Pakistan Unit

Pakistan is a complicated country. I mostly know about it from how it’s been in the news, which as you can imagine has not been the most positive reporting you can find. That and one or two prominent names. So, our Pakistan Unit was a great opportunity to learn more positive things about the country in our geography lessons. There are so many cool countries to learn about in our Asia Unit.

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Pakistan Unit Resources

I don’t know how, but somehow I completely and totally missed that our library had Pakistan books when we studied our Pakistan unit, and so I completely missed some really cool books. As I’m typing this up, I’m planning to go by the library tomorrow so I can go read some of the books (especially because there are a couple of Pakistani-American books, and I love finding books like that).

Pakistan booklist

I found 13 books, and one of them is an omnibus of a series, and the series looks to be somewhat adorable. I’m gonna add the caveat that several of them are about Malala. There is a printable version of this booklist in the subscriber section (join my newsletter).

• Bilal cooks daal– the first of several immigration books
• Four feet, two sandals
• Free as a bird; the story of Malala– it looks like this is part of a series of women biographies, I’m intrigued
• King for a Day– this looks like an interesting book
• Listen to the wind: the story of Dr. Greg and Three cups of tea– I’m interested in any book for tea
• Malala: activist for girls’ education
• Meet Yasmin!– goodness, there are 24 books in this series, so if you like them then you’re in luck, there are plenty more
• Miloo’s mind: the story of Maryam Faruqi, trailblazer for women’s education– There are so many books on education, which greatly amused me
• Nadia’s hands– our third immigration book, also I love when it’s a meeting of a more traditional immigrant and a more “American” immigrant
• Ruler of the Courtyard– I’m not sure how much I like the illustrations on this one
• Silly Chicken– huh, I just realized the author has several books, I’ll have to look her up
• Snow School– an interesting book about snow leopards

Pakistan videos

And here are our Geography Now videos.

As I’m rewatching the video while I write this post, I’m realizing there were a couple of cool locations I could have searched for a better Pakistan picture. Sigh, live and learn.

And then Flag Friday. I love Flag Fridays because I love learning where the flags came from.

Seriously, learning how flags are designed is fascinating.

Pakistan Unit recipes: Shami Kebab and Kachumber Salad

I did a quick search and found this recipe for Shami Kebab which I kinda modified, and then I decided to try the Kachumber salad with it.

Shami Kebab recipe

There are a lot of ingredients in this.

• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 pounds of ground beef
• 1 cup yellow split peas (I used lentils which is similar)
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 onion chopped
• 10 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 inch piece ginger minced or crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tablespoon chili flakes
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

1. Mix together all of the ingredients and cook for 1 hour on the stove.
2. Stir occasionally, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan so nothing sticks.
3. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Remove the bay leaf.
4. Run the beef and lentil mixture through the food processor in batches. Mix together and add whisked egg.
5. Take approximately 1/4 cup and form into a patty.
6. Continue to do this with the rest of the meat mixture.
7. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook for 5-7 minutes.

Shami Kebab (Pakistani meatballs)

Print

These Pakistani meatballs are quite a delicious addition to any meal.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 pounds of ground beef
• 1 cup yellow split peas (I used lentils which is similar)
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 onion chopped
• 10 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 inch piece ginger minced or crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tablespoon chili flakes
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 whisked egg

Instructions

1. Mix together all of the ingredients and cook for 1 hour on the stove. Stir occasionally, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan so nothing sticks.
2. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Remove the bay leaf.
3. Run the beef and lentil mixture through the food processor in batches. Mix together and add whisked egg.
4. Take approximately 1/4 cup and form into a patty. Continue to do this with the rest of the meat mixture
5. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook for 5-7 minutes.

Kachumber Salad recipe

This is super easy.

• 1 medium Roma tomato diced into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 cucumber diced into 1/4 inch cubes (optional to peel it)
• 1/4 medium red onion diced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Super easy instructions, mix it all together in a bowl and serve. You’re done.

Yield: 6 servings

Kachumber Salad

Print

A simple and nutritious side dish for your Pakistani meal.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 medium Roma tomato diced into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 cucumber diced into 1/4 inch cubes (optional to peel it)
• 1/4 medium red onion diced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. Mix all of the ingredients together and serve.

As you can see from the picture, I was not necessarily successful in getting it to form into patties, and generally, the texture was not a hit. I’ve now learned my family generally doesn’t like when the hamburger meat is pureed. It really changes the texture.

Pakistan notebooking pages

We used the Asia notebooking pages and filled them out together.

Since originally doing this, I have added in two minibooks, so in the printable in the subscriber section (join my newsletter) you can get a snow leopard minibook and a Malala minibook.

Here are my favorite facts I learned:

• the name is an acronym for the former provinces of India that formed a nation with an “I” added to make it pronounceable
• Hussani Bridge- the most dangerous hanging bridge, the picture shown was terrifying
• the Indus River is the largest irrigation system in the world
• the Punjab river people, it’s an interesting idea
• Jammu and Kashmir are being argued over by Pakistan, China, and India, I always find land disputes fascinating
• They have a research station in Antarctica
• There is a Fairy Meadow, I love the name!

And that’s our Pakistan study. I need to go to the library and get all those books now (I’ll update the post once I’ve checked them out with more information on specific books)

More learning fun

Hmmm…. let me see what I can find in the way of Asian learning, and not just countries.

• Terracotta warriors
• India caste system– this was learning about ancient India, and had so many fascinating discussions with it
• Gandhi lesson
• Ancient Babylon Unit

“Sehwan Sharif in Sindh Province, Pakistan” by United Nations Photo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.