Oh, look at this. Multiple choice questions. You can eat, satisfy your hunger, and your knowledge at the same time. Oh, this is piping hot. Super crispy. Potatoes, chilies. Again, love this country for that. Coriander, fennel. Just an array of spices. This is amazing. I don't think I could ever eat a scallion pancake ever again and not think about, dare I say it, much superior cousin. Oh my god. If all vegetarian dishes could taste like this, I might have to step down to the other side. But just the most melty of potatoes. The array of spices turned this into like a little flat, fragrant hot pocket. The potatoes are mushy. The spices just completely renders you speechless. You can't believe something that looks so simple can taste this good. Perfectly cooked. Nice, beautiful char patterns on the outside. One of my favorite things in this country is now this. You can eat this as a meal as is and feel very, very, very good about it. And they have a little dipping sauce. A little yogurt and mint. Adds a bit of refreshing flavor to this pancake. But honestly, it doesn't need it. Just eat it like this on its own and chase it with a cup of tea. Oh my gosh. Perfect with this. Savory, spicy, salty, buttery, warm, milky, and sweet. No idea what's going on, but that drum beat. Basically how my taste buds feel right now. This is the famous ice cream place. They serve a popular ice cream dish called a faluga. If you want that dish, apparently this is the place you got to have it. This faluga kind of looks like the ice cream I had in Karachi. Interesting. Look at this. They have noodles in here. Little bits of ice, little bits of sesame. This tastes kind of like the kofi ice cream I had in Karachi, but a little nuttier. Little bits of basil seeds in here too. I feel like it's slightly lighter than the kofi ice cream I had in Karachi. But overall, flavor is pretty balanced. It's not as sweet. I like the texture of the basil seeds. Gives it a little crunch. It's kind of neat in its name. This place has been open for over 55 years, and this is one of the most popular places for this item here in the city. If you can't take a lot of spicy food, it's Hongsam Fire. Just like run over here, order this, and you're good to go. After the dessert, I'm ready for something hearty, and we're gonna go for some halim, which is a very traditional Pakistani dish that's been cooked for centuries. My friend, this is really good. Also, am I at the Pakistani Starbucks? This is halim, and it's made with a mixture of wheat and minced meat and spices and lentils, and it's stewed for hours, usually around seven to eight hours, until it gets this like paste-like consistency. Almost like a glue-like consistency. And this is not getting naan. This naan has a special type of oil on there. Not getting oil, that's what makes it so different. And to eat this, of course, dunk the naan in. Whoa, that's really gooey. I mean, this is a beef halim, but the meat is so reduced. It's becoming part of this congealed broth. Yeah, you can taste the lentils, the creaminess of the lentils. But what's really kind of surprising, it's the kick of the spices from the stem. Once you eat this and the naan, I think you're about ready to hibernate for the winter. The naan is really the only thing kind of giving a texture, so it's good to add a little fried onions, little chilies, a little mint, and this thing definitely needs some citrus, because it is a little too hearty for me almost. All right, let's try it now. I feel like this is gonna be much, much better. Yeah, that's much better. Before, it's a lot of spices that you're tasting, and the texture is really just, it's like biting into a ghost. There's really not a lot of texture to speak of. So this thing is really about the flavor of the ingredients and the spices mixed into the halim. And with the added citrus and a little bit of onions and herbs, the beefy flavor of this dish resonates so much more than it had before. And we can kick it up a notch with some extra spice too. If you come and try this dish, highly recommend the lemon juice. Sometimes the lentil and the meat, it gets a little too heavy. A little lemon juice clears that right up. I feel like if I have this whole thing, it's gonna take a while before it comes back out. All right, we had a lot of street food last few days. We're gonna go to a sit-down place and try another classic recipe, a mutton korma. And what I love about going to different countries is trying out something that's been around, a recipe that's been around for hundreds of years or maybe even thousands of years, something with a backstory. This is definitely one of those dishes. Korma also means to braise. So this is the mutton korma, and this is a dish that was created in the 16th century. And this was first created for the Mughal royal family. Nothing was better than going to a country and eating something their royalty ate hundreds of years ago. And this dish, like I said, braised mutton. And it's something that's kind of like a like a mutton curry with a great blend of spices and herbs. And this thing is packed full of flavor. Oh wow, best meat I had today. Wait, did I have any meat today? Well, it's the first time I'm having meat today. You know why this country cooks veggie dishes so well? Didn't even think about it. It's braised to the point where if you dig into the meat, the flavor is steeped through every single inch of it. So the inside tastes just as flavorful as the outside. Besides the great spices used, it's using some yogurt as well. You taste that slightly fermented flavor from the yogurt, and that does a world of difference. And this is paired with mutton bulao. This is kind of like a, kind of like a biryani. More of a fusion dish. Got the pieces of mutton here. And the rice, not extremely overly seasoned, but just the right amount of flavor and fragrance. The mutton is very simple. I think just a bit of salt. But honestly, after eating the mutton korma, you can't just have a mutton like this. It's gotta come into the sauce. It's gotta get some of that insane royal spicy essence into the meat. Yeah. A little naan. Oh! This is the greatest curry I've had in Pakistan. Every single thing about this, I absolutely love. I mean, it's a bit oily. Just deal with it. It's fine. That's what we got the bread for. Soak it up. If they're really getting to you, drink a sip of Sprite. The flavor is just unbeatable. Embracing the yogurt with the mutton. The flavor is now so deep, so incredible. It's got that extra bit of hint of sourness. Like I said, that little bit of fermented flavor. I mean, some people hear the word fermented. They think, ew, ew, it's gross. It's fermented. No, no, no, no, no, no. Trust me. You got that. You know, we're talking about that little yogurt sourness. That's added now to the mutton, along with the great seasoning that's already grazed into the meat. All right. Breaking news update. It looked like mushrooms. How many of you guys, you just saw this, you would be like, that's mushrooms. I did not know what this was. They brought it over to you. And right before I was about to eat it, they were like, hey, it's not mushrooms. It's testicles. That is a big difference between testicles and mushrooms. But that's basically where the similarity ends. All right. Not a dish I was trying to try on purpose, but when food is in front of you, you got to at least give it a shot. I took a piece of liver and a piece of testicles. The liver tasted like a liver, but testicles has a special kind of softness to it that I'd be good to never have again. It's not bad. You can't really taste it and be like, yeah, that's the testicle meeting. Even if I didn't know it was testicles, I'd be like, something's a little off with this mushroom right here. I did get some Fanta to wash the rest of that testicle down. But yeah, so in conclusion, Koma, one of the best dishes I've had anywhere in terms of curry. Amazing. So how this testicle ended up on my table was at this restaurant we're in. They just keep bringing you dishes and you have to say no to a certain dish. Otherwise they put it on your table. When you eat it, it's your dish. If not, they take it away. So definitely come here and try this and watch out for the mushrooms. Mushrooms. This is Mr. Khaled. That was one of the best lamb dishes I've ever had. Thank you so much, sir. You, if this was hundreds of years ago, you would be the head chef at the Royal Kitchen. You would. Thank you, my friend. I guess we're having chicken. This just delightful looking dish in front of me. It's called Chicken Karahi. It's a hallmark dish here in Pakistan. Everything about it just screams tasty. It's sitting on an iron skillet. It's stir-fried with all the sauces and the oils and the herbs and the spices. You got chilies in here. You got black pepper. You got long green chilies and coriander seeds, ginger, basil. And this is perfect for dipping because look how saucy this is. So you got to eat it with some naan. And the chicken here at this restaurant, I waited about an hour for this dish. The reason is because the chicken is, as you can see, it's pretty fresh. It's only one serving for a table. So you basically have to wait for them to cook each serving individually. Oh my god. First of all, the flavor of the chicken is incredibly unique. The meat is extremely bouncy with a hint of sweet flavor. It doesn't taste like, I don't know, your typical meat from a grocery store. It has this incredible clean flavor to it. Just the curry itself is amazing already. The same green peppers, chilies, garlic, coriander. You can taste the little bits of the seeds and when they pop, it's like a little spice explosion in your mouth. It's got cumin and a nice oil from the chicken mixes it all together. And this on top of this amazing delicious meat. This is a must try in the city. I actually shy away from chicken dishes mainly because oftentimes they come out dry and the meat becomes like just this like really hard to chew piece of leather. But here, the meat is tender, it's juicy. It is so much flavor in this dish. And what's awesome is that I love spicy food, but this is moderate spicy. It's not like overly spicy. It's just all the herbs and spices and chicken. They work so well together to create this really balanced yet uber flavorful, extremely flavorful dish. First day in Lahore, gotta say. Some of the best things I've had. The potato paratha, one of the best things in terms of a pancake style food I've ever had. The royal mutton we ate right before this in this chicken dish. Absolutely mind-blowingly delicious. Those are the three places I say you have to go if you ever come to the city. But anyway guys, I'm gonna share this with the rest of my team and just have a nice relaxed good dinner here in the city after a full incredible food day. As always, all the places we went to listed down below for you. Thank you all so much for watching. Until we eat again.