There is restaurant food and there is ghar ka khana, and they are not the same thing. Nobody cooks a karahi at home on a Tuesday. What gets cooked is a salan, in one pot, in the morning, and eaten with roti.
That is a separate menu here, and it starts at AED 5. Most people who eat with us every day order from this list and never look at the main card.
The seven days
Each salan is cooked fresh that morning in a single batch.
| Dish | Small | Large | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Aloo chicken | AED 8 | AED 12 |
| Chicken qorma | AED 8 | AED 12 | |
| Tuesday | Palak chicken | AED 8 | AED 12 |
| Chicken qorma | AED 8 | AED 12 | |
| Wednesday | Mutton qorma | AED 10 | AED 15 |
| Chicken qorma | AED 8 | AED 12 | |
| Thursday | Mutton kaleji | AED 8 | AED 12 |
| Chicken qorma | AED 8 | AED 12 | |
| Friday | Aloo qeema | AED 8 | AED 12 |
| Curry pakora | AED 5 | AED 8 | |
| Saturday | Anda kofta | AED 8 | AED 12 |
| Daal chawal | AED 5 | AED 8 | |
| Sunday | Chicken qorma | AED 8 | AED 12 |
| Aloo palak | AED 5 | AED 8 | |
| Daal chawal | AED 5 | AED 8 |
And every single day, all seven: a vegetable of the day at AED 5 small and AED 8 large, and a daal. Daal is AED 5 small and AED 8 large through the week; the card prices it differently at the weekend, so check at the counter on a Saturday or Sunday.
The full weekly menu page is here.
The three worth planning your week around
Wednesday: mutton qorma, AED 10 small. The most expensive thing on this list and the best. Braised slowly in fried onion and yoghurt until the oil separates. More on qorma.
Thursday: mutton kaleji, AED 8 small. Liver, cooked down with onion, tomato and spice. This is the dish that tells you whether a kitchen is paying attention, because liver goes from tender to grainy in about ninety seconds. Cooked fast and pulled at the right moment it is one of the best things we make. Overcooked it is inedible. There is no middle.
Friday: curry pakora, AED 5 small. A yoghurt based curry with pakora dropped into it, and a genuinely different dish from everything else on this list — sour, soft, and completely unlike the brown braises around it. It is vegetarian, it is AED 5, and it is only on Fridays.
The rest, briefly
Aloo qeema, Friday, AED 8. Minced meat with potato. One of the most common weeknight dinners in Pakistani homes, which is the whole argument for it being here.
Anda kofta, Saturday, AED 8. Meatballs in gravy with egg. Substantial in a way the price does not suggest.
Palak chicken, Tuesday, AED 8 and aloo palak, Sunday, AED 5. Spinach based, one with chicken and one without. The Sunday version is vegetarian.
Aloo chicken, Monday, AED 8. Chicken and potato in a straightforward gravy. The least dramatic thing on the list and one of the most ordered.
Daal chawal, Saturday and Sunday, AED 5. Daal and rice, which is the most ordinary meal in South Asia and the one people miss most when they are away from home.
Why it runs out, and why that is the point
Each salan is cooked once, in the morning, as one batch. It is not topped up through the day and it is not held over to tomorrow.
So some days it finishes before the evening, and the counter will tell you so rather than serving you something tired. Most people read "that is finished" as a bad sign. It is the opposite — it means the pot you are being served from was started that morning.
Come earlier in the day if there is something specific you want. Or call 050 720 8707 and ask what is still in the pot.
What it costs to eat this way
AED 10 for lunch. A small salan at AED 8 with two tandoori roti at AED 2.
AED 13 for a proper plate. Small salan at AED 8, daal at AED 5, and bread.
AED 24 for two on a Wednesday. Large mutton qorma at AED 15, four roti at AED 4, daal at AED 5.
AED 200 a month. If you are eating here most days, the monthly mess at AED 200 for one meal a day works out at about AED 6.70 a meal, and the weekly menu is what it is built on. More on the mess.
More on lunch in Ajman, on the vegetarian options, and on eating well for under AED 20.
Finding us
Shop 8/1, ground floor, Amman Street, Ajman Industrial Area 2, beside Nesto Hypermarket. Free street parking directly outside, step free from the pavement, indoor and outdoor seating, families welcome at every table.
Open 7:30 am to midnight, every day. Call or message 050 720 8707. We answer in English, Urdu, Hindi and Arabic.
We do not deliver. You can eat here or collect at the counter. The full menu with every price is on this site.
Common questions
- Where can I get ghar ka khana in Ajman?
- At Zafran Kitchen on Amman Street in Ajman Industrial Area 2. The weekly menu is a different home style salan every day, cooked fresh each morning in one batch, at AED 5 to AED 10 small and AED 8 to AED 15 large. A daal and a vegetable run every day of the week.
- What is on the weekly menu each day?
- Monday aloo chicken, Tuesday palak chicken, Wednesday mutton qorma, Thursday mutton kaleji, Friday aloo qeema and curry pakora, Saturday anda kofta, Sunday aloo palak. Chicken qorma runs five days, Monday to Thursday and Sunday. A vegetable of the day and a daal run all seven.
- How much does the weekly menu cost?
- Most salans are AED 8 small and AED 12 large. The daal, the vegetable, daal chawal, aloo palak and curry pakora are AED 5 small and AED 8 large. Mutton qorma on Wednesday is the most expensive at AED 10 small and AED 15 large.
- What is mutton kaleji?
- Mutton liver, cooked down with onion, tomato and spice. It runs on Thursdays at AED 8 small and AED 12 large. It is cooked fast rather than slow, because liver turns from tender to grainy very quickly, and a kitchen that gets it right is one paying attention.
- What is aloo qeema?
- Minced meat cooked with potato, on Fridays at AED 8 small and AED 12 large. It is one of the most common weeknight dinners in Pakistani homes, which is exactly why it belongs on a home style menu rather than a restaurant card.
- Why does the weekly food run out?
- Because each salan is cooked once, in the morning, as a single batch rather than topped up through the day. When it is finished the counter will tell you so. That is the trade for food that tastes like it was cooked that morning, and coming earlier in the day is the way around it.
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Hungry now
Order it instead of reading about it
The kitchen is open every day from half past seven in the morning until midnight.