Celebrating Kashmir in the City of Nawabs

How much do we know about Kashmiri food, sitting in Hyderabad. Even for passionate foodies, the chances of getting to know the cuisine is slim unless one gets to travel to the state. The ‘Zaika-e-Kashmir’ event at the Novotel Hyderabad convention centre was aimed to fill that gap, bringing in Kashmir’s own chefs to the city of Nawabs.

Chef Dr. Parvinder Singh Bali, in Hyderabad for the event, sat down for an exclusive interview with Deccan Chronicle, and spoke of the flavourful tastes of Kashmir and about his journey as a chef and the brand ambassador of Kashmiri cuisine. Excerpts:

Chef, is this your first time in Hyderabad?

No, earlier, I have done promotions in this city. I have done a Kashmiri food promotion. I have worked with multiple other outlets but this is my first time with Novotel.

How would you instruct a non-Kashmiri to try Kashmiri food?

Kashmiri food is mostly like a block platter, which normally does not have a starter or main course. You get a complete plate. It is what we call the wazwan style of food, the true old Kashmiri way. Nowadays, in hotels, one has to go course by course. Like starters, soup, and main course. But I would advise against that since that is not how Kashmiri food is eaten.

What is a wazwan?

Wazwan is typically a wedding feast prepared by Muslim families. It is not something regularly made at home. A wazwan must have at least 36 dishes. It can go up to 70-80 also.

I have heard there are multiple types of Kashmiri cuisine? Like, I believe there is a difference between how muslims and how pundits prepare their food? Can you explain to us these different cuisines?

The pundit cuisine, I would say, is very different from the rest of the country. Unlike other Brahmin communities in India, they eat meat. A lot of meat actually. But they won’t add onion and garlic in their cuisine.

The main reason is related to the climate of Kashmir. Because in winters you will not get any vegetables. Now, because of transportation, everything is easy. But I am talking about hundreds of years ago, when there was no vegetable available during the snowing months, culinary habits were formed according to the region and climate.

The only stark difference between both is that Muslims use onion, ginger, and garlic. Pandit uses asafoetida, no onion, no garlic.

Then there is a third cuisine that many people don't know about, and that is the Sikh cuisine of Kashmir. I myself am a Kashmiri Sikh. And the Sikh community in Kashmir have been staying there for hundreds of years. We have not migrated from Punjab or Pakistan. Though it's a minority community, the Sikh cuisine is a mix and match of two great cuisines, Kashmiri, along with considerable Punjabi influence.

Does the Muslim Kashmiri cuisine have a more Mughlai influence?

To be honest, not just the Muslim cuisine, but Kashmiri cuisine overall is Mughlai, because the cuisine was promoted by emperor Jahangir.

So, it is very Persian in nature and, that's why there is a lot of usage of yogurt and the cuisine overall is meat-heavy.

What are the unique spices that elevate Kashmiri cuisine and make it so different?

There are three things that make Kashmir cuisine most distinctive. One is its Kashmiri red chillies, which is special. It's not like Deghi mirch, which has a reddish, smoky flavour.

And then, it's Kashmiri saunf, grown and powdered in Kashmir itself. It is not like the same regular saunf powder that you get outside. Kashmir saunf is much brighter, greener in colour. If you take the regular saunf and grind it in a mixer, it will not get the same feeling.

The third thing is ginger powder. So, these three are mostly the building blocks of Kashmiri food.

What inspired you to move towards Kashmiri cuisine?

Well, I am Kashmiri myself. I realised that when one mentions Kashmiri food, everybody thinks of a gushtaba and the wazwan stuff. But there is much more to Kashmiri cuisine. I want to represent the heart and soul of Kashmiri cuisine to everyone’s plate.

I initially wanted to become a doctor. A Neurosurgeon, in fact. But I ended up doing mechanical engineering from a regional college in Kashmir for one year.

Then I went off to Calcutta to do my hotel management, and there I fell in love with cooking and culinary arts.

Kashmiri cuisine tends to be meat-heavy. But if you have to suggest a dish to the non-Kashmiri vegetarian demographic that is quite big and expanding in India, what would you recommend?

I think there are a lot of vegetarian specialties in Kashmir. One such dish that is integral to Kashmir is Dum Aloo.

Dum Aloo is not like the simple small potato dish that you get in the market. Dum Aloo is the most critical element in vegetarian Kashmiri cuisine. The preparation itself takes a lot of time.

You take two and a half hours to fry it on a slow flame. And then it is cooked in a gravy on dum for at least 45 minutes.

There is also Nadroo Kebab. Nadroo is lotus stem. It is cooked in spices and then it is pan seared. It is my personal favorite Kashmiri vegetarian dish.

I have heard that Kashmiri dishes are cooked in special traditional copper pots. Do you also use that in cooking?

Yes, we do use copper pots, they are pierced from the top, because when you are cooking in a dum, all the flavors are flowing and tend to hit the walls and fall back.

So we dont leave the utensil too open , then, the flavors will fly in the air.

The narrower the neck of the pot, the flavors will be retained...

I believe that there is a unique way of making Gushtaba, the famous Kashmiri meatball dish. How is it made? Can you provide some insights ?

Yes, It takes at least three to four hours. It is very difficult and not at all a one man's job. There is a big stone and five to six people will sit on it. And they will have a wooden hammer with them, with which they will hit pieces of meat, one by one. We have special songs we sing while preparing the meat, which gives a rhythm and fun aspect to the process.

Every fiber in the pounded meat will be broken in this process. In the end, its texture will be like a sausage. And then it is poached in a yogurt based gravy. So, Gushtaba means... Aab means water. Gusht is meat. So, its meat poached in water.

Are there any scrumptious and flavourful Kashmiri desserts?

Well, there are many. There's a dish called Kong Firan in Punjab, it's made of rice, with a lot of saffron added to it. That's why the name is Kong Firan. Kong means saffron.

There's another dessert called Shufta. Shufta is a desert dish that only people in Kashmir know about. It's not very popular outside. They boil the paneer and dry it. Then, they fry it, like Gulab Jamun. Then, it's stewed with dry fruits and honey flavoured syrup.

Any dish that you would recommend for us today?

First, you should start with Tabak Mas, especially if you eat non-vegetarian food. Tabak Mas is made with spare ribs, which is a speciality in Kashmir.

When we cook lamb,we don't waste any part of it. It's a very economical and sustainable kind of cooking. Only the head is thrown off, probably, but everything else is cooked. Even the stomach of the lamb. Even the food pipe of the lamb.

Each part goes into making a specific dish that brings out the best of it. Rogan Josh is made with the shoulder. Tabak Mas is made with the spare ribs. Yakhni is made with the back chop. Mushtaba is made with the tail.

Likewise, Tabak Mas is an amazing dish, made with spare ribs. It's very light in flavour. They boil the spare ribs in milk, saffron, for almost 4-5 hours, making the meat very soft. After that, it's pan fried and served with walnut chutney.

Along with that, one must have a kebab called Dhoon Mas. For Dhoon Mas, they cook the meat and the ribs, which is later cooled down and grinded on a stone. The process is very similar to Hyderabad’s famous Haleem. Then, they add chopped walnuts and ginger and shape it like a kebab and pan sear it.