Aromas of Kashmir: Alla Roganjosh and more

Alla Posh Mond (Pumpkin Flower Fritters)

Serving Size: 2-3 persons

Ingredients

• 6-10 pumpkin flowers or alla posh
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1 tsp red chilly powder or mertshwangan
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 tsp salt or to taste
• Pinch of black or white cumin seeds or zeur
• Vegetable cooking oil for frying

Method

Open the alla posh at the center and remove inner stalk. Put rice flour, salt, cumin seeds and chili powder in a bowl. Mix together well. Add 1/2 cup water and mix to form a thick batter. Heat oil in a frying pan/kadia. Dip flat pieces of alla posh one by one to batter to batter on both sides carefully. Add battered alla posh to hot oil. Fry both sides until alla posh/ flowers turns golden red and crispy. Serve alla posh monji hot or cold with tea as a snack, or as a side dish with lunch or dinner.

Excerpted from Koshur Saal: Traditional, Quick and Easy Kashmiri Cuisine by Chandramukhi Ganju with the author's permission.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of basmati rice
• 10-15 small pieces of boneless lamb/goat meat
• 1/2 tsp cumin or zeur/zeera seeds
• 2 green cardamom or aal/elaichi
• 2-3 cloves or roung/loung
• 2 bay leaves or tej patta
• 2 cinnamon sticks or dalchin
• A pinch of red chilly powder
• A pinch of turmeric or lider/haldi powder
• Pinch of saffron or kong/kesar
• Garam masala
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 gm fresh ginger
• 3 cups water
• Vegetable cooking oil
• Salt

Method

Ingredients

• 2 lb or 2 medium sized trout fish or gaadh or your choice of fish
• 1 1/2 tsp red chilly or mertschwangan powder
• 2 tsp turmeric or lider/haldi powder
• 1/2 tsp ginger or shonth powder
• 1/2 tsp fennel or badiyan powder
• A pinch of asafetida or yeng/heeng
• 2 cloves or roung/laung, crushed
• Kashmiri veri/Kashmiri masala (if available)
• Oil for cooking and frying
• Salt (approximately 1 tsp)

Method

Remove scales of fish by scraping with knife. Clean and wash the fish. Make nice round 4-5 pieces of each fish and rinse again. Put fish in a colander and season with salt and 1 tsp turmeric for 15 minutes. Heat 1/2 cup of oil in a frying pan. Deep fry 2 or 3 pieces of fish at a time. Fry fish until golden brown and take out of fryer and place aside. Fry all pieces in the same way. Heat 3 tbsp of the same hot oil from frying fish in a cooking pan (traditional method) or heat fresh oil and discard the left over oil from frying. Add chilly powder, asafetida and a little water (about 2 tbsp) Saut at low heat. Add 3 cups of water and all other ingredients to chilly mixture in pan. Add fried fish to spicy chili mixture and cover fish completely in the spices. Cover and cook the fish in this masala/spicy chilly mixture for 5 minutes. Simmer for 30 minutes with occasional checking for water consistency. You may add more water if needed. Fish breaks easily when hot, so do not stir while cooking. But shake the pan frequently to avoid sticking to bottom. Fish is ready when you see most of water absorbed by fish. Sprinkle veri masala if available and cover for 5 minutes. Traditionally this dish is served cold with white rice.

Alternative to deep frying: To avoid deep-frying, broil fish pieces by greasing the baking tray with oil and then placing fish back to back with a brush or spray of oil on fish. Broil approx. for 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Or pan fry fish in a flat bottomed pan greased with 4tbsp. of oil.

Ingredients

• 4-6 rib chops of goat or lamb meat with gelatin meat
• 1 tsp cumin or zeur/zeera seed
• 1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon or dalchinior or 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 1 tsp fennel or badiyan powder
• 1 tsp ginger or shonth powder
• 1/4 tsp red chilly or mertschwangan powder
• 4-5 tbsp clarified butter or oil or of ghee
• Pinch of asafetida or yeng/heeng
• 1 cup full or low fat milk (traditionally full fat milk is used)
• 2 green cardamom or aal/cchoti elaichi
• 1 brown cardamom or bud aal/ badi elaichi
• 1/2 cup of low fat yogurt/sour cream
• Pinch of turmeric or lider/haldi
• Salt
• Silver leaves or vark if available (available at Indian stores)

Method

Put 1/2 cup water to a pressure cooker or cooking pan. Add all ingredients given above to water in a cooking pan or pressure cooker except milk, ghee, yogurt, chili powder, salt and turmeric. In pressure cooker, cook on high heat for 5 minutes then simmer approx. for 5 minutes. Open the lid when pressure drops in pressure cooker. If cooking in pan, cover and cook on high heat for 10 minutes then simmer approximately for 10 minutes. Add milk and cook with open lid until milk is absorbed. Add salt, chili powder and turmeric to yogurt in a bowl. Whisk the yogurt with churner or fork. Add cooked and drained ribs to yogurt batter; mix well and put aside for 5 minutes. Warm ghee in a wide pan. Place chops back-to-back on pan. Fry slowly at medium to low heat. Turn chops and fry other side also. Fry until chops are golden brown. Garnish with silver leaves. Serve hot with Paratha or rice as a side dish.

Ingredients

• 3-4 lbs or half gole alla/pumpkin
• 2 tsp chilly powder or mertschwangun
• 1/2 tsp fennel or badiyan powder
• 1/2 tsp ginger or shonth powder
• 1 tsp cumin or zeur/zeera seed
• 2 cloves or laung/roung
• 2 bay leaves
• Vegetable cooking oil for frying and cooking
• A pinch of asafetida or yeng/heeng
• Salt
• 1 cup water

Method

Peel, wash and cut pumpkin into square pieces. Heat oil in a frying pan/kadai. Add pumpkin pieces to oil in a pan and deep fry 2-3 pieces at a time until all pieces are done. Fry until pumpkins are golden brown. Heat oil in a separate pan, add heeng 1/2 tsp zeera and tej patta and saute at low heat. Add red chilly powder and little water (about 2 tbsp). Stir till red paste is formed. Add shonth, badiyan, salt, cloves, water and fried alla/pumpkin. Mix together well and add water. Cook for 5 minutes or until oily masala/gravy is left behind. Grind zeera and sprinkle it over alla/pumpkin roganjosh and cover the pan. This will give alla roganjosh exotic aroma.

Alternative to deep frying: To avoid deep-frying, alla pieces can be broiled by greasing the baking tray with oil and then placing alla back to back with a brush or spray of oil on alla. Broil till golden brown or 15 minutes.