The City of Pearls and Biryani

Our dreams are more than just some random thoughts about the day we had or things we aspire. I feel they originate somewhere deep inside our sub-conscious. Sometimes bewildering us when we wake up. For the longest time after I graduated from school, I would dream about the pretty red brick building of my alma mater. The scenario would be totally different, sometimes centered around my college life and friends but the place would be the school always. The long corridors, the lovely swings, beautiful grounds, pretty church, the staircases and railings which we were never allowed to touch. I close my eyes and can still hear clearly “Hands off the railings”. Moving on, what I am trying to say is that we may move on in life but a little part of us; somewhere deep down, holds on to these tiny little details which at one point of time were an inseparable part. Off late whenever I dream about day to day stuff (these days it's mostly how I have spilled something and now need to clean-up) rather than it being my current place of stay - more often than not it’s the first home after marriage in the beautiful nawabi city of Hyderabad. 

I came to Hyderabad with a lot of preconceived notions and apprehensions. A lot of stereotypes that one usually associates with south Indian states. I knew absolutely no one in Hyderabad. And one always hears about how once you have lived in Mumbai you cannot like any other city. I had a lot of friends in Mumbai and over the years a lot of familiarity with surroundings and a lot of independence. All this change was obviously hard to digest. And to add to all the troubles, to quote Monica Geller, I now had to live with a boy.

I still remember my first drive from Hyderabad airport to our home. The airport area road in Shamshabad which leads to Outer ring road is one of the most beautiful and picturesque roads I have ever seen. Smooth as butter with pretty flowers on both sides and those lovely boulders high up balanced on each other in a queer manner. It was definitely not love at first sight but a very pleasant first encounter with the deccan city.

In fact, Hyderabad was a lot of firsts for me. Do you know, I had never ever had an authentic biryani before I came to Hyderabad? Guess my happiness at landing directly into the biryani bowl of India. And not just biryani, let me tell you – Hyderabad is any food lover's paradise. Everything from variety to portions is perfect. Portions are infact gigantic. Mountains of rice, neatly stacked noodles and them layers of meat. Plus, the city is a perfect blend of the old-world charm and the new Cosmo. In the old city towards and nearby the Charminar you will find the old joints which continue to pe popular and have thronging crowds, Shahdab being one of the best. The best time to go towards old city is after midnight, cut the traffic and the crowds. Enjoy the twinkling lights with a plate of fruit cream. The city is also home to a lot of beautiful café's each with their own USP. There's one which has swings instead of chairs. Another which has an entirely outside seating with trees, greenery and beautiful canopies. One with Bollywood inspired décor and menu. One with Game of thrones style – with Iron chair and Hound’s Chicken and all. Ufff. Major Missing. 

Just your usual plate for two ;)

There are places of historic importance too. So many museums and palaces. Old markets. Lakes. Gardens. Hidden Lakes. Dams. Shilparamam (which is like Dilli Haat and my absolute favourite y

) and Ikea. Oh everyone wanted to visit Ikea. And I should know, because we visited all these places at least 4 to 5 times with different set of guests and visitors. Oh, and Ramoji Film City. Omg. That’s your desi Universal Studio but trust me much better. If you have any queries on the tour contact me, we know the ideal times, rides, unmissable shows, the best lunch place and everything else. Did you know I played Basanti from Sholey in one of the ongoing shows? Much to the embarrassment of the husband and the guests accompanying. Hubby and I would swear that who-so-ever comes next, we are not going back again. But then we would and somehow always have fun. Hyderabad doesn't have many quick weekend getaways. But it compensates for it by the resorts. There are numerous resorts scattered in all directions of the city. Towards Secundarabad and around. So, you check yourself or a group of friends into a resort and just unwind. They come equipped with private villas, pools, also water parks. Horse riding, games, fruit pickings – Oh juicy mangoes and chikoo. 

Film City

Golconda Fort

Hussain Sagar Lake

Hyderabad was also a lot of cooking experiments. Some successful and many disasters. A lot of learnings. So many house parties. I just loved cooking in my pretty little kitchen. You must understand, I was just out from a place which I shared with 6 other girls. The kitchen was untidy most of the days to put it mildly. I had to sit for long hours in café to bring my thoughts together, in case I wanted to write or read peacefully. Or just get away from boyfriend fights. So, a whole house all to myself was a kind of happiness I just can't explain. Of course, there was a husband, but he just occupied a tiny place in front of his Xbox. So, all in all Hyderabad kind of started to grow on me. I missed Mumbai obviously, but my work trips keep them pangs in check. 

Cooking up a storm

I loved the way everyone in Hyderabad calls you “Amma” irrespective of your age. Or how people are so disciplined and follow rules. How in temples the priests do a nice little pooja for you. The small stalls of flowers and coconuts just about everywhere. And the fresh smell of sambhar brewing while you are on your morning walk. The strong cup of filter Kappi. The irani chai and biscuit. Ladies in crisp cotton sarees in summers. And the general cacophony of an unknown language in the background. By the way do you know Hyderabad has its own typical dialect. An endearing mixture of Hindi, Urdu and some tapori kinda slang. You can listen to two people conversing in this language for hours and not get bored. It is so so beautiful and funny at the same time.


We also got in touch with the Kashmiri people of Hyderabad and I must say it was the best decision ever! Because after we did it there was no boring weekend like ever. Firstly, so many Kashmiri peeps outside of Jammu always gives feels of a different kind. Plus, we celebrated all festivals, some of which we hadn't even heard of before. So, our social calendar was suddenly booked with Navrey, Ashtami, Kaw Punim, Ganesh Chaturthi and if nothing else then Potluck lunches and dinners. And if not food then kashmiri musical nights. And if not that then game nights playing and fighting over Mafia and Dumb charades. And there was sports every weekend – football, badminton, cricket followed by coconut water and breakfast (not me though, I would be sleeping peacefully at home). But what I did not sleep on was making friends with these cool Kashmiri kids. The common love for Kashmiri food and gossip played cupid and slowly we fell in love with each other's company. What followed was a beautiful time filled with many outings, vacations, house parties, sleepovers, scandalous girl's night outs and a lot of fun! And all that went by a little too quickly and soon it was time to leave. 

Leaving anywhere after a long time is emotional. But a place you had this much fun is more of a challenge. Plus, I sorely missed leaving the home we set up with so much love and a lot of DIYs, host to so many people and such lovely memories. I also miss the crazy girls and the fun times we had. Truth be told, I also miss the Biryani. 

Crazy Ones

 Dates with this one!

And just to re-iterate, Hyderabad is an experience which most definitely should not be missed. It is a very livable city with beautiful weather. No, it's not too hot. Only April, May and little bit of June. After that lovely monsoons all the way down to October. Plus, its safe. In the widest sense of the word. No eve teasing, no staring, no passes. People just let you be. Even aunties won't give you a look down. Never had to think twice before booking a cab at 10 in the night. Of course, they will cancel or disagree to go to your destination but that’s it. A very nice place to visit or stay or shop. So much to buy really. Ikat. Ponchampally. Pearls. Spices. Pickles. Bangles. Ikea Stuff....... And much more.

Pretty Things

Until next time.
Au revoir.

Love: 

Sepo

Being Kashmiri :Yakhin (Mutton Yakhni) and Thool Razma

The first installment of this post can be found here.

Since I last wrote about Dum Monjj I have been cooking up a storm (like literally!). We have tried almost all types Kashmiri food - Greens, pulses, dried veggies and non vegetarian delicacies. But if there is something that is almost never tried in our house hold is anything that has yellow based gravy or for that matter yogurt based. And that's because the boy absolutely detests anything and everything that is not fiery red. He loves to have his food insanely spicy and twists his face at the very mention of something yellow or white. So I have never really prepared mutton kaliya or Yakhni or tscchat rass (soups).

But this time I had to really put my food down. I had been craving Mutton Yakni since long time but instead of just eating I was also craving to cook it. So I did what had to be done and Yakhni was made. Might I add with aah-mazing results. So I decided that something so good must be documented for proof and well, for future reference. Plus someone looking to make some yakhni can hop on here too.

It's almost winters everywhere. There is that slight nip in the air. Mornings have you reaching for that cosy shawl and evenings for your favorite blanket. The falling leaves bring a strange kind of re-assurance, a promise of new beginnings. The bare branches of trees, although forlorn are still beautiful. The onsite of winters makes way for turtlenecks, oversize pherans, hot water bottle, naar josh (Kangri) and comfort food. The first bite of Yakhni with baatt myound (morsel of rice) was this perfect winter comfort food. So without any further delay jumping straight to the recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2Kg Mutton
Any Refined oil
About 400g of Yoghurt
4-5 cloves
5-6 Green cardamoms
1 Cinnamon Stick
A pinch of black jira
2 Black cardamoms
Asafoetida
Fennel powder
Dry ginger powder
Dry mint powder
Fresh coriander for garnish


Steps:

1. First  we deal with the mutton. Now originally the recipe simply involves boiling the meat in spices. But I like to fry the mutton a bit to get rid of that raw-ish looks. So in just about a spoonful of oil with a little hing (Asafoetida), I stir fried the mutton till it changed its color to umm un-raw.

2. Now add crushed black cardamoms, some salt, about two spoons of fennel powder and half a spoon of ginger powder.

3. Next add enough water to just cover the mutton and pressure cook for about 2 to 3 whistles.

You can have the broth as soup by the way.

4. Now in a thick bottomed vessel, add beaten dahi with grounded cinnamon stick, green cardamom, cloves and jira on medium heat. You can add whole spices as well instead of grinding them but I like to keep my gravy neat.

5. Keep stirring the concoction until you can no longer feel your arms or the curd starts to thicken and bubble. At this point add a kriscch (deep bottomed ladle) full of oil. Now don't be stingy with the oil. Unless your yakhni has that floating layer of oil on top, it is even yakhni?

Bubble bubble you beauty

6. Check your meat now, should be cooked and tender by now. Take the meat pieces and mix with the yoghurt gravy. You may add some broth from the cooked mutton and let everything cook together for 10-15 minutes. Add dried mint and mix well. Once the gravy starts to thicken, take off from heat and garnish with fresh coriander. And your yakhni is ready!

The fruit of labour

Enjoy with white rice and some spicy green chutney.

From Left - Corriander/Raw Mango chutney, Thool Razma and Yahkni. And rice ofcourse

Thool Razma you ask? Also called cranberry beans they come inside a pod like peas. They are adorably shaped like an egg, hence the name "thool" which means egg in kashmiri. These are seasonal and available for a limited time. So we kashmiri's buy them in bulk, invest in the labor of shelling them and then freeze them for later use. These beauties also make long distance travels to places where they are not available like Delhi, Hyderabad and even overseas. There are many different ways of cooking them up. I have an easy peazy one pot recipe for all lazy people like me.

1. In a pressure cooker heat up some oil. Add some jira, few pods of garlic and grated ginger.

2. Once the oil becomes fragrant add onions and fry until golden brown.

3. Now add red mirchi powder, dry ginger powder and fennel powder. Give a good stir and add tomatoes.

4. Next add some salt, wait for the tomatoes to get mushy. Now in go the Thool ramza. Mix them a bit with the masala and add water.

5. The rajma should be done in 2 to 3 seethees especially if you are using frozen ones like me.

6. Finally add some garam masala and cook until the gravy thickens.

And that's all folks.

Close-up

Love:
Sepo.

Social Media Etiquettes

When we were young, we were taught manners and etiquette. To say sorry, pleases and thank yous wherever required. I studied in a catholic school, where we started our day with moral science classes. They were and have been instrumental in building up a conscious in me. Our sisters and teachers instilled in us the belief and love for god. The advantages of discipline. The power of forgiveness, helping the needy, the value of cleanliness and most importantly respect towards all. Even when venturing into the professional life, we were given training on how to dress formally, how to communicate with clients, how to negotiate deals, the art of subtle email writings, perfect table manners and personal hygiene. For everything thing we do and any venture that we step onto, there is a code of conduct. A set of do’s and dont's that need to be followed. After all that’s the thing which sets up apart from animals.

But digitization has come up with such a bang that we had literally no time to prepare for how to present ourselves when online. With twitter and Instagram we can just follow anybody with a click. Gain an insight into their lives or whatever they choose to share online. There are many other mediums which give us an opportunity to share across our views with amongst a humongous audience. But do we leverage the benefit of this correctly? Now that’s a very debatable question. I have spent an extreme amount of time last year to analyze how people react and comment on various platforms. My focus was on comments and discussion forums on popular websites like twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Quora and of course Facebook. My observations from the entire case study was shocking, cringe-worthy, appalling and sometimes all the three.

So let’s dig a little deeper. Now we all have some fascination with film stars, cricketers and people in entertainment field. And we now have a medium to feel connected with whosoever we like. But some people choose this medium to showcase their crassness. The kind of comments some of them leave will make anyone flinch in disgust. The area of comments will vary from insensitive remarks to vulgar comments of sexual nature to making fun of body parts to moral policing or simply trolling. I fail to understand the pleasure people drive from this. Does it somehow make them feel powerful? Does belittling someone feel good? Is it just for the sake of doing it? Or is it fearlessness about the fact that the opponent is sitting miles away and hence harmless.

I understand we cannot love/like everyone and neither can be always agree with someone else’s point of view. But we can ignore or have a healthy debate. It can get heated but under no circumstance should it come to such an extent that you have to badmouth, abuse and bring just about anyone from mothers, sisters, relatives and even Gods into your fights. Which I must point are stupid to begin with. Now topics which I have observed to be getting into these ugly comment zones are – Hindu/Muslim, Kashmiri Muslims Vs The Rest of India (whom they funnily refer to as Biharis), BJP Vs Congress, Modiji Lovers (popularly known as Bhakts on Quora) Vs Non Modiji Lovers (who call themselves secular), North Indians Vs South Indians (The hate portrayed here by some is unbelievable), Feminists Vs Men-who-hate-them and also Salman Khan fans Vs Shahrukh Khan fans (I kid you. Not). There are huge threads of comments on posts over these topics. And by huge I mean HUGE (like Big Data huge). Comment-reply-another reply-abuse-abuse-MyReligionIsBetterThanYours-Reply-Comment-Abuse-AndItGoesOn….

Talking about myself, I have carefully spaced myself out from the spider web that’s posts like these. Once I left a comment on a discussion forum about Kashmir. It was more of my personal feeling and expression but within minutes I received a notification that someone had replied to it. So I open a very rude, unnecessary, attacking and totally uncalled-for comment. Now I could feel my blood bubbling with anger, cheeks burning with rage. So I quickly opening my MS Word and started typing my answer back furiously (MS Word because anger can cause some serious spelling and grammar mishaps!). Satisfied with my reply after proof reading I was just about to copy-paste when a thought crossed my mind. This man who has commented on my post unwarranted without any provocation will definitely do it again after I reciprocate. In-fact I was serving him with exactly what he wanted. Now he may not have a life or anything better to do but I sure did. It was almost 7 and I had dinner to prepare. So I did the unthinkable. I deleted what I had posted originally hence giving myself the much needed closure. Now many might call me a coward but I’d say - anything for peace man! I have no patience or time for this sh** in life. But alas, there are few very like me for others this mind throbbing scenario brings some kind of adrenaline rush.

Last year also brought about this phenomena of trolls & memes. Social media enthusiasts spent a major amount of their time tagging each other in funny relatable memes. As much as I love laughing over the cleaver ones, I cannot ignore the fact that some of them tend towards being highly insensitive. Very recently people has a gala time laughing and sharing funny-face-pictures of Junior Ambani. But it turns out poor guy is suffering from sinusitis and borderline asthma, hence was breathless during his speech.

Internet is a fabulous place. The social networking platforms are great when used in the right manner. But by being abusive, bullying, stalking, bad mouthing and talking nonsense, more than the other person you are harming yourself. Your credibility and your set of values are at stake.It just goes on to say that your opinion is not strong enough to make a point and hence you resort to the dirty tactics. Moreover you are making the entire experience of unwinding and browsing for a person who has had a long day (or starting his day sitting on commode) very very sour.

Now that I have spoken to my hearts content, I present to you some proofs that I collected along. After a lot of brainstorming and censoring presenting the few that made the cut. Please brace yourself for some hardcore abuses.

 

Le Sigh!
Sepo

Being Kashmiri And Dum Monj!

Recent shift in events have made a chef of sorts out of me. So while earlier my time was spent in reading gossip stories or series binge watching, it’s now replaced by recipes and subscription of various cooking channels. I have always enjoyed cooking, but only when it’s done leisurely. Cooking under pressure gives me jitters. When the time available is less, cooking seems like a chore rather than an unwinding exercise! Chopping and cutting drains out every ounce of energy you possess. When I found myself in this situation, I quickly switched on my Kashmiri brain and subscribed to Chandra aunty. Chandra Aunty has a Kashmiri pandit cuisine cooking channel on youtube and it has now become my favorite pastime!

Traditional Kashmiri recipes involve no onions or garlic (in some cases no tomatoes even!). You can pretty much do the math on how much time can be saved by Kashmiri style of cooking. Just put in the right proportion of spices, few sautés, some close lid cooking and you are done! The dishes can be made spicy or non-spicy based on your preference. Red base dishes can be made with fiery Kashmiri chilies, yellow gravies are made with turmeric and given a distinctive taste by the use of schonth (Ginger powder) and baidhyan (fennel powder) plus there is a myriad of yakhni’s which are cooked in yoghurt based sauce.

Schonth and Baidhayan

Now everyone knows the irrevocable love Kashmiri’s have for mutton. The traditional spread of mutton dishes (which form an intrinsic part of the wazwan) is quite well known and easily available almost everywhere. The taste may not be up to the mark but at least names like roganjosh, kaliya, yakhni ring a bell. A Kashmiri bell! What most people don’t know is the fascination Kashmiri’s have with some special vegetables. They have their zu (which roughly translates to jaan in hindi) in monj (Knolkhol/Kohlrabi), hakh (collard greens) and nadur (lotus stem). It’s not that these are the only vegetables we like, hell we like vegetables so much that we even cook fruits like ‘em. So don’t be surprised to see apples cooked with bringals on our tables. Quinces or bum chooth as we call it is again a very special apple dish. Then we also cook up plums with potatoes or ghaad (fish) or spinach. Aah the sweet sour taste of cooked plums! And don’t get me started on our lure with dried up stuffs, drying vegetables was a necessity in the valley because of harsh and extreme winters. As the valley was cut-off, there was a dearth of fresh vegetables, hence all the drying up veggies started from September. Even though Kashmiri pandits do not live in Kashmir anymore, the love for hoek suen (dry veggies) remains. So you just name it and we will dry it! – Bringals (wagan hacch), bottle gourd (aal hacch), turnips (gogji hacch), tomatoes (tamatar hacch), morels (kangucch), fish (hogaard), water lily/lotus stems (Bum) and the list goes on.

In this picture we can see tomatoes, bringals & turnips

 Coming back to monj, hakh and nadur. The immense popularity of these vegetables can be attributed to the fact that they are a part of quintessential Kashmiri comfort food. Sadly they are not so readily available outside of Jammu and Kashmir. And if by some good deed done in your previous birth you do manage to find them your Kashmiri soul will dance away in hallelujah. I recently had this stroke of luck while grocery shopping, I could not believe what I saw and shouted at the top of my voice whilst turning around to hubby – Moonnnjjjj. Only hubby was nowhere nearby and I literally scared the living hell out of the person behind me with all my shouting! Now to give you an idea moonj usually looks something like this (picture added below). However the ones we got at the store were devoid of leaves. So we decided to make dum monj out of them which does not necessitate the need for leaves. Contrary to usual monj preparation which does not use many spices, dum monj is an elaborate dish usually prepared on special occasions like marriage, hawan or any other time you feel like drowning yourself in oil and spices.

Monj with sabaz sabaz hakh!

There are many online websites, blogs and even you tube channels through which one can easily get access to popular Kashmiri recipes. But it is difficult to find recipes for some typical dishes which are not made often. I could only find a handful of recipes for dum monj, so that’s the reason I decided to document the recipe on my blog. Maybe it will help me build up dwindling traffic of my sad little blog!

So, here goes.

1. First of all wash and cut the monjh. Traditionally it’s made into thick circular slices, but I choose to cut them into cubes because well no reason, just like that. The upper part of monj known as monj gab has a very respectable position, it is like the chicken leg piece of monjh.

2. Next step is to fry the pieces. Since this recipe involves thick pieces, deep frying is recommended. I just shallow fried as my pieces were small.

3. Once all the pieces are fried up, take about two tablespoons of oil on medium heat and add 3,4 cloves, a small piece of cinnamon and asafoetida or hing. Now reduce the heat and add two table spoons of Kashmiri red chilli powder and about one spoon of ginger powder. Make sure to add masala’s on low heat or else you will end up burning the spices and also have a sneezing fit. This is a very critical step because how your dish turns out will depend on this step. Raang kadun as it is known is Kashmiri, it should look fiery red. I did not have Kashmiri chilli powder so my dish did not quite make it to the mark in looks department.

When your oil is at right temperature, the masala's will bubble away beautifully

4. Now that the the masala’s have been added let them be for a few seconds and then add two cups of water. Now increase the heat and let the mixture come to a boil.

5. Add fried monj now and cover the lid. Let it cook for around 5 to 10 minutes until the gravy thickens and monj softens. Check the monj at regular intervals using a spatula, just like you would check a potato. Do not overcook.

6. Serve with plain white rice and sabut moong ki daal for a wholesome kashmiri meal.

I have not used any baidhayn (fennel powder) or garam masala in this recipe because I did not have any. Not sure if it is used in the recipe per se but mine turned out just fine without them too. Also would suggest to make it atleast 2-3 hours before eating as all the spices really infuse together and the gravy thickens naturally by then.
Adding a picture of aal yakhni (Bottle gourd) which I made, because I am just obscenely proud of it. Recipe for this can easily be found online.

Love
Sepo