This story is from August 11, 2014

Gustaba in Gulmarg? Head for the food paradise

The second Times Passion Trail starting October 8 takes you on a flavoursome food journey to Kashmir.
Gustaba in Gulmarg? Head for the food paradise
For a foodie, there can be no greater joy than discovering a cuisine in its home. It is one thing to savour the flavours of baqarkhani, rista or gustaba in a city restaurant and another to enjoy it where it belongs — in the homes, streets, houseboats and food markets of Kashmir.
The second Times Passion Trail starting October 8 takes you on a flavoursome food journey to Kashmir.
This is a region that once stood at the crossroads of civilizations, so its cuisine, like its culture, shows influences of other lands, near and far. Leading you through this trail in October on a five-day trip that showcases the food of the many communities of Kashmir will be food critic and experience architect Marryam H Reshii.
Kashmir, in the minds of the tourists who visit it all through summer, is chiefly famous for its changing landscape and its general whimsical beauty. But there is much, much more especially in autumn. "It is when the weather cools down markedly, when chinar leaves turn red, poplar trees resemble flag poles with
golden leaves fluttering in the breeze, when quince and lotus stem make their way into vegetable markets, when saffron, the world's most precious spice, begins to form in delicate mauve flowers that carpet the rolling plateau at Pampore and when apples turn red," says Reshii, who has been travelling to Kashmir to savour its gourmet delights for nearly three decades now.
This Times trail will offer multiple food experiences. You will enjoy breakfast in an apple orchard, quaff fresh kahwa in a saffron field, and, of course, lunch in the middle of the Dal. This lake is also famous for its vegetable boat markets. In fact, the lakes of Kashmir are great garden beds because of the unique techniques used here to grow vegetables, especially the tender lotus stems or nadru.
Participants will get to lunch with an erstwhile royal family and learn the art of Dogra food. Kashmir's most famous food experience is, of course, the community feast, wazwan. On this journey you will learn to put a
wazwan together at the http://www.timespassiontrails.com the web home of a waza, an expert chef.
"An entire sheep is used to make a variety of dishes, each flavoured differently and each using different parts of the animal. Made by a specific community of cooks, the meal is traditionally cooked on wood fires in an open courtyard over several hours and served to guests on large platters made of copper," explains Reshii.
But Kashmir also has other lesser known cuisines. There is the Pandit cuisine, chiefly distinguished by its use of asafoetida in place of garlic. There is the street food of the Valley, the smoky aromas of lamb being grilled on spit grills (bhattis) all over town. And there are different types of breads made by kandurs or bakers who create the flat breads eaten for breakfast.
"There are bakers who make tea-time goodies both sweet and savoury: baqarkhani, sheermal and kulcha. There are sellers of walnuts, almonds, honey, lavender water, rose water, morels, spice cakes used in cooking, saffron and fragrant cumin, a distant cousin of the zeera we use in the plains," says Reshii.
The group will also travel to Gulmarg to take the sky gondola ride up to the top of Affarwat peak and enjoy authentic Kashmiri snacks. Back in Srinagar, they can savour the earthy flavours of the food cooked in a Vaishnav dhaba.
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