Kashmir is famous for its scenic snow-clad mountains, pristine lakes, and enchanting valleys but there is more to Kashmir than just its natural beauty. Kashmir is famous for its lip-smacking cuisines also. Kashmiri food is rich yet simple and diverse; here is the list of five Kashmiri dishes you must try:
ModurPulav
ModurPulav is a type of sweetened rice that is prepared using dry fruits and nuts and cooked in ghee. It is a delightful mix of spices and nuts.
ModurPulav is a famous dish of Kashmiri pandits and it's prepared using cinnamon, a little saffron, milk, ghee, sugar, cashew nuts, almonds, green cardamom, and various other ingredients. It is sweet and flavored along with being healthy. Saffron is the main ingredient here that gives the cuisine a beautiful color and rich taste. Try it if you still have not and you will be left craving for more.
Kahwa
No list about Kashmiri food is complete without the famous Kahwa. Kahwa is actually a type of green tea prepared using green tea leaves, nuts, spices, and saffron.
Kahwa is a famous Kashmiri drink that is prepared using green tea and flavored with cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and kesar.
Kahwa is to Kashmir as what is the tea to the rest of the country and it is one beverage Kashmiris just can’t do without. It’s lighter than tea or coffee and sweeter too. Crudely ground almonds are used sometimes to enrich the flavor and aroma.
Chaaman
Chaaman is a Kashmiri paneer dish prepared using lots of spices and juicy and tangy tomato gravy. It is flavored using dry ginger and fennel seeds and mostly served with steamed rice, dal, and phulka.
Chaaman is a tasty paneer based dish prepared which is a common food prepared in all Kashmiri households. It’s is one of the few Kashmiri savory foods where turmeric is used. Along with the golden fried paneer, other main ingredients are tomatoes, onion and cream. Spices like cumin seeds, Ajwain, Chilli powder, turmeric powder, fennel powder and dried ginger are used. It is usually served with steamed rice.
Haakh
Haakh is prepared using green leafy vegetables mostly Kohl Rabi greens/Kai lan/ spinach or collard greens.
Haakh is a staple food in almost all Kashmiri households and is prepared using leafy green vegetables. It is simple food and easy to prepare also, not many spices are used barring garlic and red chilly powder to augment its flavor. If you are tired of eating spicy and oily food, Haakh can be a good change of taste for you. It is served mostly with boiled rice.
Al Yakhni
Al Yakhni is a vegetarian dish prepared using bottle gourd/lauki and lotus stem. Yogurt is one of the main ingredients along with fennel, ginger, cardamom and regular spices used in Kashmiri cuisine.
Al Yakhni is a Kashmiri food item that is prepared using bottle gourd and a yogurt based gravy. It is typically served with Steamed Rice. In Kashmiri, ‘Al’ means bottle gourd or lauki and Yakhni is a yogurt based sauce, hence, Al Yakhni is a mixture of fried bottle gourd served in the juicy yogurt based sauce. The yogurt sauce is flavored using ginger powder, fennel powder, crumpled ShahiZeera and salt.
