Our Kashmiri author shares the expertise of wazwan, the well-known multicourse feast of Jammu and Kashmir, and the place to strive it in Srinagar.
Within the northernmost a part of India, Kashmir is world-famous for a number of causes, from its handmade shawls to its beautiful pure magnificence. However one factor you might not be aware of Kashmiri wazwan, its famend delicacies.
Wazwan (additionally spelled wazawan) is a standard multicourse meal, served on particular events similar to weddings and festivals. This grand feast consists of round 36 dishes, quite a lot of meats, greens, and rice meant to showcase the unimaginable flavors and distinctive cooking methods discovered on this delicacies. The phrase wazwan is derived from the Persian wazan, which implies weight or steadiness, indicating the frilly and balanced nature of the meal.
The well-known houseboats on Dal Lake in Srinagar, summer season capital of Jammu and Kashmir. Picture courtesy of Yeoboya/Flickr.
ORIGINS OF WAZWAN
The origins of Kashmiri wazwan might be traced again to the royal courts of the Mughal emperors, who dominated over the Indian subcontinent from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century; Mughlai delicacies as a complete is famously wealthy. However whereas wazwan was launched to Kashmir by the Mughals, over time, Kashmiris perfected and blended it into their very own tradition.
At present, wazwan is an integral a part of Kashmiri tradition, and the preparation of it’s thought-about an artwork kind. The cooks who’ve perfected this artwork over generations are known as wazas. They often put together the meal with the assistance of an eight- to 10-person staff.
Not each chef can put together wazwan, because it requires rigorous apply, expertise, and onerous work. The cooking artwork is often handed down from one technology to a different, and wazas begin studying from a really younger age.
Historically wazwan is served in Kashmir for weddings and different particular events, just like the beginning of kid or Eid. Locals will go to a waza at his residence (they’re historically all the time male) and place an order; he’ll usually set a timeframe of two to a few days to arrange the meal. For weddings, the waza and his staff arrange an enormous momentary kitchen by which to make all the pieces, on the home the place the marriage takes place.
You may also discover wazwan in eating places throughout Srinagar, the summer season capital of Jammu and Kashmir. However as a result of most diners wish to eat Indian, Western, and quick meals in eating places, most restaurant cooks will not be knowledgeable at making ready wazwan, and the standard simply isn’t there. (See the underside of this publish for one restaurant we do advocate.)
Getting ready wazwan in an outside kitchen. (The waza right here is carrying the inexperienced sweater.) All images by Zain Shah besides the place indicated.
HOW WAZWAN IS PREPARED
Wazwan is cooked over a wooden hearth, slowly to boost flavors, in large copper pots known as degs. The meal is usually served on giant copper platters generally known as tramis, which maintain sufficient meals for 4 folks and have lovely hand-etched designs. Every dish is fastidiously organized and offered with nice consideration to element, adorned with colourful spices and herbs.
Step one in making ready Kashmiri wazwan is to make the inventory. Usually, an animal is slaughtered upfront—a sheep aged someplace between a lamb and a mutton. After the meat is chopped and added to a water-filled deg, it cooks slowly, and is then seasoned with garlic and salt. This mutton broth types the bottom for the remainder of the dishes within the wazwan.
Deep-fried shallots to change into shallot paste (by way of a mortar and pestle) for wazwan.
Subsequent, the pure reddish meals coloring generally known as mawal (in Kashmiri language) or cockscomb (celosia cristata) is ready. The flowers are crushed with an enormous mortar and pestle to acquire the best hue, later used to provide a few of the wazwan dishes, like methi and rogan josh, their wealthy colour.
It’s essential to notice that no artificial colours or spices are utilized in wazwan. From begin to end, the meal makes use of solely pure components.
Gushtaba, a lamb meatball, able to be cooked for wazwan.
THE FEAST: TYPICAL WAZWAN DISHES
Wazwan often consists of round 36 dishes, though the precise quantity can range relying on the event and variety of visitors. The meal is served in a selected order, beginning with a collection of appetizers and progressing via the primary programs, earlier than concluding with desserts. Listed below are 10 of the most well-liked Kashmiri wazwan dishes.
Rice with methi maaz (4 scoops) and tabaz maaz (in heart) on a trami. Picture courtesy of Maroof Qureshi.
Methi Maaz
Methi is the everyday appetizer of wazwan, a mutton dish served alongside tabak maaz (see subsequent) on a trami and coated with a sarposh, or lid. It’s ready utilizing mutton tripe and fenugreek leaves.
First, the meat and gut are boiled, then finely chopped with a heavy knife on a wood log (known as a mound in Kashmiri). The waza marinates the mutton in a combination of yogurt and spices, which embrace cumin, coriander, ginger, garlic, and Kashmiri crimson chili powder. The meat is then added to the deg and cooked in ghee over low warmth together with recent fenugreek leaves till it’s tender and the flavors have melded collectively.
The slight bitterness of the fenugreek pairs completely with the succulent meat, and the mix of spices creates a depth of taste that’s deliciously satisfying. Methi is spongy and tastes phenomenal with steamed rice: a wealthy, spicy match made in heaven. It’s a dish we are able to’t get sufficient of.
Tabak Maaz
This dish is believed to have originated within the royal kitchens of the Mughal emperors. It’s a in style starter created from deep-fried mutton ribs which might be seasoned with spices till they’re crispy on the surface and juicy on the within.
The flavors are intense, and the feel excellent. The ribs are steamed in a broth with spices similar to clove, garlic, garam masala, asafoetida, and aniseed. (It’s essential to notice that little or no to no turmeric and chili powder are added, regardless of what some sources on the web might say.) As soon as steamed, the ribs are minimize into items and positioned on a big copper plate known as a majme, which bulges a bit within the heart. Then, they’re slowly fried in ghee and mutton fats. The ultimate result’s the tabak maaz, which is crisp and brown on the surface and extremely mushy and juicy on the within.
Regardless of the few spices used, the flavour of those ribs is unimaginable. One motive for that is that tabaz maaz is fried in ghee alongside melted mutton fats—this infuses a novel taste into the meat, absorbed slowly over the simmering wooden hearth. The mushy, tender meat melts like butter in your mouth, releasing all of that wealthy mutton-fat taste.
A goshpare getting used to hand-grind meat for rista and gushtaba.
Rista
Rista is a standard Kashmiri meatball created from floor mutton meat and fats. After the animal is slaughtered, the meat and fats are separated for the preparation of this dish. With the assistance of a wood hammer (a goshpare, in Kashmiri), the mutton meat is manually floor on a big rock till it turns right into a high quality paste; lamb fats can be added through the course of. Connective tissues, fibers, and veins are eliminated throughout this pounding course of. As soon as the meat is finely floor, spices similar to black cardamom, cinnamon, clove, garam masala, shallot paste, garlic, fennel powder, and extra are added.
Meatballs are then ready and soaked in heat water for some time. The meatballs are cooked in a wealthy, tomato-based gravy flavored with fragrant spices similar to saffron, cinnamon, and cardamom. Lastly, they’re steam-cooked over the wooden hearth.
The consequence, rista, is an extremely scrumptious, mushy meatball with unimaginable taste, due to all these spices. The thick, velvety gravy enhances the meat completely.
Kebab
One other important Kashmiri wazwan dish is the kebab, skewered mutton meat marinated in a mix of spices and grilled to perfection utilizing mutton fats. The kebabs are tender and moist and have a scrumptious smoky taste, infused with spices like garam masala, cardamom, cinnamon powder, ginger, garlic, cumin, onion paste, and naturally the wooden hearth itself. The key to its distinct style, nonetheless, is the addition of hen meat to the mutton.
As you devour a kebab, the meat additional releases its juices and signature smoky taste. They’re really a delight to eat.
Wealthy, velvety, crimson rogan josh, pictured in a standard deg.
Rogan Josh
Rogan josh is probably probably the most well-known Kashmiri wazwan dish (notably within the UK, the place it’s a staple at each London curry home). It’s a mutton curry cooked in a spicy yogurt-based sauce. The tender chunks of meat are seasoned with fragrant spices like Kashmiri chili powder, cardamom, cinnamon, fennel powder, shallot paste, and dried ginger powder that impart an unforgettable style.
The dish is known as for its wealthy crimson colour (rogan means crimson), which comes from the chili powder, although that mawal coloring helps too. The meat is so tender that it falls off the bones. Rogan josh is spicy and tangy, and the gradual cooking pulls all of the juice from the meat and bones, including taste and texture. The daring spices and tender mutton in rogan josh convey a tantalizing, mouth-watering warmth.
Kashmiri Pulao
Pulao is a aromatic basmati rice dish with origins in Persian delicacies; this model was tailored to Kashmiri tastes with the addition of saffron, raisins, and nuts (almonds and cashews), that are generally discovered within the area. It’s usually golden brown as a result of onion paste utilized in its preparation.
This basmati rice is nice and aids in digestion, offering steadiness to the wealthy and spicy dishes served. It’s often ready as a facet for the wazwan, though additionally it is a separate important dish in Kashmiri delicacies.
Aab gosh, a creamy mutton curry, in a standard deg, or copper pot.
Aab Gosh
Aab interprets to “water” in Kashmiri, and because the title suggests, it’s mouth-watering—even only for this author to consider it! Aab gosh is ready from the hip meat of a sheep, cooked in a sauce manufactured from buffalo milk that’s simmered till creamy. Bone broth, meat inventory, and ghee are added together with spices similar to black cardamom, shallot paste, inexperienced cardamom, and fennel powder. This meat is slowly cooked over a wooden hearth, mixing every taste in unison.
The style is celestial. The dish is nice, however not too candy. The interaction of cream, ghee, and all of the spices makes it completely balanced. You can be blown away!
Dhaniwal Korma
One other attention-grabbing wazwan dish is dhaniwal korma, a mutton curry that’s cooked with complete onions, herbs, and spices together with garam masala, clove, inexperienced cardamom, cinnamon, fennel powder, garlic paste, and ginger paste. The onions are candy and tender, including a definite texture and taste to the dish.
What units this dish aside is the creamy, zesty sauce. The tender meat is cooked in yogurt with each floor and freshly chopped coriander (cilantro). Coriander binds the flavour of all of the spices and offers this dish steadiness. With its gentle spice and recent herbs, dhaniwal korma is perhaps thought-about the right foil to rogan josh.
A gushtaba (lamb meatball) beneath nuts, cilantro, and mint.
Gushtaba
It is a signature concluding dish of Kashmiri wazwan, created from minced mutton that’s hand-beaten for hours till it takes on a mushy, dough-like texture. It’s then formed into giant meatballs and cooked in a spiced creamy yogurt sauce known as yakhni. This thick, wealthy yakhni curry, flavored with fennel, cardamom, mint, and different fragrant spices, is what makes gushtaba so distinctive.
The meatballs change into extremely mushy and tender, and the velvety sauce simply envelops them. It’s absolute decadence, and it sings with bursting, balanced flavors. Gushtaba will not be very spicy, however the flavors are so complicated and nuanced that you just’ll end up slowing down, attempting to establish all of them. It’s an ideal savory dish to finish on.
Kashmiri saffron kehwa, the tea drunk throughout a standard Kashmir wazwan feast.
Kashmiri Saffron Kehwa
You might need heard the phrase kehwa or kahwa in popular culture, as regards to India and particularly Pakistan. Though kehwa is ready in elements of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, Kashmiri saffron kehwa chai is exclusive in its preparation and spices. After the heavy feast of wazwan, it’s a dessert tea served primarily to help with digestion. It consists of the world-famous Kashmiri saffron together with inexperienced cardamom and Kashmiri almonds.
Much like inexperienced tea in look, it’s golden inexperienced, however it has an extremely candy, inexperienced cardamom-spiked style. The sweetness is balanced by the spices, making for a beautiful blended tea. The aroma of cardamom fills all the room whereas kehwa is brewed and served!
View of Srinagar and Dal Lake. Picture courtesy of Ryaan Khan.
The place to Eat Wazwan in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
Wazwan is a celebration of the group and a testomony to the wealthy culinary heritage of Kashmir, a area formed by centuries of cultural and historic influences. Naturally, in case you are touring to Kashmir, it is best to attempt to expertise the scrumptious meals, lovely presentation, and distinctive hospitality of wazwan your self!
One choice—one of the best one, if it’s attainable—is to discover a skilled waza who will prepare dinner a recent multicourse meal proper in entrance of you. One such waza, recognized throughout, is Lateef Khosa (recognized domestically as Khosa Waza) positioned within the Nawid Kadal space of outdated Srinagar. He’s cooked for a lot of well-known personalities over time (fortuitously for my household, he was pleasant with my grandfather, and cooked at my dad and mom’ marriage ceremony). It is perhaps onerous for the typical vacationer to make this occur, after all, so a restaurant is the subsequent greatest wager.
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Many eating places prepare dinner Kashmiri wazwan that’s not of excellent high quality—it’s like a knockoff of a well-liked model, utilizing artificial spices and likewise typically making the meals too spicy for some Western palates. However one which does an excellent job is Ahdoo’s, an historic resort and restaurant that has carved a distinct segment for itself in wazwan and is positioned within the coronary heart of Srinagar, on Residency Street (map). It claims it was the primary restaurant established within the Kashmir Valley, in 1918. At Ahdoo’s you may construct your individual trami plate, pictured above (along with your selection of three non-veg dishes and two veg dishes), for 900 INR, or about US$11.
(In contrast, it will usually price about 6,000 INR, or US$73, for a full trami with a waza, which might be an entire wazwan for 4 folks.)
Nonetheless you could find it, experiencing wazwan, and the distinct delights of Kashmiri delicacies, is an absolute should on this a part of India.
In regards to the creator: Zain Shah is a pupil hailing from the breathtaking land of Kashmir. His ardent love for his homeland stems from its wealthy cultural heritage, its tantalizing delicacies, and its distinctive crafts that epitomize Kashmiris’ id. He writes at Shopability.store and Kashmir-Arts, a retailer for genuine Kashmiri merchandise.
Up to date: March 18, 2024
