Kashmiri cuisine

1. KASHMIRI CUISINE
The northern most part of India, embraced by the snow dusted peaks of the Himalayas, ahs a
temperate climate. Here lies the valley of Kashmir with its magnificent gardens and terraced
lakes. Growing food was and is more of a problem. Many precious terraces are reserved for
the staple. Rice, wheat, too, is grown to make Kashmirs superb breads such as the flaky, bun
shaped kulcha and the sesame encrusted tsachvaru, both very popular accompaniment of
tea.
Because so much land is covered by mountains and lakes, the Kashmir has taken to
harvesting the water. The lakes- Dal, Nagin, Manasbal and Wular are filled with the
rhizomes of the lotus often called the lotus roots, called ‘nedr’. They are cooked with fish
and lamb, made into ‘meatballs’, cooked with yoghurt as a yakhni; dipped into rice flour
batter and made into fritters, best of all they are fried in mustard oil to make crunchy chips
(nedr churm)
Green tea called ‘Kahva’ is drunk for breakfast and then sipped through the course of the
day. Breads are nibbled with the tea.
Kashmri breads are related more to the breads of Afghanistan, central Asia and the middle
east than to chapatis, poories, and paratha of the rest of the subcontinent. Most breads, like
buns, can be sweet or salty. Some breads are encrusted with poppyseeds, other with sesame
seeds. There is nothing quite satisfying as a chewy girda, still warm from the bakery,
smothered ‘Kulcha’ form Bnadipora. The soft ‘Bakirkhani’ from sopore with a hole in its
centre or the delicate ‘Krep’ and the biscuit like ‘Sheermal’ from pampur. What is served at
the two main meals, what it is called and how it is called and how it is cooked to depend to a
large extent on whether the family is Hindu or Muslim. Two dishes are always present, rice
and either kohlrabi or a green of the cabbage family. These vegetables and many other
seasonal greens like moinja haak, vappal haak, etc. are considered staples and are in amiably
cooked in mustard oil and water with the addition of red and green chillies for extra
flavouring, hindus throw in asafetida, muslims add garlic and sometimes cloves and
cinnamon as well. Sometimes cloves and cinnamon as well. In Kashmir it is the asafetida and
garlic that seen to separate the hindus from the muslims.
While the Brahmins of the rest of India abhor meat, kashmiri pandits have worked out quite a
different culinary tradition for themselves. They eat meat with great gusto, - lamb cooked
with yoghurt (yakhni), lamb cooked in milk (aab gosht), lamb cooked with asafetida, dried
ginger, fennel and lots of ground red chillies (roganjosh) – but frown upon garlic and onions.
Kashmiri muslims eat many of the same meat dishes, but just spice them differently
using lots of garlic, dried red cockscomb flowers (maval) for food colouring, and onion. The
onion is neither the shallot of south India nor the pink skinned round onions of the northern
plains. It is praan, the onion of Kashmir, a strange cross between a spring onion and a
shallot.
Ver is a spice mixture. It comes in the form of a thin, hard cake with a hole in its
centre. It can contain garlic and praan for Muslims, asafetida and fenugreek for hinus, as well

2. as lots of freshly found red chillies, cumin, coriander, dried ginger, cloves, cardamom and
turmeric. All the spices are ground, then made into a patty with mustard oil. A hole is made
with patty and left to dry on wooden planks in the shade. Small amounts are broken off as
needed, crumbled and then sprinkled over many
foods to give them a “Kashmiri” flavour. The first snowfall is celebrated by the Muslims with
a dish of harissa, a kind of porridge made of meat and grains that is eaten with delicious
girda bread. Hindus enjoy rajma gogji, red kidney beans simmered gently with turnips.
In spring Kashmiri’s enjoy, Timatar goli – meatballs cooked with tomatoes and
yoghurt; dhaniwal korma – lamb cooked with fresh coriander; marzwangan korma - lamb
cooked with the strained puree of Kashmiri chillies. Kashmiri’s make exquisite fresh
chutneys using either walnuts or sour cherries, or yellow pumpkin or white raddish. In a
Kashmiri meal there will always be a lots of rice, some kind of greens, heddar (mushrooms
cooked with tomatoes, dry ginger and fennel), shikar (slightly vinegared duck cooked with
garhi and red chillies) and gard muj (fish cooked with white raddish). Kashmiris eat fish at
room temperature as they believe that reheating fish disintegrates them.
Autumn is good season for banquets. The Kashmiri Muslim banquets is known as
Wazwan, the word ‘waz’ mean chef, a master of culinary arts and “wan” means the shop with
its full array of meats and delicacies.
The wazwan consists of thirty six courses of which fifteen to thirty dishes are varieties
of meat. Guests are seated in groups of four on a dastar khan – the traditional seating o floor
and share the meal on a large metal plate called a ‘trami’ consists of a mound of rice divided
by four sheek kababs, four pieces of methi korma, one tabak maaz (rib chops braised in
aromatic broth and shallow fried till crisp) and two pieces of trami murgh – one staged one
zafrani yoghurt and chutneys are served in small earthen pots. There are seven standard
dishes that are a must for all wazwans; Rista, Roghan josh, Tabak Maaz, Dhaniwal
korma, Aab gosth, Marchawangan Korma and Gustaba. Gustaba is the final dish.
IMPORTANT DISHES:
1.TRAMI MURGH (ZAFRANI): Chicken cut into halves and cooked in meat stock
till dry and lastly flavored with saffron.
2.TRAMI MURGH (SAFED): Chicken cut into halves, cooked in diluted milk along
with saunf and saunth. Saffron is not used.
3.RISTA: Bounded, poached meat balls in a red spicy gravy flavored with saunth.
4.GUSTABA: Pounded, poached meat; balls bigger than Rista in a white onion and
curd based gravy.
5.TABAKMAAZ: Lamb meat chops boiled in flavored water and then shallow fried
both side till crisp.
6. KABARGAH: Lamb meat chop boiled coated with rice flour and gram flour (50:50)
batter and deep fried till crisp.

3. 7.AAB GOSHT: Pieces of lamb 1
st
cooked in water flavored with saunf, saunth and
garlic then cooked in cardamom flavored milk.
8.DHANIWAL KORMA: Mutton cooked in yoghurt based fresh coriander gravy.
9.MARZWANGAM KORMA: mutton cooked in lots of red chilly paste and finished
with Mawal extract.
10.CHUSTE: Spicy dry curry of goats’ intestine.
11.GULAR KEBAB: Minced meat kebabs with orange filling round ball like shape.
12.PAO GOGJI: Waters of turnips cooked in dry spices.
13.HAAK (KASHMIRI SPINACH): Leafy vegetable cooked with green chilly, chilly
powder, sugar, or jaggery and other spices like Sachh Vari powder.
14.SARVARI: Rice with black gram, chick peas or peas.
15.KARAM HAAK: This is a leafy vegetable with a bulbous root. While haak leaves
are cooked whole, Karam Haak leaves are cut. Other ingredients and method of
preparation is same as for Haak, however the bulbous root should be shallow- fried in
oil with salt and red chilly powder and added to the saag.