Two kinds of breakfast
On weekdays, a Pakistani breakfast is usually quick: eggs fried or scrambled as khageena, a paratha or toast, and a cup of strong chai. On Sundays and holidays it becomes an event. Families queue outside halwa puri shops, or stay home and fry puris, stir a pan of suji halwa and cook a pot of chanay. In Lahore and Karachi, plenty of people still start a weekend with nihari or paya and fresh naan.
Eggs, the desi way
Pakistani eggs are rarely plain. Khageena is scrambled eggs cooked with onion, tomato, green chilies and a pinch of turmeric, soft rather than dry. Fried eggs come with crispy edges and a sprinkle of salt and chili, and the desi omelette is thin, flat and packed with onion and coriander. Roadside stalls fold the egg right inside a paratha as anda paratha. Aloo anday, boiled eggs in a potato curry, works for breakfast or dinner.
Without eggs
On days without eggs, besan cheela makes a quick, savoury pancake from gram flour and chopped vegetables, and a bowl of meetha dalia, cracked wheat simmered in milk, is the soft, warm breakfast many of us grew up on.
Parathas
Breakfast in Punjab often means a paratha: plain and layered, stuffed with spiced potato, or flaky lachha. Eat them hot, with plain yogurt, achar and chai. If you make parathas ahead, cook them only halfway, freeze them between sheets of baking paper and finish on a hot tawa in the morning.
Planning a Sunday spread
For a full halwa puri breakfast, make the chanay and halwa the night before, and boil the potatoes for aloo bhujia; both reheat well. Knead the puri dough in the morning, let it rest for twenty minutes while the oil heats, and fry the puris last, just before everyone sits down. Hot puris are the point. In Lahore, the other great Sunday breakfast is chikar cholay with kulcha, and our guide to a halwa puri breakfast at home has a full timeline.