- All right, check it out guys,
it's Trevor James, hanging out
with my buddies Saim and Ali,
and we are in a local village today, Dodanwali
on the outskirts of Gujranwala, Pakistan.
And today's a super special occasion,
we are gonna have a delicious village-style lunch.
- We welcome you, Trevor to our village, okay,
hope you are going to have the best lunch of your life.
- What's best about today, is that all the food
is organic, home-grown and very pure
and very close to the nature.
- Awesome.
- Today, we're hanging out with Saim and Ali
at Saim's family's village
for some ultra tasty, home-cooked food.
Followed by a village tour to see the local way of life,
visiting the cow dung patty drying area,
and riding a buffalo.
Let's eat.
(cheerful music)
Oh, wow.
This is amazing.
- So she's making a roti of bread,
(speaks foreign language)
made of corn flour.
- Corn flour.
- Yeah, corn flour.
- Corn flour roti.
- Corn flour roti, yes.
It's very famous in Punjab's villages and
you have it with--
(speaks in foreign language)
- Yeah, exactly so she's saying that you just put
butter on it and then you have it with mustard leaves
- Oh! - Down with mustard leaves
which is called saag.
- [Trevor] Wow, what are we making here?
- [Woman] Chapati.
- [Trevor] Chapati.
Wow and this is a traditional tandoor.
- [Ali] This is traditional clay tandoor.
- [Trevor] Clay tandoor.
- So yeah, so the wheat flour that she's using is organic,
it's whole wheat.
- [Trevor] Really?
- It's the whole wheat roti, it's the clay tandoor
- Wow! and trust me, the roti
that's made with clay tandoor
has its own taste.
- [Trevor] You can really smell that
earthy aroma. - Exactly because the juice,
there's no casting oil, there's no gas inside.
It's all wood.
- [Trevor] Wood.
- [Ali] Exactly.
- [Trevor] Wood and cow dung.
- [Ali] Wood and cow dung so you can get all that
smell and aroma in your roti - Wow!
Smokey, earthy, deliciousness.
- [Ali] Exactly.
So this is the roti, special roti made of corn flour.
- [Trevor] Wow.
- Yes. - Oh and is that cream?
- [Ali] It's butter.
- [Trevor] Oh, that's butter. (giggles)
- [Ali] It's organic, home-made butter.
- [Trevor] Wow.
Everything here is pure organic.
- [Ali] Exactly.
So Trev, this is that dish made of mustard leaves
you can see that chili in it. - Oh!
- It's infused with desi leaves.
- Wow. - You have it. You just put on
top of the corn bread and then you have it.
- Wow!
- Yeah.
- It smells mustardy.
- Exactly.
It's grandma's recipe.
- Grandma's recipe. (giggles) - Exactly.
- Wow! - And she's just gonna put
some for us.
- [Trevor] This is your grandmother here.
- [Saim] Yeah.
- Yeah. - It's my grandmother.
- [Trevor] Amazing.
Oh and that's it right there.
(chatter in foreign language) (dishes clanking)
- [Trevor] That's the saag.
- [Ali] That's the saag.
(chatter in foreign language)
- [Trevor] Beautiful.
(chatter in foreign language)
- [Trevor] You can just feel the peace and the relaxation
as soon as you step into this family home here.
Wow and that's all butter there.
And what do we have here?
- [Man] This is lassi.
- This is the lassi. - Lassi.
Village lassi.
- [Ali] Yeah.
- Wow. - It's the pure buttermilk.
- [Trevor] So this is the buttermilk?
- [Ali] This is the butter for you
and this is the buttermilk lassi.
- [Trevor] Oh and then we mix it all together?
- [Ali] Yeah.
- [Trevor] The village lassi. (laughs)
(exclaims in glee)
- [Trevor] Oh!
- [Ali] It's organic chicken.
- [Trevor] Organic chicken.
- [Ali] Yeah, the whole organic chicken.
- [Trevor] Chicken curry.
- [Ali] Chicken curry.
- [Trevor] Wow.
That looks so rich and flavorful.
- [Ali] Exactly.
- And I just can't get enough of this beautiful
village scene of cooking delicious home-style
organic food here.
- [Saim] Now you know why the villagers stay healthy.
- [Tevor] (giggles) 'Cause it's all so nutritious.
(chatter in foreign language)
Truly an amazing place here - More butter.
- Oh.
More butter.
Tasty.
- More butter.
- [Trevor] And this is called cooked with cow dung,
is that right?
- [Ali] Exactly. So they sit in the clay oven
and then the fuel inside is like wood, wheat, cow dung.
- Firewood and cow dung paste. - Firewood and cow dung, yes.
- And that gives that earthy, smokey
goodness, right? - The one that you'll be
tasting like in a while-- - You can only get that
in the village.
- Exactly. Cow dung has a contribution
to that as well - Wow.
And everyone is just helping out here,
prepare a beautiful village lunch for us.
And Saim, is this your whole family, here?
- Yeah this is my whole family here
- So usually you would bring all your family together
for a big lunch like this?
- [Saim] Yeah, whenever there's big plans,
all the relatives are invited over to the house
together here and we (stutters)
- Have a nice time. - Have a nice time, yeah.
- Wow.
- In the villages, it works like this,
the family have houses next to each other
to have a sense of community,
to have a sense of togetherness
- Hmmm.
To all end in happiness and then their sorrow,
they all get together.
- Wow.
- Yeah. - We feel pride in
getting together.
- [Trevor] And while we're sitting down chatting,
what seem like most of the children in the village,
curiously came in to take a look at what was happening
and then started dancing.
(cheerful music)
(speaks in foreign language).
(dance music plays from cellphone)
- [Trevor] Hey, we got a little dance competition
going on here. Wow!
(children laugh and cheer)
- Wow! Stylish.
(dance music plays from cellphone)
(speaks in foreign language) (children applaud)
- [Trevor] Wow!
Good job.
(speaks in foreign language)
- [Trevor] And before we knew it,
it was time to feast.
So what do we have here today?
- [Ali] So here we have semolina halwa ice
all covered, garnished by, with the almonds
and here we have the - Big chunks of almonds.
- [Ali] Exactly. So here we have the butter infused
mustard saag.
- Oh this is a mustard, leaves - mustard leaves
- saag with tons of butters
- [Ali] Exactly.
- [Trevor] Beautiful.
Amazing spread here. - Here we have gajrela.
- [Ali] So basically this is a dessert,
carrots, milk, butter.
It's kind of carrot pudding, yeah.
- Wow.
- [Ali] All garnished with almonds.
- This is amazing.
Yogurt.
Just pure village yogurt. - Just pure organic
village yogurt. Yeah. - Oh wow.
- Here we have the korma of the desi chicken.
- Desi chicken korma. - (speaks in foreign language)
- Look at that.
- [Trevor] This is just amazing here.
Wow.
And that's pure desi ghee there.
- [Ali] Exactly.
- Village. Village ghee.
- Village, native village ghee.
- This is lentils with spinach
- [Trevor] Oh!
So that's the dal...
- [Ali] Palak.
- [Trevor] Dal palak.
- [Ali] Yeah, you could say that it's dal palak.
- [Trevor] Dal palak.
Amazing.
- [Trevor] Oh that's the saag.
So you can only get this in the villages.
- [Ali] Yeah, you can only have it in the cities
but it's quite rare.
- Whoa. - The purest one, the real
- And you can have-- saag you can only have
in the villages.
- [Trevor] And you can have that with your paratha.
- [Ali] Exactly.
- That's a lot there. (giggles) Wow.
That's a beautiful scoop.
So this is a paratha and we're just putting that,
is that pure butter?
- [Saim] Yeah, that's pure butter.
- [Trevor] Village butter.
- [Saim] Village butter.
- [Trevor] Oh!
Awesome.
Thank you.
- (speaks in foreign language)
- Village buttermilk lassi.
Awesome.
This is a dream come true to be having
village food in Pakistan.
Thank you for inviting us, Saim.
- You are more than welcome.
- This is a beautiful (voice drowns out)
- beautiful home and a beautiful family.
Oh, so you can just take some of that
and dip it in your saag, right?
Oh (giggles) beautiful.
- [Ali] Cheers village boy.
- [Trevor] Cheers. The village boys!
- [All together] The village boys!
- [Trevor] Mm.
- [Saim] Mm.
- [Trevor] Mm!
Oh wow!
Mm!
Mustardy.
Oh that's awesome.
It's like a buttery, corn, pancake.
With a sour, mustardy, maybe slightly spinachy, spicy.
Mmm!
Delicious mashed mustard.
- [Ali] Mm.
- Spicy though.
- Spicy. Yeah.
And this is channa here .
- [Ali] Yeah, it's the channa.
- [Trevor] The channa.
Local.
Are these homegrown.
- [Saim] These are homegrown.
- [Trevor] Homegrown chickpeas.
I mean, you can just put that onto your corn paratha, right?
- [Saim] Yeah, you can try it with the roti as well.
- (Trevor) Oh!
- [Saim] It will be better if you try it--
- Homemade roti. - Homemade roti
- [Trevor] Oh.
- [Ali] Whole wheat tandoori.
- Whole what tandoori. - Whole what tandoori roti.
- [Trevor] With the cow dung tandoor?
- [Ali] Yeah.
- Cow dung firewood tandoor.
Pakistan is the land of delicious food
and friendly people
and this meal just proves it.
Just look at this feast we're having. (giggles)
- [Trevor] Mm.
Oh wow.
Mm.
Oh, that's the most wholesome chickpeas stew
you'll ever eat.
Everything feels so natural.
You have a little home garden in the back?
- Yeah.
- Or some land?
- Yeah, there are fields - (voice drowned out)
like all over.
(mumbles)
- So you can just go and--
- Go there and bring it home.
- Grow all your chickpeas, - Yeah.
- Your own milk.
- Everything.
Wow just look at that thick sauce there.
Lots of ghee in there?
- [Ali] Yeah.
- Lots of ghee and spice. - Desi ghee.
- [Trevor] Desi ghee.
Pure desi ghee, oh and we can just scoop the chicken
(giggles) meat into my bowl.
Oh.
Wow.
I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful
chicken dish in my life right there.
And this food is all so excellent
but what really makes it feel extra healthy
and wholesome and this like the icing on the cake,
this paratha, how wholesome it is
with the cow dung tandoor and the firewood tandoor.
Oh and we can just scoop up that chicken
and that gravy.
Oh, wow (giggles)
- Chicken cheers.
- Chicken cheers (laughs).
The chicken bros. (laughs) - The chicken bros.
- [Trevor] Mm.
Mm!
The paratha is so good.
Combined with the chicken.
Oh.
It's just a smooth gravy.
What do you think, Ting?
- It's so good.
- [Trevor] And after lunch,
we made our way out to the fields by buffalo.
Awesome. (children chatter loudly)
(children chatter loudly)
- [Trevor] Amazing!
Yeah! (giggles)
And we go in for the buffalo ride!
- [Ali] Guys, we are going deep into (laughs)
- [Trevor] We're deep.
(children chattering) - Wow!
So this is normally used for the vegetables?
- [Saim] Yeah.
Vegetable for chara, the cattle food.
- Wow.
- Also, people
- Also for transportation - use for transportation,
Yeah.
- Wow.
And this is right in the fields.
- Right in the fields.
- Beautiful scenery here.
Unbelievable.
(children chattering)
- [Trevor] Wow.
- Let's just go the stones. - Oh this is where the
cow dung dries.
- [Saim] Yes, yes, the cow dung.
- And this is all the
- Yeah, the cow dung
- The cow dang patties
- The cow dung patties.
- For cooking.
Wow.
So you put this in your tandoors
and your stoves and it burns and it cooks the food, right?
- Yeah, it works like fuel.
- Wow.
- [Ali] Even the fuel here, is organic.
- [Trevor] Oh! (giggles)
And you can just pull one off?
- [Ali] Yeah.
- Oh, there it is.
- [Ali] It is the patty.
- [Trevor] Pure cow dung patty (laughs)
(Both laugh)
- [Trevor] So you can just burn that?
- [Ali] Yeah.
- [Trevor] That's flammable.
- Yeah, exactly but it needs to be really dry
in order to burn.
- Really dry.
- That's why they put it on the wall,
leave it here for a couple of days
and weeks - In the sun.
- In the sun, let it dry and then it's ready
to burn - Oh!
And then you can cook up your chapati.
- [Ali] Exactly.
Oh. (giggles)
Oh and this is the local well.
- Yeah.
- You can drink it.
- It's called a land pump. - Yeah, yeah.
- Land pump.
- Land pump
- It's no problem? - No problem, yeah.
- Okay - Sweetest water that you
will ever have.
Ah, this is the way.
- [Trevor] Mm.
- That's like a pro.
- Oh yeah!
That's fresh.
Mm!
Pakistani well water.
(all laugh)
Beautiful.
(Water splashing) (children chattering)
- [Trevor] Oh and the kids just love it!
A lot of water here.
(children scream gleefully)
Wow.
(water splashing) (children scream gleefully)
- [Trevor] Oh and we're gonna pull out some potato.
Oh it's just a potato gold mine here.
Wow.
This is the happy life here.
What do you think, Ting?
- [Saim] We are gonna pull out potatoes from the field now.
- [Trevor] Oh we can pull out potatoes?
- Yeah.
- [Trevor] Okay. Let's do it.
What do you think of Pakistan, Ting?
- It's so nice.
- Beautiful country, right? - Beautiful.
(chattering in foreign language)
- [Trevor] Unbelievable and so friendly here.
We're gonna have to keep coming back for me
because this is just the trip of a life time.
(land pump creaking)
- [Trevor] Yeah.
And this water is great.
It's slightly sweet.
- [Ali] It is.
- The village gold right here. (giggles)
That was just the most amazing experience.
Thank you, Saim, for inviting us out.
It was just incredible. - It was our pleasure.
- Truly incredible and Ali, that was,
we just had the best time.
- I hope you liked it.
- I hope you really enjoyed the
signature Pakistani hospitality
- Incredible hospitality and
the most friendly people in the world here.
Look at all these kids, they're having so much fun.
(children chattering)