Farwa Zeeshan, NineFoods recipe developer

Author · Recipe developer

Farwa Zeeshan

Recipe developer and lead cook at NineFoods

Farwa Zeeshan develops and tests the recipes on NineFoods. Her focus is Pakistani home cooking: karahi, biryani, nihari, kebabs, daal and the mithai made for Eid, along with the Indian, Arabian Gulf and Persian dishes that have become part of Pakistani family meals.

Her approach is simple: write down exactly what happens in the pan, so a first-time cook can get the same result. That is why every NineFoods recipe shows heat levels, timings, a doneness check and a fix for the most common mistakes.

  • Pakistani home cooking
  • Biryani and pulao
  • Karahi and curries
  • Mithai and Eid sweets

Editorial standards

How we test every recipe

  1. Cooked in a real home kitchen

    Every recipe is cooked on an ordinary gas stove with home pans: a karahi, a heavy pot, a tawa and a pressure cooker. No restaurant burners, no studio tricks.

  2. Measured, then measured again

    Ingredients are weighed in grams and checked against cups and spoons, so the metric and US switch on each page gives the same result.

  3. Timed stage by stage

    Each stage is timed at the stove. The heat level and the 'look for' cue on every step describe what actually happens in the pan.

  4. Built from mistakes

    The doneness gauges and troubleshooters come from batches that went wrong: watery karahi, mushy rice, split yogurt, broken kofte. We note the cause and the fix.

  5. Leftovers tested too

    Storage, freezing and reheating notes are checked on real leftovers, because a curry on day two is not the same as day one.

  6. Updated when readers cook it

    When readers tell us something did not work in their kitchen, we re-test and update the recipe.

Start here

Farwa's most-cooked recipes

Quick answers

About our recipe developer

Who writes NineFoods recipes?

NineFoods recipes are developed and tested by Farwa Zeeshan, with the NineFoods team handling photography, editing and the website.

Are NineFoods recipes tested?

Yes. Each recipe is cooked in a home kitchen with the published quantities, timings and cues before it goes live.

What kind of food does Farwa cook?

Mainly Pakistani home cooking and biryani, along with Indian, Arabian Gulf, Persian and other dishes loved in Pakistani homes.