Maaz Yakkhn

I have always been very fond of Kashmiri food. It’s only recently that I have tried reading more about it and tried making it myself. One of my friend’s mom makes the best Kashmiri food, owing to her roots in Srinagar.  I hope she puts those mouth-watering dishes in a book someday. Kiran Aunty this post is dedicated to you.

They say history of Kashmir's traditional cuisine, Wazwaan, dates back to the last years of the 14th century when the Mongol ruler Timur invaded India in 1348 during the reign of Nasiruddin Muhammad of the Tughlaq dynasty. As a result, there took place a migration of trained weavers, woodcarvers, architects, calligraphers and cooks from Samarkand to the Kashmir valley. The descendants of these cooks came to be known as "Wazas", who are the master chefs of Kashmir. Waan in Kashmiri meas ‘shop’. A waazwaan is literally, a cook shop or a restaurant.

Maaz Yakkhn is meat flavoured with aniseed and dry ginger powder. These two ingredients together give the very unique flavour to the dish. The book I refer to is “Traditional Kashmiri Cusine – Wazwaan” written by the renowned Waza family – Published by Roli Press in India. This is not the traditional preparation technique but a quick rendition of the recipe.

Ingredients

350g boneless mutton pieces (lamb), from the leg
150g minced mutton (coarsely minced)
 

Khara Masala

5 green cardamoms
6-8 pieces of cloves
1 black cardamom
4 inch stick of cinnamon
 

3 medium finely sliced onions

2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tbsp ghee
2 green chillies, split in half length wise
3 large cloves of garlic
1 tbsp ginger powder
¾  tbsp aniseed powder
1 cup yoghurt
1 cup water
1 tsp dried mint powder
¾ tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder (deghi mirch)
Finely chopped coriander for garnishing
Salt to taste

Method

·         In a pressure cooker, heat vegetable oil. Add the khara masala and let it crackle.

 

Crackling spices

 

·        Add the sliced onions and sauté it till it turns light to dark brown. Do this on a low flame to ensure you don’t burn the onions.

·         Add the meat pieces to the pan. Sauté pieces for about 5 minutes stirring continuously. Now add the minced meat and ghee and continue stirring it so it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Ensure this is on a slow flame.  Continue to sauté for about 8-10 minutes, the meat will change colour.

 

The browned meat before adding yogurt

 

·         Once the meat has changed colour add the rest of the dry spices and yoghurt and stir for another 5 minutes. Do not add salt at this stage.

·         Add one cup of water add salt to taste and close the pressure cooker, keep it on a high flame. Once you hear the whistle let it cook for another 10 minutes on slow flame. Switch off the flame, open the cooker once the pressure subsides.

·         Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with fresh green coriander.  Serve with rice and onion rings.

 

 

 

 

 Postscript: Kashmiri cooking has the concept of using cooked yogurt. They do not use yogurt directly in the preparation. Yogurt is whisked with water and cooked, stirring constantly till it reduces to half its quantity and colour changes to off white.

Mediterranean Grilled Sandwich

Oh! I so love sandwich’s…a medley of flavours stuffed between two boring slices of bread. It’s all in the filling I say, the more fun and interesting your filling the tastier your meal would be.

I thank John Montagu for his laziness and his dedication to gambling for this modest invention! According the world’s most referred food bible “Larousse Gastronomique” – Sandwiches are named after John Montagu, 4^th Earl of Sandwich, an inveterate gambler who acquired the habit of sending for cold meat between two slices of bread so that he would not have to leave the gambling table to eat. Although the name is relatively recent, dating from the beginning of the 19^th century, the concept itself is ancient. It has long been a custom in Rural France, for eg. to give farm labourers working in the fields meat for their meal enclosed between two slices of bread. Also it was customary in south-western France to give those embarking on a journey slices of cooked meat sprinkled with their juices, between two slices of bread.

Every country has their own versions varying them with the filling or the bread. This one takes inspiration from the Mediterranean flavours – chargrilled peppers doused with olive oil, parmesan cheese and basil.

You could make a vegetarian version of this sandwich by replacing the chicken with pan grilled sliced Zucchini or aubergines add half a bell pepper more.  Details at the end of the recipe.

  

Ingredients

Basil Garlic Sauce Ingredients

2 cups basil leaves
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
4-5 cloves of garlic
Salt to taste
(This makes about 2 ½ cups of sauce which you can store in the fridge for future use)

Filling Ingredients

½ roasted red bell with preserving liquid, julienned
½ roasted yellow bell with preserving liquid, julienned
1 big tomato deseeded finely julienned
¼ cup sliced onions
4-5 slices chicken salami julienned
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ -½ tsp red chilly flakes (as hot as you like!)
1-2 tbsp parmesan cheese (as strong as you like it)
2 tbsp basil garlic sauce (recipe below)
Salt to taste
(click here to see how to make roasted bell peppers)

Butter / Mayonnaise to smear on the
Grated Mozzarella Cheese
Big Sandwich Bread

 

Method

Step 1: Preparing basil garlic sauce

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz it all together… voila! Keep the whizzing limited, enough to just put the ingredients together.  At any point in time you can always add nuts and parmesan cheese to this to convert this into the traditional pesto.

I usually have a bottle of this stored in my fridge. It lasts easily for about a month or two, as long as it is topped well with olive oil on top. Quite similar to when you make Indian pickles you have to ensure good amount of oil in order to preserve it. As basil is not always readily available in all stores in India, make this and stock it in the fridge and it can be used when making any sauce where you need basil and garlic. It gives the same flavour and using fresh basil. Dried and frozen basil don’t seem to give that flavour ever. Basil if exposed to air it tends to darken. You should ensure there is enough oil, top up a little if you feel it’s less. Once you store it in the fridge ingredients of the sauce settle a little and let the oil come up like a layer.

If you don’t want to make this sauce, you can also substitute this by ready-made pesto sauce available in gourmet stores or sometimes even your local grocer.  

(P.S. I will add pictures for this when I make it next, for this one I had the basil sauce kept in the fridge)

 

Step 2: Preparing the filling

·         In a pan heat some olive oil and add the sliced onions to caramelize them. Once they turn change colour take them off the fire.  

·         In a bowl add all the ingredients of the filling and the remaining olive oil and mix well. Adjust the salt.

·         This filling should be enough for 3 sandwiches (6 slices of jumbo bread)

 

 

 Step 3: The Final Step

·         Take 2 slices of the bread; put a light layer of butter or mayonnaise on both sides. Spread out a generous amount of filling. Top it with grated mozzarella cheese and cover it with the second slice

·         Put it in a preheated sandwich griller for about 5-6 minutes

·         Cut and serve  

 

 

Changes for the vegetarian version - Pan-grilling Vegetables:

 

Slice the vegetable, into thin slices. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle a little salt. Place on a pre-heated grilling pan. They should be ready in about 6-7 minutes. Don’t forget the turn sides during the grilling process. Don’t mix these in the filling. Place them on the filling just before putting the mozzarella cheese. In case you do not have a grill pan you could also use a simple non-stick pan.