M Saleem Beg
Cuisine of a region or a community is primarily rooted in the tradition, climate, as also the availability of base materials and ingredients.
However, like many other cultural manifestations that have remained open to the influences from outside, cuisine also takes influences from across the cultures. Located at the cross roads of subcontinent , central and middle Asia with borders stretching from Russia to Afghanistan, Kashmir has been called a melting pot of cultures, a crucible of practices, ideas and influences. The major impact is of trade or transit as it unfolds as a social act that inspires allied cultural processes as well. Along with merchandise, traders of the yore brought along with them living traditions of costumes, life styles and above all, the cuisine. Kashmir for reasons of history and geography has received these outside influences through caravans and traders visiting for purposes of faith, pilgrimage, trade and commerce. It has also to be borne in mind that, like other crafts and skills, cuisine evolves organically over longer stretches of time. We know from literature in both Sanskrit and Persian as also travelogues of traders mystics that condiments like saffron, a local precious condiment with established medicinal properties remained in use in cooking since early medieval period and also found its way into the cuisines of farther regions.
Kashmiri cooking and culinary craftsmanship evolved as separate entities for Kashmir pandits and Muslims. Both may favor mutton largely, but are generally different in the way these are cooked and served. Unlike many other parts of the sub-continent, kashmiri pandits who call themselves brahmins, have been great mutton eaters like kashmiri Muslims. Pandit cuisine uses dried ginger and asafoetida tofeda generously, while Muslim cookery uses onions and garlic. Another basic determinant of these separate cooking practices has been use of asafoetida mixed with curd by pundits and shallot mixed with garlic by Muslims. Maczh (minced meat balls), kaeli (a yellowish lamb or paneer gravy) and roganjosh (a spicy gravy with lamb chunks) form the essence of Pandit cookery. Pandit cooking is based on the generous use of Kashmiri red chilli powder, haldi and saunf. The recipes extract their wondrous aroma from green and black cardamom, cinnamon and clove and Kashmiri zeera or shah zeera straight from the Valley lends these dishes a divine taste. Mutton, the basic ingredient, remains common to both the cuisines. Pandits do have vegetarian feasts as well but the vegetarian meal is always a poor cousin. One specialty relished in both non veg and veg pandit cuisine is nadroo, the locally grown lotus stem cooked in curd with another variant of deep fried thinly sliced pieces of the stem.
The lead cuisine of Muslims is known as Wazawan. As has been mentioned, Muslim cuisine has been greatly influenced by traders and travelers who during their sojourn in Kashmir, carried cooks as part of their entourage. The visitors transacted with local community and joined in the feasting which in the process resulted in transfer of recipes as well. Thus, Armenian, Andalusian, Afghan and Iranian dishes crept in with some modification and became part of the Muslim cuisine. The wazwan is a family craft of its practitioners, the waza, transferred from father to son, mostly by way of apprenticeship. The processing of raw material involves converting meat into raw material for various dishes by use of minced, pounded or finely cut pieces of mutton.. The Wazas are also claiming that they are descendents of master chefs who migrated from Samarkand and parts of Central Asia at the beginning of 15th century with the influx that continued during the following centuries as well. Wazawan, the number of delicacies has been extended to a range comprising of 36 courses. These delicacies are generally cooked at night under the expert supervision of master Waza assisted by a retinue of wazas . Muslim cuisine is a gourmet, a trove of exotica to savour.
Pandits have, while retaining the basic character of their cuisine, also tried their hand on the exotica. A specific example of this phenomena would be Soft ribs from mutton known as tabakmaz in wazwan and Kabargah in the pandit cuisine. The method of preparation remains exactly the same for this dish. Incidentally this preparation seems to have travelled from Kazakhstan where it is known by its pandit name , Kabargah. Over the years, condiments and spices took a `similar color and the same spices are used by both the cuisines . The traditional Kashmir food receives heat on two sides, top and bottom and the best results are obtained by slow heat using charcoal.
Cuisine has also followed and catered to religious observances and practices linked to the faith. Kashmiri cuisine has thus adjusted itself and catered to the local spiritual traditions. Kashmir has the distinction of following the Rishi practices derived from Kashmir centric syncretic faith. Rishis, the local saints, mostly drawn from rural Kashmir, and men of religion owe their allegiance to the patron saint of Kashmir, sheikh Noorudin Wali. Shaikh is a 15th century rishi who propagated monotheism, equality of all human beings before the Almighty, sanctity of living beings and respect for the diversity of beliefs. Shaikh has, in his poetic rendition called shruks, mentioned that he has drawn his spiritual prowess from Lal Ded, a shaivite yogini who was his contemporary. He ascribes his set of beliefs to include reverence to Shiva and Shunya, the shunyata propagated by the illustrious Buddhist monk of 2nd century CE, Nagarjuna. He also abstained from eating all kinds of non vegetarian food and did not approve of slaughtering of animals. His followers spread the message and teachings of the sheikh through length and breadth of Kashmir. They established hospices in different parts of Kashmir where annual festival or urs is celebrated on fixed days each year, normally extending over a week. Traditionally feasting and community meals are a part of the celebrations. Muslims, mainly residing around these hospices or visitors to the hospices abstain from eating non vegetarian food in any form during the urs days. Muslim cooks, the wazas, have therefore created a vegetarian cuisine on the occasion of the urs that is served during the week. The multiple dishes, all based on vegetables, have names in some cases akin to the non veg dishes.
Muslim feasts are more orderly and follow a discipline and a set plan. In these feasts, food is served in a large carved copper plate known as trami. The guests sit on the floor and once the dastarkhan, printed or white cloth, is laid on ground in a carpeted space of a dewan khana or as is the practice now, in a profusely decorated shamiyana, the guests group themselves in fours. A mobile wash basin made of copper with intricate carving known as tasht is taken around by attendants so that guests can wash their hands from the water poured from a finely designed copper flask, naer, to enable them to eat with hands. The trami, covered with a copper top, a sarposh, is served to the group of fours. The trami has a hoof of boiled rice with finely laid out items like kababs, meath, tabak maz, saffron chicken. Once the tramis are laid for the whole majlis, sarposh is removed from the trami and guests are then expected to start enjoying the feast. The cook then enters to serve dishes, one by one in a sequence that has not changed since perhaps when these dishes got introduced in the menu.
There are 7 standard dishes that are must for Wazawan. These are rista, rogan josh, dhania kurma, paneer with tomato, mirchi korma aab ghosh and gushtaba. At least two to three vegetables are also now part of the serving and these vegetable are cooked in the mutton gravy. Gushtaba, pounded mutton balls cooked in preheated curd, is the final dish announcing the completion of servings. Curd is served with each trami along with accompanying chutneys made out of vegetables and seeds like radish, zirish, pumpkin etc. These accompaniments, an essential part of the feast, do not somehow find mention in writings about the cuisine. Some of these accompaniments are zerish chetin, a Chutney made of small back berry and tamarind pulp, red chilli powder, black pepper and salt. Other chetnis, are made out of onion, the gand chetin, pumpkin chetin, made of softened pumpkin with curd and honey, almond based chutney and sliced radish. These accompaniments are meant to neutralize the taste of one dish to enable the guest to appreciate and savour another dish
Thus Kashmir cuisine is a fine art that has evolved into an elaborate spread by integrating local techniques, traditional knowledge with influences received through interaction by way of trade, commerce and scholarly interaction.
(The writer is former Director General Tourism, Member and chairman National Monuments Authority, GOI and Convener INTACH, J&K)
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