#blahvsfood goes to Sarposh to discover the magic of Kashmiri Muslim Food

 I love Kashmiri food and as my friends  know I’m always trying to find authentic Kashmiri food in Bangalore and before that in Mumbai. As someone who has spent time and eaten in Kashmir, my one big frustration however is that every single Kashmiri restaurant I have been to outside Kashmir serves largely Kashmiri Pandit cuisine rather than Kashmiri Muslim cuisine. I know that Kashmiri Muslim restaurants exist outside Kashmir but I haven’t been to a single one.

Considering that so many of the dishes are similar, this may seem pernickety on my part. But any Kashmiri would agree that the differences, though subtle, lead to very different flavours and emphasis. Think of Kashmiri Pandit and Muslim food as two sides of the same coin. They may be forged in the same smelt, but they show two different faces, have two different stories to tell and together they create something of immense value. Something that recognises  their differences but only has value as a composite whole. 

The recently opened Sarposh in Bangalore is a really important restaurant for two reasons. First, it finally allows people to go to a place that celebrates Kashmiri Muslim food and culture. The food is authentic, the kind that you would get when you visit a Kashmiri wedding in a Muslim home. The food is cooked by a Waza (Kashmiri chef) who has come down from Srinagar and who has trained under the legendary Shaitaan Waza. Secondly, it is the only Kashmiri restaurant that I know that is founded and run by a Kashmiri Muslim woman, the trailblazing and inspiring Azmat Ali Mir. 

Azmat and her husband Azeem 

Although Azmat was born into a family of doctors and engineers and studied computer science engineering, it isn’t a huge surprise that she ended up gravitating towards showcasing Kashmir’s food and cultural heritage. On her father's side, Azmat's family claims their lineage to Emperor Yusuf Shahi Chakh, the last Kashmiri King of Kashmir while from her mother's side she comes from a family deeply associated with the crafts of Papier-mâché and Shawl weaving. 

As a result, the Waza at Sarposh comes from her family waza and ensures that the traditions of Kashmiri Muslim cooking are retained even in a place like Bangalore. That means for example that onion or garlic is substituted instead by the indigenous Kashmiri shallot called praan. Muslim cuisine doesn’t use hing, a magical spice that is often synonymous with Kashmiri food but is actually only used in Pandit cooking. The food is cooked in ghee rather than mustard oil, which means that the flavours are very different and they are two distinct cuisines. 

Lamb (sheep) is an integral part of Kashmiri cuisine and it’s very hard to find both the quality and cuts of lamb in most other parts of India. Every part of the sheep is used for a different dish and treated and prepared in a way that has been learnt and taught over centuries. At Sarposh, they use whole sheep of a specific age and the meat is brought to an in house butchery within thirty minutes of the sheep being slaughtered so that the waza can start working on the meat before it stiffens and rigor Mortis sets in. This emphasis on using freshly slaughtered meat and for every cut being cooked in a specific way is a foundational aspect of Kashmiri food and Sarposh is the only restaurant I have found that follows this with zero compromise. 

If you take the classic Goshtaba as an example, most restaurants use keema (mince) and as a result every recipe you find online refers to it as a Kashmiri keema meatball. A true Kashmiri would be horrified with the idea of using keema. It needs freshly slaughtered lamb, in a ratio of 80:20 meat to fat, pounded with a wooden hammer on a stone slab, with ingredients like cumin and cardamom (every waza has his own little secrets and ratios), pressed by hand and rolled into a ball before it is added to the Yakhni. Machine made mince or even fresh mince can never replicate the spongy, soft texture of a Goshtaba (and Rista) that melts in the mouth and makes them so different from the meatballs of any other cuisine. 

I went to Sarposh twice and ate enough for an army. They use no artificial flavouring or colouring. There are no added preservatives. All the non perishable food is brought in from Kashmir. Both times I ate a smaller version of the trami, the traditional wazwan meal served on a copper platter. The first time focused on classics like Tabak Maaz, Rista, Goshtaba, Rogan Josh while the second meal had more vegetarian dishes as well as dishes you don’t usually get in restaurants but only in homes that I requested for in advance. 

The list of what I ate follows below but the highlight for me was the Tabak maaz. Lamb ribs cooked in cardamom, fennel and dried ginger, then shallow fried in ghee until the outside crisps and gets a texture like crackling. This is one of the world’s great lamb dishes, a three-layered textural marvel of meat, fat and crispy crackling and it really is a travesty that it doesn’t have the international fame and recognition of a Peking duck. 

A Sarposh is the cloche that's kept on top of a trami, that is lifted at the beginning of a meal to unveil the wonders that lie within. Sarposh is aptly named. It finally lifts the lid and presents the culinary treasure that is Kashmiri Muslim food to the world. It goes beyond the staples and greatest hits and serves food that is deeply researched, true to its heritage and authentic in every way. They say a Kashmiri earns money for just two things - a good home for his family, and a wonderful wedding for his children, the highlight of which is the wazwan. I don’t know if and when I will ever be at a wedding in Kashmir, but at Sarposh, just for a moment you can imagine yourself transported to Kashmir....

On to the food:

Since rice is a staple for Kashmiris and because Kashmiri food is cooked in ghee and is primarily mutton, all the dishes are served on a bed of rice in a trami. I started the first meal with a serving of Saffron Rice with Waz Chicken (The chefs special chicken) and the mutton skeekh Kebab on the trami, including a dollop of the Methi Maaz (Sheep stomach with methi) and a rack of Tabak Maaz. 

I moved on to the Rista or the pounded mutton balls cooked in a red gravy and then then an authetic Kashmiri Rogan Josh (without the whole onion tomato gravy), then the Marchewangan korma - a spicy mutton korma with Kashmiri chillies that clears the senses before finally finishing off with the King of Kashmiri food - the Gushtaba. 

I also drank some Saffron Kehwa and ended with a Firni. 

The next time, in addition to the Methi Maaz, Tabakmaz, Rista, Marchewangan Korma and Gushtaba I also had the Lehbhi Kebab which are minced meat Kebabs in a thick curd based gravy, Ruwangan Tchaman (home made Paneer cooked in tomatoes), Waza Heddar (chefs special mushrooms) and Waza Palak (chefs special spinach stew) 

This time I drank the unique salty Kashmiri pink tea called Nun Chai and for dessert, I had Shufta which is dry fruits and cottage cheese cooked in ghee and then simmered in caramelised sugar, again a dish that you will never find in any regular restaurant. 

Go to Sarposh. Support this restaurant. It deserves it!