Neela Dhar is the kindest, gentlest and most serene soul I know. She has a special place in my heart for several reasons; many of them to do with food.
She and her husband Ravi were the first fauji couple who were brave enough to accept an invitation from me. That was the first meal I cooked for my husband Raju’s Air Force friends in Hyderabad and the pressure was immense. But soft-spoken Neela with her ready smile instantly put me at ease and I felt really sad when they were posted out. Raju was an anxious man too that day. He always spoke of the warm hospitality of Neela’s folks when he attended their wedding in Srinagar, perhaps the only vegetarian guest!
One of the wonderful things about the Air Force is that we inevitably bumped into each other again as Ravi and Raju were both posted to Wellington, Nilgiris. I learnt a lot from Neela, about grace and dignity, but also about vegetarian Kashmiri food. She shushed my non-vegetarian buddies when they rolled their eyes at me, and served me Kashmiridum aloo and the absolutely delicious monj hak (which I had never heard of before).
“It is one of the most authentic Kashmiri dishes,” Neela assures me and shares the recipe. It is made of knol khol, or ganth gobi for our northern friends, or kohlrabi as the western world knows it. The goat may have been the centrepiece of Neela’s banquets, but the monj hak always held its own.
So, if we strip all the fancy words away and describe it for what it is, it is an honest stew. And the best way I’ve enjoyed it is, when the monj hak was ladled over steaming white rice. Neela recommends eating it with crunchy fried potato strips and, if you want, with a generous portion of lamb (rogan josh or yakhni).
And as you have stayed with me through the vegetarian delicacy, here is the recipe for rogan josh and yakhni recipes too (also one much clamoured after at Neela’s). She declares no one makes yakhni like her mother does. “The secret behind a great preparation lies in choosing the right meat cut. For rogan josh, it is the shoulder or leg portion of the lamb that is used, whereas yakhni requires meat with a layer of fat,” she says.
The curries for both yakhni and roganjosh are generally lightly flavoured, mostly using aniseed (saunf) powder, dry ginger (sonth) powder and some key ingredients for a typical preparation. Traditional cooking did not use any onion or garlic, but it can be added as per individual preferences.
In this fortnightly column, we discuss an iconic food, its origins and evolution
Monj Hak
Ingredients
500gm Monj (knol khol)
3 Green chillies
2 tbsp Mustard oil or any vegetable oil
A pinch of Asafoetida
¼ tsp Kashmiri garam masala
Salt to taste
Method
Cut the leaf along with the stem from the vegetable. Now tear off the leaf from the stem and set aside. Peel the vegetable and ensure the hard base is cut off. Slice the balance vegetable into thin pieces.
Heat oil in a pressure cooker, add asafoetida followed by the sliced vegetable. Add salt and place the lid lightly over the vessel to cook for three minutes, then add the leaves and mix well. Now, add enough water to cover the vegetable and pressure-cook for five minutes on low heat. Once done, immediately release the steam (helps retain the colour of the leaves). Finish it off by adding the garam masala and green chillies (whole). Give it a boil and serve it with steamed rice.
Rogan Josh
Ingredients
1 kg Mutton
1 Onion sliced
½ a Cinnamon stick
2 tsp Cumin seeds
A pinch of Asafoetida
2 Black cardamoms lightly crushed
@ Cloves crushed
2 Bay leaves
3 tsp Red chilli powder
½ tsp Dry ginger powder
3 to 4 tsp Aniseed powder
¾ tsp Cumin powder
¼ tsp Cinnamon powder
4 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
Method
Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Put hing, jeera, bay leaves, badi elaichi, cinnamon and add the mutton pieces and salt. Mix well. Add onions and cover the vessel lightly with a lid. Allow it to cook for 15 to 20 minutes on low heat, remove the lid and let the excess water evaporate. Roast the pieces well on slow heat till the mutton turns reddish brown. Add chilli powder, mix well by adding a little water to mix the spice well. Scrape off the mutton juices. This adds to the rogan of the dish. Pour a glass full of water and add ginger powder, aniseed powder, cumin powder, cinnamon powder. Mix well. Add enough water to cover the mutton. Pressure cook it on high heat for a whistle, reduce the heat and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. Once done allow it to rest and serve with hot rice.
Yakhni
Ingredients
1 kg Mutton
500-750 gms Curd
2 Bay leaves
3 Cardamoms crushed
½ Cinnamon stick
2 tsp Cumin seeds
A pinch of Asafoetida
4 tsp Aniseed powder
½ tsp Dry ginger powder
½ tsp Cinnamon powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
4 Garlic cloves crushed
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
Method
Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add cumin seeds, asafoetida, garlic, bay leaves, crushed cardamom and cinnamon stick. Add mutton and salt, mix well. Place a lid lightly on the vessel and cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
Now, add enough water to cover the mutton. Put in aniseed powder, dry ginger powder and pressure cook it. After the first whistle reduce the heat and pressure cook for 10 minutes. Wait for the steam to settle then open the lid and remove the pieces of mutton in a bowl. Add curd while stirring continuously till the first boil. The curd should be thoroughly whipped or churned. Put the mutton pieces back into the gravy, add cumin powder and cinnamon powder, cook for five minutes on low heat. Serve hot.