Friday 7 August 2009

Nadir Yakhni from the world of Kashmiri Cuisine | नद्रु यखनी | Step Wise

P1000662
This is my second post for Show what you cook for guests hosted by Rak’s kitchen. dinnerTo view my complete spread click here.
The Kashmiri cuisine is predominantly of two types –  The wikipedia says..
1. Wazwan cuisine  which is a multi-course meal in the Kashmiri tradition, is treated with great respect. Its preparation is considered an art. Almost all the dishes are meat-based (lamb, chicken, fish, beef). It is considered a sacrilege to serve any dishes based around pulses or lentils during this feast. The traditional number of courses for the wazwan is thirty-six, though there can be fewer. The preparation is traditionally done by a vasta waza, or head chef, with the assistance of a court of wazas, or chefs.
Wazwan is only restricted to the Muslims of Kashmir and they regard it as the pride of their culture and identity.
Some dishes  that are considered a requirement for wazwan include: Safed kokur or zafraan kokur ,Meth maaze ,Ristae, Rogan josh, Dhani phul ,Aloo bukhaar: chutney made with fresh plums onions sugar lime juice and spices, Gaade kufta
2. Kashmiri Hindu cuisine
Kashmiri Pandit food is also very elaborate, and is an important part of the local Hindu culture's identity. The food usually uses a lot of yoghurt, turmeric, and oil & spices, and avoids onion, garlic and tomatoes. Unlike Kashmiri Muslim cuisine, it does not include many minced meat dishes, except machh.
Typical vegetarian dishes include:
Ladyar Chaman (Indian Cheese in Turmeric), Veth chaman (Indian Cheese, cooked in oil and Kashmiri spices), Dama oluv (Potato), Nadeir yakhni (Lotus Stem), Hak (with nadeir/vangan), Nadier palak
I am posting the recipe of Nadir Yakhni a delicacy of Kashmiri hindu cuisine. As I have mentioned earlier this is a curry cooked in yogurt and cooked in aromatic spices which yield a distinguished taste to the cuisine.
When my family tasted it, I curiously asked how does it taste. The answer I got was very confusing – it tastes different in different parts of mouth was S’s first answer. My elder one said it tastes likes biryani when mixed with rice. The most favorite answer was again by S which he said at the end..it tastes something like what we tasted in the Kashmiri restaurant in Mumbai. I was extremely confused by then and asked them in frustration…is it good? S started to laugh and said it’s good that’s why we are saying so many things, why do not you taste yourself to believe. And friends truly it was too good to resist and it tasted even better the next day.
One should try this at least once and I promise you will make it again and again. My family is going to confuse me again and again but I will keep making interesting things for them, as I know they are my true critic and only help me to improve and become better in my cooking skills.
P1000664
Ingredients For Nadir Yakhni
serves 6
500 gms Lotus stem (3-4 medium sized)
2 cups yogurt
2-3 onions sliced
2 tbsp ghee
oil for frying
salt to taste

spices
6-7 cloves
2 inch cinnamon stick
6 cardamom
2-3 black cardamom
1/2 tsp shah jeera/ caraway seeds
2 tsp kashmiri mirch
1 tsp dry ginger pwd
1 tsp fennel pwd
2 tsp pudina pwd

Method
P1000650
Cut the edges of lotus stem and peel them. Cut them into diagonal slices. Soak them in water.
Boil the slices in salted water till almost done.
Deep fry the onion slices in oil till brown in colour and then grind it with a little water. They impart the brown colour to the gravy.
P1000652
Mix the yogurt properly with a whisk with half a cup of water and then strain. Boil the strained yogurt stirring continuously till it changes it’s colour. The colour changes from white-yellow on boiling.
P1000654
Mix together fennel and dry ginger pwd , mix them with a little water. Now mix it with the onion paste. Heat the ghee and throw in cinnamon & cloves, when they crackle add the onion mix, kashmiri mirch and saute.
P1000655

Put the boiled lotus stem and the boiled yogurt and bring it to a boil and simmer cook. When the lotus stem are completely cooked and the curry  almost done add shah jeera, salt and cardamom. At the end add the pudina pwd and mix properly.
P1000656
Serve it hot with rice/ naan/roti.
P1000663
If You Enjoyed This Post Please Take 5 Seconds To Share It.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Have only tasted a curry of watermelon...Never thought a lotus stem is also used in making a curry like this...very innovative

Shri said...

Very Innovative!Where on the Earth can you find edible Lotus Stem?!!That is totally new to me..

kittymatti said...

Lovely recipe!I have a Kashmiri Pandit friend and I have eaten in his house a couple of time... Very unique and awesome cusine indeed!

DRY GROUNDNUT CHUTNEY said...

Hi Pari,

I am prathiba l Rao from The indian food court. You do have a wonderful blog. I have a doubt regarding the lotus steam??? what is it?please give me another alternative word for it.

DRY GROUNDNUT CHUTNEY said...

Hi
I am prathiba from The indian food court. You do have a wonderful blog with vow recipes!!!!! Please keep up the good work. Please clarify regarding the lotus seeds. I donot know exactly as to what it is?????/Give me an alternate word for it.

Pari Vasisht said...

@ Shri The Lotus stem Or Kamal kakadi is available abundantly in North India, I have read in other blogs that it is available in the frozen section of Indian marts in US.
Hope this will help you.
@ Pratibha Di, The lotus stem , am not sure whether it's available in your part. I have seen it in stores like Kovai Payamuddir in Chennai.

suvi said...

thats a nice recipe!!

PriyaRaj said...

wow ur Recipes look delicious .......i always wanna to try Northindian dishes too......Thanx

sangeeta said...

nice one pari....it looks so rich n flavorful...i have tasted a few kashmiri dishes at my aunt's place who is married to a kashmiri pandit...the khatte baingan , aalo dum n kashmiri rajma are all awesome....haak n chaaman are so rich...
good work n keep up...i have a lotus stem easy chinese style recipe in my blog ..check out...
http://healthfooddesivideshi.blogspot.com/2009/03/lotus-stem-stirfry.html

Archy said...

Wow, lotus stem curry looks so gud an yum!! Never tried with lotus stem, need to try !!
Hey, Pari u have nice blog with all yummy dishes!! Welcome to our food blog world !!

Uma said...

Never heard of this dish! Looks interesting and yummy. First time here. You have a lovely blog :)

Bergamot said...

Pari, I had seen this earlier and I wanted to check it out...just did not have enough time...this looks just simply great..maybe i will attempt cooking lotus stems now.

Preeti Kashyap said...

This seems great!..never heard of it before...but too sad for me,i don't think I can get lotus stems in the US...but they do look yummm!

Anonymous said...

hi Pari, I am a kashmiri living in US and believe me it reminded me of home.....it looks yummy and got me motivated to try one of my favorite dishes....thx a lot for putting this up

Anonymous said...

Hi, Firstly want to commend ur effort to put forth a traditional Kashmiri Pandit recipe ,given people know so little about it as compared to the more popular Muslim Kashmiri Cuisine, nevertheless would like to point out that Kashmiri pundits ( given I am half a Kashmiri Pundit myself) dont use onions/garlic at all in any of the dishes unlike you have mentioned above.Secondly Yakhni is mainly a mild all yoghurt based ( No red chillies)gravy, spiced fragrantly with hing, zeera or shahzeera,fennel powder,ginger powder,clove, sinnamon, bayleaves & sum may add a pinch of saffron for special occasions or white pepper for a kick.Crushed Pudina powder for garnish ( optional).
Had many variations of Kashmiri Pundit Yakhni in my course of life & living amongst friends & relatives but non with onion & red chillies, I assure you....This recipe is better suited for The red Fiery Roganjosh kind of preperations.Thought I should try & clarify since you mentioned it was a traditional recipe, but keep on ur good efforts rolling!! Also Lotus stem/Kamal Kakkdi/Bhey/Nadru is widely available in all asian markets (USA) in the frozen sections amongst Japanese & Korean foods.Very popular in both countries.

Anonymous said...

regarding kashmiri cuisine does anyone know of kulche...made of maida....they r fermented..made into balls......flattened....and put in tea...then tea is covered so the kulchas melt....i dont know the kashmiri word for it...but if anyone knows the recipe....please share....i want to know the exact recipe....thanks

Nik said...

I tried it for dinner, one word for this recipe-FANTASTIC !

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails