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.