KASHMIRI CUISINE

Kashmiri Pandit cuisine

Kashmiri cuisine was the earliest influence on Kashmiri Pandit cuisine. Although Pandits do not normally eat meat, those in Kashmir have always eaten all meat except beef, which is strictly forbidden in Pandit cuisine and in Kashmiri Muslim cuisine, in keeping with the age old Kashmiri tradition known as Kashmiriyat.The wazwans of Kashmiri Muslims never allow for the usage of beef. However, the Kashmiris have always been heavy consumers of lamb, mutton and goat. The epic Nilamat Purana records that the Brahmins of Kashmir have always been heavy eaters of lamb and mutton.

The two most important saints of Kashmir, Lalleshwari and Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali were vegetarians for spiritual reasons. Meat is cooked in Kashmiri Pandit festivals and forms an extremely important part of Kashmiri Pandit identity. Some noted Kashmiri pandit dishes include:

• Dum Olav
• Gogji Raazma
• Goshtaba
• Lyodur Tschaman
• Matschgand, lamb meatballs in a gravy tempered with red chillies
• Modur Pulaav
• Monji Haak/Gogji Haak
• Mujh Gaad, a dish of radishes with a choice of fish.
• Nadir Yakhin
• Qeleeya, a delicate preparation of lamb, cooked in a milk based gravy incorporating bay leaves and turmeric.
• Rogan Josh, a lamb based dish, cooked in a gravy seasoned with liberal amounts of Kashmiri chillies (in the form a dry powder), ginger (also powdered), asafoetida (used by Pandits in place of garlic) and bay leaves among other ingredients. Due to the absence of onions, yoghurt is used as a thickener, and also to reduce the heat and marry the spices in the gravy. This dish is the most commonly cooked dish using lamb meat in Kashmiri Hindu cuisine.
• Syun Pulaav
• Tschok Wangan
• Yakhni, a yoghurt based mutton gravy, which excludes the use of turmeric and chilli powders in its preparation. The dish is primarily flavoured with bay leaves, cloves and cardamom seeds. This is a mild dish considered subtle in taste and eaten with rice often accompanied with a more spicy side-dish.

Tea drinking forms a very important of Kashmiri Pandit cuisine and is often used in place of dessert. Two important types of tea are Kehwa (sweet green tea with cardamom and almonds) and Sheer Chai (salty pink tea with almonds). Such teas are usually taken with baked breads such as Kulcha and Katlam.

Kashmiri Pandit cuisine has very few dessert dishes or sweets. More importance is therefore given to the main course and tea and not to the dessert.

Kashmiri Cuisine