Once a winter comfort food afforded only by the rich in downtown Srinagar, the minced-meat dish of harissa is now warming the hearts of people living in far-flung and high-altitude villages, thanks to online orders and delivery.
In the remote village of Shikargarh in the foothills of the Tral mountains in southern Kashmir, Fazil Ahmad waits impatiently for the delivery boy from a local takeaway he had found on Instagram.
The 23-year-old had invited a bunch of friends for lunch and ordered an all-time cold-clime favourite. His guests were in, but the delivery wasn’t. When his phone suddenly crackles alive, he rushes out in one bound and enters with a pot of steaming-hot harissa, setting off whoops of joy.
The dish is a favorite Kashmiri comfort food to eat while trying to stay warm with friends and family in the harsh winter months.
It was once the preserve of the rich in downtown Srinagar. But now – thanks to online food delivery – it can be ordered in the remotest hamlets of Kashmir.
Not to be confused with the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern paste of the same name, this is a complete dish. The mouth-watering delicacy is made from fresh mince-meat, wheat, rice, mung bean and an assortment of spices that, when combined, create a gummy, paste-like texture full of flavour.
In the cold mornings, people loathe leaving their snug homes. So, my brother and I launched an online booking service for home delivery of harissa three years ago
Let’s dig in, and go deeper.
Known as a mood-lifter, harissa combines great taste and good nutrition in equal measure. No wonder, it is a preferred breakfast chow in winter mornings.
It is served hot, typically with Kashmiri flatbreads like Kandar Kchout or Lawassa, with tempered onion rings and optionally kebabs.
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Once a gourmet grub of the wealthy living in downtown Srinagar, harissa is now found across the Valley and eaten by almost all.
The dish has invaded birthday and wedding parties, family gatherings and restaurant menus.
“It’s everywhere,” said sociologist Shamshad of Srinagar.
It’s dished out by dime-a-dozen takeaways, delivered hot at distant homes, and steaming pots are often exchanged as gifts or return gifts by visiting family members and friends. This has spawned a whole lot of “harissapreuners,” cashing in on delivery apps and an uptick in demand.
“In the cold mornings, people loathe leaving their snug homes. So, my brother and I launched an online booking service for home delivery of harissa three years ago,” said Mohammad Hayat, co-owner of harissa by Kilo, which delivered about 3,000kg of harissa so far this winter.
Women like Rubeena Bano from north Kashmir’s Pattan and Hirra Naseer of Srinagar are known harissa chefs and their fare is getting delivered in far-off West Asia as well.
No doubt, a dish that is believed to have come to Kashmir from Persia and central Asia sometime in the 13th or 14th centuries is going places.
Spoiler alert: The old-fashioned process of cooking harissa starts late evening and takes around 12 hours. It requires a lot of manual stirring, but all that labour is worth it.
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Here’s a rice-based recipe in brief: 1 kilo of finely cut goat or lamb meat, 500 grams of chopped onion, 3 tablespoons of fennel seeds, 2 inch-long cinnamon sticks, 5 green cardamoms, 1 tablespoon of dried ginger powder, half a cup of rice, 1 cup of sliced onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 8 peppercorns, 4 cloves, 4 black cardamoms, 4 pinches of salt, 1 cup of vegetable oil.
Harissa is traditionally cooked in large matka-type pots. But for most of us, any other large pot or a pressure cooker will do.
Fire up a pressure cooker, pour the meat, a generous amount of water (the stock will be used later), and add sliced onions and all the spices—whole, not grounded. Cook on medium flame for two whistles. Turn down the heat and simmer for about an hour. Turn off the heat and let the cooker lose all its steam. Open the cooker, take out the meat, and remove the bones. Drain the stock into a wider utensil and filter it to remove spice residues.
Side note: The bone marrow gives the dish the viscosity it is known for.
Transfer a cup of stock to the pressure cooker and cook the rice until it takes the consistency of a runny gruel. Take the wide-mouthed utensil, put the deboned meat and set it back on the flame. Add the cooked rice to this mix and the oil. Cook on medium heat and keep stirring continuously for about 2 hours or till you get the required consistency.
Add salt and the remaining stock slowly to this mix, while stirring all the time. This is important. The smoothness of the harissa is determined by the amount of stirring and mashing. Stir and mash until it becomes a fine viscous paste, said Khaksar, a harissa expert in Srinagar.
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Kashmiris use a long wooden ladle called choncha to do the stirring.
Once the oil separates, your harissa is ready.
The lead image at the top shows steamy hot harissa mutton served with a garnishing of sprinkled with saffron, Kebab, Methi and edible oil (Photo by Nasir Yousufi)
Nasir Yousufi is a journalist based at Srinagar.
