Kahwa and The Kashmir Saga

Hi Friends.

I am back after the well deserved break. Enjoyed my holiday in the pristine state of Kashmir. Today I share my experience of rejuvenation and the famous drink that is served there.

I read an interesting line “I am in Kashmir, Heaven can wait”. True to these words the place is beautiful and the immaculate beauty is surely welcoming. One can just sit and watch the place for hours together without getting bored, the serenity makes you believe that one is in paradise.

Our journey started with some hiccups as our aircraft had a problem so were grounded in Jammu for a day, so utilized that and visited the famous Raghunath Mandir and stayed there overnight. The next day we were off to Srinagar, the summer capital of J&K. We enjoyed the view of snow capped mountains during our 35min fly from Jammu-Srinagar. The International airport is beautiful and is under high security. Once you enter the city one can see the army people posted at regular intervals, that’s a common scene through out the state.

The first two days we stayed in a house boat in Dal lake and enjoyed the new experience, felt like living in Venice. The houseboat is made with the deodar tree and the interiors done with walnut tree. There are about 1290 houseboats in Dal lake. The Boulevard road which runs along the lake has a huge number of shops and restaurants. One can do a Shikara ride in the lake and enjoy the floating market, garden as well as water sports.

One can stay in Srinagar and travel to Sonmarg and Gulmarg. Gulmarg has the highest Gandola ride in the world and is called the meadow of flowers. There are two levels of the Gandola, Section I is from Gulmarg to Kongdori and then section II from Kongdori to Apherwat which is about 13,780 ft high. The first section carries about 1500 people/hour and the second section 600 people/hour.

Sonmarg did not have much snow this time and one can trek for about 6kms to reach the glacier.

 

Pahalgam, the land of shepherds is breathtakingly beautiful, we stayed there for 2 days. I would love to visit this place again and stay for more time. It is the base for The holy Amarnath yatra, and the place was getting ready for it. The lidder river flows through the valley and is the attraction of this place. One can do river rafting and enjoy the scenic beauty here.

On our way to Pahalgam we stopped at Pampore a small village famous for it’s saffron fields. I came to know that the saffron is grown only at three places in the world Kashmir, Iran and Spain. Three thousand flowers add up to  yield a gram of saffron, undoubtedly it is very expensive but that did not stop me from buying it.

I also shopped for spices and dry fruits which are of high quality. The shahjeera and cloves that I purchased had an excellent aroma which is completely lacking here in the plains. The other things that one can shop here are clothes made with aari work and needle work, one can buy salwar suit, saree, shawl, stole, bed cover and many more items. Wooden furniture and artifacts made with walnut are very popular here. One should not miss buying paper machee work but if you are ready to spend money do indulge in the carpets, they are beautiful and extremely expensive but will last for generations together if properly handled (the antique carpets are sold at higher price). I did buy a one made with silk on silk wearing a Hamadaan design and still can’t believe I shelled out an exorbitant price for that!!!!

A few things that I bought..

 

Coming to Kahwa, it’s a traditional drink made with green tea, spices and saffron. It is served with dry fruits, sugar and honey.Traditionally made in a brass kettle called samovar. It is served to the guests after a traditional wazwan dinner but we were offered that everywhere and we accepted it gladly especially S who is in love with the drink…

Ingredients

(serves 7-8)
1 heaped tsp green tea
about 9 cups of water
8-10 saffron strands
1 stick of cinnamon powdered
7-8 green cardamom powdered
almonds blanched, peeled and slivered into flakes
7-8 cashewnuts crushed
sugar as per taste ( I used about 10 tsp)
Method

Take a tea pan and bring water to a boil. Add the sugar, put the powdered cinnamon and cardamom and saffron. Finally add the green tea, switch off the gas immediately and cover it with a lid for few minutes, take precaution not to over boil the green tea else the kahwa turns bitter .

Divide the almonds and cashewnuts equally in 8 cups and then strain the tea into it.

Serve steaming hot, it is an excellent drink for winters or a cold day.

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Nadir Yakhni from the world of Kashmiri Cuisine

This is my second post for Show what you cook for guests hosted by Rak’s kitchen. To view my complete spread click here.

The Kashmiri cuisine is predominantly of two types –

1. Wazwan cuisine  which is a multi-course meal in the Kashmiri tradition, is treated with great respect. Its preparation is considered an art. Almost all the dishes are meat-based (lamb, chicken, fish, beef). It is considered a sacrilege to serve any dishes based around pulses or lentils during this feast. The traditional number of courses for the wazwan is thirty-six, though there can be fewer. The preparation is traditionally done by a vasta waza, or head chef, with the assistance of a court of wazas, or chefs.

Wazwan is only restricted to the Muslims of Kashmir and they regard it as the pride of their culture and identity.

Some dishes  that are considered a requirement for wazwan include: Safed kokur or zafraan kokur ,Meth maaze ,Ristae, Rogan josh, Dhani phul ,Aloo bukhaar: chutney made with fresh plums onions sugar lime juice and spices, Gaade kufta

2. Kashmiri Hindu cuisine

Kashmiri Pandit food is also very elaborate, and is an important part of the local Hindu culture's identity. The food usually uses a lot of yoghurt ,turmeric, and oil & spices, and avoids onion, garlic and tomatoes. Unlike Kashmiri Muslim cuisine, it does not include many minced meat dishes, except machh.

Typical vegetarian dishes include:

Ladyar Chaman (Indian Cheese in Turmeric), Veth chaman (Indian Cheese, cooked in oil and Kashmiri spices), Dama oluv (Potato), Nadeir yakhni (Lotus Stem), Hak (with nadeir/vangan), Nadier palak

I am posting the recipe of Nadir Yakhni a delicacy of Kashmiri hindu cuisine. As I have mentioned earlier this is a curry cooked in yogurt and cooked in aromatic spices which yield a distinguished taste to the cuisine.

When my family tasted it, I curiously asked how does it taste. The answer I got was very confusing – it tastes different in different parts of mouth was S’s first answer. My elder one said it tastes likes biryani when mixed with rice. The most favorite answer was again by S which he said at the end..it tastes something like what we tasted in the Kashmiri restaurant in Mumbai. I was extremely confused by then and asked them in frustration…is it good? S started to laugh and said it’s good that’s why we are saying so many things, why do not you taste yourself to believe. And friends truly it was too good to resist and it tasted even better the next day.

One should try this at least once and I promise you will make it again and again. My family is going to confuse me again and again but I will keep making interesting things for them, as I know they are my true critic and only help me to improve and become better in my cooking skills.

Ingredients For Nadir Yakhni

serves 6

500 gms Lotus stem (3-4 medium sized)

2 cups yogurt

2-3 onions sliced

2 tbsp ghee

oil for frying

salt to taste

 

spices

6-7 cloves

2 inch cinnamon stick

6 cardamom

2-3 black cardamom

1/2 tsp shah jeera/ caraway seeds

2 tsp kashmiri mirch

1 tsp dry ginger pwd

1 tsp fennel pwd

2 tsp pudina pwd

 

Method

Cut the edges of lotus stem and peel them. Cut them into diagonal slices. Soak them in water.

Boil the slices in salted water till almost done.

Deep fry the onion slices in oil till brown in colour and then grind it with a little water. They impart the brown colour to the gravy.

Mix the yogurt properly with a whisk with half a cup of water and then strain. Boil the strained yogurt stirring continuously till it changes it’s colour. The colour changes from white-yellow on boiling.

Mix together fennel and dry ginger pwd , mix them with a little water. Now mix it with the onion paste. Heat the ghee and throw in cinnamon & cloves, when they crackle add the onion mix, kashmiri mirch and saute.

 

Put the boiled lotus stem and the boiled yogurt and bring it to a boil and simmer cook. When the lotus stem are completely cooked and the curry  almost done add shah jeera, salt and cardamom. At the end add the pudina pwd and mix properly.

Serve it hot with rice/ naan/roti.

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