Kashmiri Food Festival at Vibe Hotel

by Hotel Vibe ***

This Winter Vibe Hotel is Organizing "Kashmiri Food Festival" starting from Dec 1st – 31st, 2012. For details visit our Special Offer Page.

The food of Kashmir, known for its rich taste and aroma, can be a plain meal of a family, or even a 36-course wedding banquet called Wazawan. The spices like cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, saffron, etc., used in the Kashmiri food, make it unique and popular all over the world.

The staple diet of every Kashmiri is rice, the most preferred being the dense, slightly sticky grained Kashmir variety, which is prized in the Valley. Kashmir is famous for its Wazwan, predominantly non-vegetarian. Rice is the staple food. Mutton, chicken and fish are of prime importance cuisines. Instead of sweets Kehwah, Persian tea, is served after wazwan which is usually served 7 to 10 courses at weddings and parties- a sign of lavish hospitality.

The people of Kashmir are very fond of eating. Mutton, chicken or fish are of prime importance in a Kashmiri meal and everyday cooking often combines vegetable and meat in the same dish. Mutton and turnips, chicken and spinach, fish and lotus root are also very popular combinations. Lamb dishes abound yakhni (in curds), aab gosht (in milk), roghan josh (literally red meat, with Hindu spicing and coloured red with dried cockscomb), marzwagan (as a mince), several meat balls like goli and rista and goshtaba, a meat loaf of minced mutton, large and silky in texture. There is even a special mishani dinner (served in a wedding), in which exactly seven dishes, all made from lamb, are served. Pure vegetarian dishes include dum-aloo - roasted potatoes in curd-based gravy, and chaman- fried paneer (cottage cheese), in a thick sauce. Non-vegetarian dishes are considered in Kashmir to be a sign of lavish hospitality and at a Wazwan or banquet, not more than one or two vegetarian dishes are served.

Sweets do not play an important role in Kashmiri cuisine. Instead Kahva or green tea is used to wash down a meal.

The most commonly served items are rista (meat balls) made of finely pounded mutton and cooked in a gravy; seekh kababs, tabak maz, or flat pieces of meat cut from the ribs and fried till they acquire a crisp crackling texture, roganjosh, which owes its rich red colour to the generous use of Kashmiri chillies. Yakhni, a cream coloured preparation of delicate flavour, is made with curd as a base. Gushtaba, which is the last item to be served in a traditional wazawan, are meatballs moulded from pounded mutton like large-sized Rista but cooked in thick gravy of fresh curd base.

To know more visit our Kashmiri Food Festival page.

This December (2012) donot miss the Kashmiri food festival and you can avail this opportunity at one of the amazing hotels around Delhi - Vibe Hotels. For details visit Special Offer Page.

Author Bio:

Vibe hotel by The LaLiT Traveller is a 112 room Smart Business Hotel, situated in the industrial hub of Faridabad. This is the first in a series of new, full service, mid price hotels geared towards on the go business travellers as well as value conscious leisure travellers.