Kashmir, a paradise on earth

My mom tells me, reminiscing her childhood and teenage years growing up, "bhagwan ne bahut phursat mein banaya is desh ko" - that short sentence captures the brilliance and beauty of this northern most state of India: Jammu & Kashmir. Even though this state is often referred to as the Switzerland of India, I honestly and sincerely believe that does a disservice to both Switzerland, and Kashmir... since both have their own brand of raw, unadulterated beauty and culture, their people, the color and festivals. But I'll focus on Kashmir here.. for so many reasons, one of course being my intent to walk my girls (and you) through this fun journey, two coz this is a quasi tribute to my mom - she hails from Srinagar, the capital of Jammu & Kashmir, and she is this beautiful lady, inside and out, and a gentle, quiet pillar of strength, much like how I would describe Kashmir. And three, the cuisine is an amazing medley of influences - a combination of Jammu dogri, Kashmiri pandit and Kashmiri muslim cuisine, with a common thread of flavors that winds through these variations... I'm going to try have this come through in the menu I put together for the kids. But first, some stories as we gather around the virtual table...

Historically, the people of Kashmir have lived in harmony, with a bunch of give and take and sharing of festivals and rituals, and everything else that goes with it. The state boasts of having been one of the major tourist destinations for folks from all parts of India, until recently due to the political unrest... We used to visit Kashmir often, especially during our summer vacations, to escape the dry heat that is so typical of the northern plains... while Jammu and Srinagar was warm, places like Gulmarg and Pahalgaam were a delightful change, set in the majestic Himalayan ranges with the snow capped peaks always seemingly visible within arm's distance from wherever you stood at any point in time... and the inviting aroma of Kahwa that the locals had while being seated on the namdas, as you passed by homes along the winding, cobbled streets in these hill-stations, people walking by in their phirans or pashminas, to keep themselves warm, even during the summer evenings.

Note: I am a coffee drinker, and wouldn't touch tea with a barge pole, Except when it comes to Kahwa... and I justify this anomaly with the fact that Kahwa is not tea... its an experience! An experience infused with 3-4 Kahwa tea leaves, a pod of cardamom, a few fennel seeds, brewed in a cup of boiling water, then strained and served with a sprinkling of chopped almonds and a few strands of saffron. Pure bliss, on a crisp winter evening!

Pashmina (from the Persian word pashm=wool) shawls - an absolute luxury, and part of many a bridal trousseau, these heirlooms are lightweight, gorgeous pieces of handiwork, with typical sozni, aari or kalamkari hand embroidery highlighted in a variety of colours and floral patterns... I'm hoping to pass some of these on to my girls as part of the family tradition!

I set up the ambience with the table settings set out on the namda, in anticipation of a gourmet Kashmiri dining experience. You'll likely have noticed that as one moves from state to state, while some of the spices remain common, there's always the 1-2 ingredients that are different, and these are the ones that add that distinctive flavor to the preparations for that state. For Kashmiri cuisine, its saunf (aniseed pd) and saunth (ginger pd). Also, while the preparations are quite common between the Kashmiri pandits and Kashmiri muslims cuisine, the pandits tend to avoid the use of garlic and onions, even though most of them eat meat! Here's the menu I put together, taking a sampling from across the gamut:

• Kaladi kulchas (a traditional dogri dish from the district of Jammu, made with home made cheese, lightly sauteed with a sprinkling of salt and chilli flakes, in a pav or kulcha), and Nadru tikkis (a spicy cutlet, made from lotus stem, fried to a crispy finish) for starters

• Followed by a main course of Kashmiri polao (a colourful basmati rice preparation, with a healthy serving of nuts and dry fruits), rogan josh (a delicious lamb curry, with its origins in Persia), dum aloo (a tangy baby potatoes preparation, in a yogurt based gravy), and rajma chawal (a comfort food for me, this is a red beans dish, made in a tomatoes based gravy with a variety of whole spices, served with white rice usually, but we'll have it with the Kashmiri polao today!)

• And topping it up with phirni (a creamy rice pudding, often made during festivals in Kashmir) and pateesa (a finger licking dessert made from gram flour topped with saffron strands and chopped pistachios)

Starting from the top left, clockwise: Nadru tikkis, Dum Aloo, Kashmiri Polao, Phirni, Rogan Josh, Rajma Chawal

Kaladi Kulchas

What you'll need:

• 1 liter whole milk; 4 tblsp fresh lemon juice

• 4-6 soft buns (small burger buns should work); 1/2 tsp salt; 1/2 red chilli pd; 4 tblsp canola oil

• Assortment of mint, coriander and/or hot chilli chutneys

Its a fairly simple recipe, just requires a bit of patience during the kaladi frying process! Warm the milk in a deep bowl, until you're able to insert your finger in for not more than 5-6 seconds. At this time, slowly add in the lemon, while stirring the milk... this is to help the milk curdle, and it'll likely take 10-12 minutes for the milk to curdle and separate completely. Start collecting the kaladi in a strainer, and press it lightly with your fist gently to get rid of the water. Rinse and flatten the kaladi a few times, rinsing it through warm water - what you want is for the tangy lemony flavor to be removed from the kaladi. Next, divide the kaladi into 4 portions, warm the oil in a flat pan, and fry the kaladi carefully till its browned on both sides, and sprinkle the salt and chilli pd to taste (the texture will be like that of a grilled cheese sandwich, except the bread isn't yet in the picture :)). In the same pan, lightly warm the buns as well. Then, put the kaladi portion on the bun, that has been laced with one of the chutney choices, and enjoy it hot off the press, sorry pan!

Nadru Tikkis

What you'll need:

• 2 lbs lotus stem; 2 red onions, coarsely chopped; 2 roma tomatoes, quartered

• 2 tsp salt; 1 tsp coriander pd; 1 tsp saunf pd; 1 tsp saunth pd: 1 tsp turmeric pd; 1 tsp kashmiri red chilli pd; 1/2 cup fresh coriander, finely chopped; 1 egg

• Canola oil for shallow frying

Run ALL ingredients, except the canola oil you'll need for frying (!!), through a blender - what you want is to make this super thick, sticky paste, ideal for making cutlets (which is what a tikki is). Heat the oil in a flat pan, and take a portion of the paste, enough to make a 1/2 cm thick cutlet, a couple inches wide, and shallow fry it on each side, about 5-7 mins each, till nicely browned. Serve as a snack with a drink fo your choice! The Kashmiris oftentimes have this with Kahwaa, but I would also recommend with a good ol' martini on the side!

Kashmiri Polao

What you'll need (couldn't get simpler, and the result: mind-bogglingly delicious!):

• 1 cup basmati rice, soaked for about 1/2 hour; 2 cups water

• 2 tblsp ghee (clarified butter); 3-4 cloves; 1 bay leaf; 1/2 tsp fennel seeds; 2 tbslp cashew halves; 1/2 cup sultanas/large sized raisins (if you've got a colorful mix, even better!); a few strands of saffron

Warm the ghee in a thick bottom pot, and add in the cloves, bay leaf and fennel seeds and saute for a couple minutes. Then add in the cashews and sultanas and saute just to get a hint of brown color on the cashews. Add in the soaked rice (drain out the excess water first), and then add in 2 cups of water and stir the pot... well, not the pot but whats in it. You can add in the saffron now and cook the polao on medium heat till the rice is cooked... will likely take about 10 minutes. Serve hot, garnished with a few strands of saffron on top... Mom would fry onions and use them as a garnish along with the saffron, and that adds a crunchy touch to this delightful side for any Kashmiri meal.

Rogan Josh

What you'll need:

• 2 lbs mutton (always the shoulder!), cut into 2-3" pieces, bone in; 7-8 cloves garlic; 2 tsp salt; Water

• 2 tblsp mustard oil; 1 tblsp ghee; 1/2 cup paste of shallots (you can use onions as well, I love the flavor of the shallots in this recipe); 2 tomatoes, chopped

• 1" cinnamon stick; 3-4 cloves; 3-4 cardamoms; 2 bay leaves; 1 tblsp ginger pd; 1 tblsp garam masala; 1 tsp salt; 1 tblsp Kashmiri red chilli pd

Wash the mutton pieces, and boil the mutton with 1.5 liters of water, the garlic cloves and 2 tsp salt. The intent is to get the mutton to a half cooked stated, while infusing it with the garlic flavoring. Depending on the quality of the mutton, you may see some "scum" that starts floating on the surface of the water - carefully skim that off and out of the pan, and continue with the boiling until the mutton is half cooked. Take the meat pieces out, strain and collect the stock for use later. You don't want the garlic cloves any more - we've extracted the maximum juice out of them, so these can be discarded, along with any other pieces of fat/cartilage that may have fallen off the meat pieces.

Next, in a different cook-pot, pour the stock back in, and pretty much add EVERYTHING (easy shpeezy!) in the ingredients list into the stock, and add the meat pieces back in. Now you have two choices: you can choose to slow cook this meat on the stove, will likely take 2-3 hours to have the meat falling off the bones, in this most yummy preparation (this is the traditional way), or alternately, if you're pressed for time, you could pressure cook it for about 30-35 minutes, and get the same result. Three cheers for modern amenities! Serve this hot with the Kashmiri polao, or even with basmati rice... You can't go wrong with this one!

Dum Aloo

What you'll need:

• 2 lbs of baby potatoes (I used the red potatoes, and left the skin on), washed well; Mustard oil for frying

• 1 cup yogurt, beaten to a creamy texture; 1 tblsp fennel seed pd; 1 tblsp ginger pd

• 1" cinnamon stick; 1 large cardamom (the big black-ish one); 1 tsp asafoetida pd; 1 tblsp Kashmiri chilli pd; 2 tsp salt; 1 tsp turmeric; 1 tsp garam masala

Heat the mustard oil in a pan. While the oil is heating, use a fork to poke the baby potatoes all over - you can poke each potato in 3-4 places - this really helps with the cooking, and eventually will allow the gravy to get into the potatoes. Fry the potatoes until they're half done, which may take about 7-8 minutes on medium heat. In another bowl, mix the fennel seed pd and the ginger pd with the yogurt, and beat this well until the spices are nicely combined with the yogurt. Back to the potatoes: drain out the excess oil and place the half done potatoes on a clean paper towel so the excess oil can be absorbed by the paper. Repeat the poking process - you'll notice its a lot easier this time since the potatoes are cooked somewhat. Before putting the potatoes back on, take a tblsp of the oil, and add it into the pot that you're good to cook the Dum Aloo in... add in the whole spices (cinnamon stick and cardamom, and add in the asafoetida pd. Then, add in the Kashmiri chilli pd, and immediately add in half a cup of water - this is so that lovely red chilli pd doesn't get burnt, and retains both the flavor and the color until the very end!

Now add in the yogurt mix, stirring all the time coz you don't want the yogurt to curdle. Sprinkle in the salt, turmeric and garam masala, and drop in the potatoes and stir this soon-to-be epicurean delight, so the gravy coats the potatoes in a gorgeous deep colored sheath. Cook, covered, on medium heat for another 5-7 minutes, which is what it'll take to dry off the water. Serve hot as a snack, as part of the main course, or as a side, with pooris or rice!

Rajma

What you'll need:

• 2 cups of red kidney beans (soaked overnight, or for at least 8 hours). Note that you want the small, dark kidney beans, the ones from Jammu... Mom forbade me from using any other variety... surprise!!

• 2 tblsp canola oil; Whole spices, including 4-5 cloves, 1/2 tsp coriander seeds and a bay leaf; 1 red onion, finely chopped; 2 roma tomatoes, finely chopped; 1 tblsp ginger garlic paste; 1 tblsp kasoori methi

• 2 tsp salt; 1 tsp turmeric pd; 1 tblsp garam masala; 1 tsp coriander pd

Heat the oil in your pressure cooker (or instapot set to pressure mode), and add in the whole spices, and once they start crackling, add in the onions. Saute the onions until they're transluscent, then throw in the ginger garlic paste and the chopped tomatoes. Then add in the dry spices and cook until the oil separates from the spices. Now add in the soaked rajma, and pour in just enough water to cover the rajma. Set it to pressure cook for about 1 hour - remember, the Jammu kidney beans take a little longer to cook fully in comparison to the regular variety... I guess they're special in every way! You can serve with white rice (basmati is my favorite, and goes very well as an accompaniment to rajma).

Phirni

What you'll need:

• 2 can of evaporated milk (alternately, you can boil milk until it reduces to nearly half it volume, and gains this light pinkish yellow hue that comes with the thickening process)

• 1/2 cup rice, soaked for about 30 minutes, and then blended to a coarse paste

• 1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk or 1 cup sugar/jaggery; 1/2 cup raisins

• 1/2 cup pistachio bits; few strands of saffron

Heat the milk on low heat and add in the sugar/condensed milk once the milk is warm, stirring all the time. You want to ensure that the milk does not burn and get stuck to the bottom of the pan. Now add in the raisins and the coarse rice paste and stir it into the milk mixture, blending it well. Continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly. Phirni typically takes about 35-40 minutes to cook, which is the time it takes for the rice bits to get completed blended in with the milk. The result: D I V I N E!

This post took me back to an era filled with the sweetest of fond memories, of summers well spent cruising in shikaras on the Dal Lake, plucking fruits straight off the trees in the backyard of the family haveli, of a paradise on earth. Kashmir.