To experience the laid back lifestyle of Kashmiris, you should visit their villages. The surroundings whisper to you of a romantic old school novel or an old french colony where the main profession of the people is to bake bread. Oh, it is beautiful!
“Agar firdous baroye zameen ast, hame asto, hame asto, hame ast”. This means if paradise resides anywhere on this land, it is in Kashmir, in Kashmir, in Kashmir!
To experience the laid back lifestyle of Kashmiris, you should visit their villages. The surroundings whisper to you of a romantic old school novel or an old french colony where the main profession of the people is to bake bread. Oh, it is beautiful!
With cottages made of burnt bricks, white tulips dancing to the slow winds, peaceful pastures, Kashmir is a breath to hold. The place, its people, the bubbly children, they shroud love on everyone.
Our team went to Ratnipora (a village in South Kashmir) to try the delicacies the rural Kashmir had to offer!
Try getting a local host for yourself. It will change your experience because they can show you a lot of things that are made and done at home.
BREAKFAST
Mornings in Kashmir are about the ritual of having Noon Chai with freshly baked breads.
Lavasa- Lavasa is a crispy flat Kashmiri bread. It has a little salt and baking soda in it so that the bread’s dough rises while it is cooked in the Tandoor. It has hollow crispy pops on it. Looks similar to a Tandoori roti.
Girda- Girda is the second type of bread made by Kandur which has finger indentations on its surface. It is smaller than Lavasa and also cooked at a temperature less than what the Lavasa requires. After a wait of merely five minutes, the bread comes out of the tandoor.
It is crisp like a biscuit from the outside and soft and fluffy from the inside.
Kulcha- Kulcha is a crispy, crumbly biscuit like bread. It is salty and is covered with poppy seeds.
Kashmir is definitely not short of the varieties of bread.
All the breads made by the Kandur use the same kneaded dough but the preparation style, the baking temperature and the baking time is what distinguishes one bread from another.
Chochwor- A chochwor looks like a doughnut. It is very round and small and has a big hole in the middle. Some sesame seeds are sprinkled over it and then it is sent to get baked in the Tandoor. It is crispy from the outside but when you tear it apart, it is soft and moist like a bun in the interior.
It is baked on low flame and takes twenty minutes to get prepared. Then, in a cane basket all these breads are collected. Since they are stuck together, they resemble a honeycomb at first glance.
Kandur Waan is a traditional bakery. Every colony has its own Kandur (breadmaker) to meet their daily needs for bread.
Noon Chai- This tea is made in a Samvan (a copper vessel). It is not sweet because it has salt and baking soda in it. Slightly pinkish in colour, charcoal is the fuel that imparts tea with its extraordinary aroma.
Dudh Kahwa- For the rest of India, milk tea is obvious but for Kashmir, the same can’t be said. However, they do have a milk variety as well.
They put crushed almonds, green cardamom, sugar and milk in it. Moreover, they are crushed in a mortar pestle . Basically, it is Badam or Almond milk.
Kahwa means tea but it has no tea leaves in it.
Harissa- It is a thick and smooth mutton paste cooked along with spices like fennel seeds, cardamom, cinnamon etc. It resembles a chocolate pudding.
Topped with fried black onions and a few pieces of hot kebab, Harissa keeps the locals warm in the winters. It is only a winter breakfast. It is eaten with Girda, a Kashmiri bread. Indeed, very rich!
LUNCH
The food here is served in a Trami, a big copper plate. Just like for breakfast, the people have to sit on the ground, on a carpet to enjoy the meal.
Rice with Sabjis- Mostly the dishes are non-vegetarian. The Trami first has a layer of boiled rice. Then, currys like cooked Waste Haankh (collard greens), Chaman Tamatar (cottage cheese cooked in tomato gravy with spices), Gande Te Maaz (mutton curry with onions), etc are poured by the person serving.
Around four people eat in a Trami. Everything is mixed and eaten by hand.
Babri Treesh- This is a Ramadan drink for Muslims. It has basil seeds soaked in water which are then mixed with cold milk and sugar.
It looks like a Bubble Tea, instead the bubbles (the basil seeds) are at the surface.
Pherni- A semolina pudding which has milk, saffron and dry fruits. It is both indulgent and gooey.
