Another one of the best Pakistani foods from Gilgit Baltistan is called dowdo, which is a great dish for warming oneself after an outing in the cool mountain air. A thick creamy soup full of wheat noodles and mustard greens, the noodles can be anywhere from spaghetti-thin to entire-pastry-size width.
Sometimes including shreds of carrot or thin slices of potato, coming in from the cold to find a table full of steamy bowls of Dowdo is just a wonderful comfort food.
This is a traditional dish of the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Province, a semi-autonomous region North of Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan (and only since 1974 has this area even been a part of Pakistan). Bordering the high plateaus of the Pamir Mountains, this is an area full of craggy glaciers, unique cultures, and of course food ideal for both warming and energizing the hardy people who call it home.
(Note: Be on the lookout for a very special version of Dowdo including Maltash, the crazily sour home-made hard cheese (which has been linked to the extreme longevity of Hunza Valley peoples). In a small town near Sost, after a chilly visit to the Khunjerab National Park, I now think of this as one of the best ever cold-weather meals!)