Islamabad: Roadside barbecue's a fiesta for everyone

[Naveed Yaseen]

The pleasant odour, piercing through the nostrils of pedestrians, often halts them along the road and attracts them to join the roadside fiesta.

The thought that ran through their mind, soon after smelling pleasant fumes coming out of the roadside barbecue, is to join the roadside and taste featuring spices, fats and nuggets and variety of meat and snacks prepared in traditional ways.

The scenes of sizzling and bursting hot skew grills on coal fire makes the city folk more ravenous especially during the holy month of Ramazan, who find the low priced items no less sumptuous than dining out at some luxurious food outlet.

Many places in the Capital which are frequented by people including Aabpara, Peshawar Morr, I-9, Sitara Market and Karachi Company offer this variety of food most popular among commoners. The arrival of the holy month of Ramazan has also given a boost to such make shift food outlets mushrooming in all parts of the Capital. The people preparing and selling this kind of food stuff on roadside are as skilful as professionally trained chefs.

The fast movement of crafty hands and the proportionate addition of different ingredient of spices bear a witness that they are not apprentice to the trade.

“I have been preparing ‘tikka boti’, ‘kabab’ and ‘pota kaleji’ for the last ten years and the expertise, I got, require no enhancement,” Gul Zareen Khan, a barbecue seller at Karachi Company said.

Gul Zareen is not alone in this profession attracting the taste loving buddies of the capital, yet number others are equally professional and competent to present variety of recipe.

Asfar Khan, a native of Charsadda, selling this stuff at Peshawar Morr said, his spicy food items were liked not only by the commoners, but also different families residing in the sector, who were his permanent customers.

He told that an iron grill containing six to eight pieces of meat cost only Rs10 to Rs15 while a chicken piece was being sold at Rs30.

Roaming around the city markets and other spots, one come across multiple choice to appease their desire for taste and variety.

Sheraz Raza, another seller of snacks of different stuff, at Aabpara said, the cost of different varieties of foodstuff differs because of the items contained in it.

He said the faithful during these days were on spree of purchasing hot and spicy ‘samosa’ ‘katochris’ stuffed with different ingredients.

Purchasing a dozen of ‘tikka boti’, Shereen Naila, a resident of Sector G-8 said, to skip the routine preparation of domestic meal, “I sometime purchase it on the request of my family members.”

While a number of residents complain about the hygienic conditions at these roadside food outlets, majority opt to enjoy the variety of taste.

Zubair Keramat, a resident of Sector I-8, said: “When you feel the desire to eat something sizzling like ‘tikka boti’ or ‘kabab’ at reasonable price, you should go and enjoy a hearty meal at the kiosk erected at various sectors of capital.” Qurban Ali, another fish food expert at makeshift food outlet of Sector I-9, said, he brought fish of fine quality from Sur Daryab, a river flowing between Peshawar and Charsadda, and prepare it in traditional way to the satisfaction of his customers.

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