One of the most fascinating aspects of Kashmir is its food and especially the similarity in taste with Bengali cuisine at times. The beautiful subtle flavors of Kashmir perfectly gel with a Bengali palate. At least I have felt so after visiting Kashmir 3 times in a row.
Even 5-6 years ago when I used to travel I never felt the urge to explore regional cuisine in depth. I was a food back then as well, but still food was part and parcel of the journey, I never realized how much more I can learn about a specific place through its cuisine. During the covid times I think I revisited my passion for understanding food and its impact on our culture. Being locked at home I started taking food photography seriously, every element that goes into telling an intrinsic story about the food on the plate. And around the same time I also got really hooked onto a few travel blogger channels on Youtube who would also showcase the food of the region during their travel. One such blogger is Harish Bali. My mom was the first one to introduce me to his videos. His videos were very interesting and at the same time the kind of effort he put to know about some of the very authentic dishes of the place was truly intriguing. That was the first time I realized what I have been missing on my travels. Just to research about the sightseeing places and just having food on the go is not enough to immerse in the culture of that place. I need to experience their food and ingredients that gives the cuisine of the place unique characteristics. His Meghalaya series was like an epitome of experiencing local food. And that was one of the reasons after the covid regulations eased up my first visit was to Meghalaya and I kind of tried everything Mr Bali had spoken about in his blog series. That experience kind of opened up a new perspective in front of me. I started looking at travels in a new way.
My next destination was Kashmir. And along with the places I am going to see, I consulted many travel forums on what food I should be trying out where. The first trip blew my mind in terms of the very simplistic and rustic food we experienced in the most remote parts of Kashmir. It was very much like our own food, incorporating a lot of fresh vegetables, very mild on the spices, aroma and flavors still uplifting the core essence of Kashmiri cuisine. That trip made us fall in love with haak saag more than anything else. The second trip was a more educated one. I was already aware what to expect and this time I wanted to experiment more. We tried Kashmiri Trout in one of the best cafes in Pahalgam and absolutely fell in love. Tried tabak maaz, nun chai, sheermal, mutton rogan josh, homely spread at our Driver's home, apple juice ( Read all about these experience in Part 1 & Part 2 ) and a bunch of other local favorites. We learnt techniques how they prepare their meat for various dishes. Removing impurities from the meat by blanching for a few minutes is one of the very essential steps in any meat or non veg recipes. We also learnt how adding a little baking soda would help in retaining the color of the vibrant haak saag. We also learnt that Black cardamom and fennel powder were the two core ingredients added to almost every single dish here which gave the preparations its characteristic sweet delicate aroma. While it may sound weird that the so called garam masalas are used in even preparing the saag, but if you have tried the saag preparations of this region you will definitely start loving them for that unique flavor.
The 3rd trip to Kashmir was more like retracing a few known cuisines and falling for them all over again. You might be surprised to know I didn't really enjoy the whole wazwan as it was too heavy for us to enjoy a full course. But having said that we loved a few particular dishes from the wazwan which I also tried recreating once back home. I will soon talk about the Dum aloo recipe which I have made over and over again!
Among the mutton preparations Rogan Josh definitely tops the chart. I had also uploaded the Kashmiri Pandit version of the recipe on my blog long ago which is equally delicious. The next one would be Mirchwangun Korma which I liked. Somehow the white gravy based mutton dishes of this region couldn't win me over yet. Now that again maybe because I have tried it only in the hotels so far. Maybe if I can get an opportunity to taste it in any homestay or any local's home my perception would change. I would definitely look for travelling many more times to Kashmir just to explore unseen places and experience more of their not so popular food items.
Today I will be making a very straightforward basic Kashmiri Mutton curry. It has all the flavor profile from the region and also comes with a red hot gravy. one of the best things about certain Kashmiri gravies is that they are easy on the stomach even if they look really spicy. It is because the spices are very minimal and the color comes from the vibrant Kashmiri Red chili. So even on a hot summer day you can relish this recipe without worrying about a heartburn!
Preparation Time : 20 minutes
- Mutton (Shoulder cut) - 500 gm
- Onion - 300 gm ( thinly sliced)
- Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
- Fennel Powder / Sauf Powder - 1.5 tsp
- Dry Ginger Powder / Saut Powder - 1/2 tsp
- Kashmiri Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp
- Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp
- Ginger Garlic Paste- 1 tsp
- Cinnamon - 1 inch + 1 inch
- Cloves - 2 + 3
- Green Cardamom / Choti Ealichi - 2 + 2
- Black Cardamom / Badi Ealichi - 1 + 1
- Salt - as per taste
- Sugar - as per taste
- Water - as needed ( e.g 500 ml)
- Mustard Oil - as needed
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