CRITICAL REVIEW OF SARLA RAZDAN’S “KASHMIRI CUISINE-THROUGH THE AGES”

While hunting for more books on Kashmiri cuisine, I came across the book by Sarla Razdan. The title of her book is “KASHMIRI CUISINE-THROUGH THE AGES”. It has a foreword by M.J.Akbar. It was published in the year 2011. The ISBN is 978-81-7436-692-4. It was published in India by Roli Books Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. It was printed and bound in China. The cost of the book is Rs.396.

To begin with, the book has a beautiful image of a painting of the culture of Kashmir (I understood it when I observed the details of it and saw lots of SHIKARAS in it). There is a yellow “CHINAAR” leaf (with its characteristic turmeric color and giving the author’s name, title and to attract the readers the name of “M.J.Akbar” (who himself is half-Kashmiri: his mother is from Kashmir). The immediate page after the front cover sheet justifies the title of the book.

The book consists of good number of photographs covering the following:

a)      Scenic beauty of Kashmir Valley

b)      Black and white “vintage “photographs (very precious ones giving us the historic details of the Jewellery, clothes, culture and traditions of the Valley from 1900 onwards)

c)       Good photographs of the popular guests of the author like Sachin Tendulkar,Farooq Abdullah, Lata Mangeshkar, etc. and their appreciation letters applauding the food prepared for them

d)      Coloured photographs of her own dishes.

Sarla Razdan dedicates her book to her father-in-law who really motivated her to bring forth the book into the reality. Further on, the author acknowledges the credits to her family members.

The Contents are simple and to the point. There are no extra details and nothing ornamental by nature. The enlisted recipes are the following:

a)      7 Snacks

b)      31 Recipes prepared by using the meat of the Lamb

c)       3 Chicken , 1 Egg Dish and 7 Fish Recipes

d)      37 Vegetarian Recipes

e)      6 Rice Recipes and 3 varieties of Breads

f)       7 Chutneys and 4 Pickles

g)      3 Desserts and 2 Teas

h)      32 Low Calorie Recipes

Wow! I was feeling after reading the contents of the book. I knew that I am indeed learning a lot about the Kashmiri Cuisine. However, I was not very happy with the FOREWORD by M.J.Akbar. It was more of a historical reading rather than about the book. I was depressed about it. Once I completed reading the section on “AUTHOR’S NOTE”, I noted the following points:

1.       Number of hours taken by her mother for cooking the Kashmiri dishes

2.       No Pressure Cooker was used in the cooking of the food at her maternal home (though she herself used it in her kitchen).

3.       She belonged to the Saraswat Brahmin family.

4.       There are two varieties of Kashmiri Pandits-NEN BATTAS (individuals who ate meat) and DAL BATTAS (individuals who ate pulses).This was a discovery for me. I knew, from my research, that there are individuals in the Valley of Kashmir who are pure vegetarians so much and so that they consumed only the dried food-all kinds of vegetables, fruits, grains and lentils-they belonged to the successors of Rishi Nand. Apart from them very few (infact countable individuals) following strict SUFISM in the Valley. However, the great book of Hindu Kashmiris called “NILAMAT PURANA” discusses good number of dishes to be cooked in each season, in different weather conditions and in different kinds of festivals for Hindus. And these dishes are not necessarily focused on vegetarianism. There are a good number of other non-vegetarian foods mentioned in the book. These will be discussed in depth in my own book.

5.       The author mentions about a dish called “TAHAR” in the book. Again I am full of praises for the author. According to her, this is a rice preparation cooked on the birthdays of the family members. What is so importance of it? It is not only relished by the immediate family members, however, it is distributed to the families present in the neighborhood by the person celebrating his or her birthday. This kind of distribution is not restricted to the world of human beings only. Nevertheless, the food was given to the non-human animals also. Isn’t it wonderful! I will comment that “IT IS INDEED THE ATTITUDE OF ECO-CARING TOWARDS ONE’S OWN ENVIRONMENT”. I really liked it. The author enjoyed the process of her birthday celebrations. I am also going to imbibe this attitude and tradition of celebrating my birthday.

6.       She discusses about her Islamic friends and neighbors present in the Valley.

Let us look at the positive points from the book:

1.       She discusses about the BASIC PREPARATIONS required in the Kashmiri kitchens and helps us in the cooking of the dishes.

2.       She gives us the detailed method for the Kashmiri Garam Masala.

3.       She offers us two varieties of VER MASALA- one prepared with ASAFOETIDA and other prepared with GARLIC and Shallots. These spicy condiments are discussed only in superficial manner in other books on Kashmiri Cuisine; however, Sarla gives detailed measurements for the preparations of them. I myself tried preparing them at home and was successful in it.

4.       She gives us a simple two liner preparation of “ASAFOETIDA LIQUID”. I observed my own mother preparing it at home. I am going to give her THUMBS UP SIGN to her. This is a great tip for all of us.

5.       She gives us tips for cleaning lotus stems. I am going to present it step by step in my book.

6.       She introduces us to the process of cleaning leafy vegetables and in a very superficial manner. The details were shared with me by another Kashmiri Family from the Valley and going to be published in my book.

7.       I came to know, after meeting and talking to other Kashmiri families, about USING MUSTARD OIL in the preparations of the cuisine. It not only enhances the tastes of the dish; however, it increases the overall appearance of the dish and reasons to maintain good health. Sarla gives us again good tip on “HOW TO USE AND PRESERVE MUSTARD OIL” in the kitchen. I learnt it from the book only. I thank her for the valuable tip to all.

8.       In the Section focusing on SNACKS, I am going to give her full marks for sharing with us the recipes of

a.       Fried Fish With Almonds

b.      Wangen pakora

c.       Nadir Monjvor

9.        In The Section on recipes prepared from Lamb, credits are given for the following :

a.Minced Meat Balls stuffed with apricots

b. Minced Lamb in Macaroni

c. Bitter Gourd Stuffed With Minced Lamb

d. Alubukhar Korma

e. Vost Haakh t, Syun

f. Bukvetch Chagil t, Charvaan

g. Pachh Raas

10.   In the Section on Vegetarian Dishes, one needs to recognize the efforts of the author for

a. Tchok Nadir

 b. Wangen Yakhni

 c. Razma Hemb t, Wangen

 d. Karel t, Wangen Dued Lagith (while reading this recipe, I was taken by surprise and something I admired and got attracted towards the dish that I prepared to taste it back at my home)

e. Gurdol t,Oluv

f. Verifol t, Oluv

g.Al Kanej t, Wangen

h. Muj Pattar t, Wangen

11.   In the Section on Chutneys and Pickles, I liked some of the recipes shared by her like Talith Muj Chetin, Munj Achar, etc.

12.   She discusses good number of recipes pertaining to daily cooking of food in the kitchens. It has good collection of varieties of dishes.

It is time for identifying few negative points from the book:

1.       The Author does not discuss about the festive recipes.

2.       No mention about the wedding feasts and food traditions.

3.       No mention about the food given to the pregnant women till the delivery of the child and the food cooked during the rituals and ceremonies during this phase.

On the whole, I liked the manner in which she has contributed some of the recipes and concentrated on the “CHINAR” culture of the Valley. Though it is not the cuisine through the ages, rather it is restricted to the partial culture of Saraswat Cuisine and missing certain more recipes.