Kashmir Cuisine and Its Magical Flavor and Aroma

Kashmiri cuisine is all about the uses of spices that give the dish a special flavor and aroma. The cuisine of Kashmir is highly influenced by the Kashmiri Pandits
which has also now adopted the cooking style Persia, Central Asia and Afghanistan. The Kashmiri’s are heavy meat eaters.  

Cuisine

Mutton, fish and chicken are a part of Kashmiri’s every day dish but mutton is the most important ingredient used in Kashmiri cuisine. They prefer cooking a dish with both th
e combination of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. They also use a lot of turmeric, yoghurt, oil and spices in the preparation of the dishes but ignores using onions, garlic and tomatoes. To bring out more flavors in the meat dishes they make good use of asafetida, dry ginger and sauf. Saffron one of the expensive spices is also widely used in preparations as Kashmir is the leading producer and the chief exporter too. They also make a regular use of dry fruits in making curries. The Kashmiri cuisine can be termed up as Wazwan which has a total of 36 dishes. The Kashmiri’s are not that fond of deserts but they do take a lot of tea and makes some special type of teas. 

Wazwan

Wazwan is a multi-course meal and is a core element of the Kashmiri culture. The number of meals made in Wazwan is 36 and almost all the dishes are meat-based. The dishes are traditionally prepared by the vasta waza (head chef) along with a group of wazas (chefs). To serve the Wazwan the diners are comfortably seated in groups and by ritual the food is to be eaten by hands. Then the Wazwans are brought along which is basically a huge pile of authentic flavored rice with the prepared other delicacies. Also served is yoghurt, pickles, salads and dips. Wazwan is generally prepared in big and important functions as marriages. It also symbolizes a feast to the kings in the earlier days. Some of the Wazwan dishes include Rogan Josh (lamb prepared in spicy red curry), Rista (lamb meatballs made in spicy red curry), Syoon Olav (meat mixed with potatoes in spicy gravy), Syoon Pulav (meat pulav), Dum Aloo (potatoes cooked in gravy), Muj Gaad (fish made with radish) and Naadir-Wangaan (bringal made with lotus stem.

Vegetarian dishes

Some of the popular vegetarian dishes of Kashmir are:

Kashmiri Dum Aloo: Dum Aloo is one of the popular vegetarian dishes of Kashmir whose prime ingredient is potato along with ingredients used as fennel, yogurt, asafetida, Ginger powder and more.

Haak Kashmiri Spinach: Haak also known as Kashmiri spinach is the most famous dish of Kashmir and goes very well with rice. The main ingredient is spinach and the other used are garam masala powder, onions, mustard seeds and mustard oil.

Kasmiri Pulao: Unlike any other pulao Kashmiri pulao stands affront. It is not a basic pulao, addition of dry fruits and fruits itself makes the pulao more appealing. It is prepared out of basmati rice, ghee, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, fennel seeds, cashews, raisins, green peas, grapes, etc.

Some of the other popular dishes of Kashmir are Choek Vangan, Nadeir Yakhein, Raazmah dal aanchar, Veth Chaman, Daniwal Korma, Gushtaba, Tabak Mana, Yakhni and many others.    

Beverages 

Noon Chai or Sheer Chai: Noon chai or Sheer chai is a combination of milk tea with soda bicarbonate and salt which gives it a unique pink color. Since the Kashmiri’s are heavy tea drinker’s noon chai is a part of morning breakfast served with fresh bread brought from the Sufi (baker).

Kahwah: Kahwah is served in ceremonies like marriages, religious festivals and feast and is made out of a combination of green tea with saffron, cardamom, crushed almonds or walnuts and cinnamon. 

These Kashmiri chai is served from an urn-shaped vessels Samovar.