While there are all kinds of cuisines in India, Kashmiri food is probably one of the least understood in India. Rich flavours are a hallmark of this food, with spices like fennel powder, ginger powder, mustard oil, yogurt, and saffron to create deep flavors, often avoiding garlic and onion in the traditional Pandit cuisine. There are a lot of vegetarian options as well, though traditionally it is a meat heavy cuisine. Sarposh, the renowned restaurant from Bangalore is doing this pop-up at Spectra, The Leela Palace in Chennai.
We started off with a cup of hot Kahwa tea, which is basically a sort of a green tea, but infused with cardamom, cinnamon and chopped almonds. A lot of the flavour also comes from saffron threads and it has several benefits including boosting your digestion and metabolism. Sweetened with honey, it felt like a perfect way to start the evening. While waiting for the first course to arrive, we started off with a brilliant fusion cocktail, the Kashmiri Highball. So this one had whisky with kahwa blended in and spices with lime and honey. A very refreshing taste and unique in its own way – this is for us a must have if you are partial to alcohol. There is a mocktail version as well, called Kashmiri mule that uses the same ingredients, sans the whisky.
The first food item to appear was the Kokar shaemi kebab. Now traditionally kebabs are made out of mutton, but in this case the Shaemi was made out of chicken as a healthier alternative. Combined with a thick ground walnut chutney, it tasted quite good and was quite firm. In fact the little hard outer shell and the soft meaty inside was a perfect foil for our taste buds. Next to come was another chicken appetiser, the Kokar Tujje. A nice, well marinated and fried chicken snack, it contrasted well with the walnut chutney for a wholesome offering. Time to taste something vegetarian, so we decided to try the intriguingly named Buzith malai tschaman. This is basically cottage cheese that is barbecued in a way that it retains its tenderness and basic taste, while remaining soft – a commendable feat indeed.
Time for the main course and we got a thali for ourselves, that had a bit of everything. The Kong bhatte is a saffron rice, with plenty of flavour and a nice consistency. We decided to have the Razmah dal with this – again, cooked with light spices, this was perhaps one of the best rajmah lentils we have had in some time. Then there was the traditional Koshur pulav, which is basically a one-pot meal consisting of basmati rice cooked with saffron, milk and a generous amount of dried fruits and nuts. Our version also had some coconut in it, maybe as a gesture to the South. Again, very fragrant and flavourful, a real treat to the senses. The palak nadur is basically lotus stem cooked with collard greens, as was the Haakh. Vegetarians will find this extremely tasty, and a great accompaniment to the rice. For a more traditional take on the humble potato, there was the Waazeh dum oluv, which with its traditional blend of spices in baby potatoes was quite good.
By then, we wanted the next cocktail, so Teekhi chuski made its entry. A combination of guava juice, pink salt and tabasco with vodka, this was a sharp tangy masterfully made cocktail that went very well with the main course.
The star of the show was of course the Rogan Josh. A much misunderstood and much maligned dish, Rogan Josh is actually a very flavourful dish of mutton introduced by the Mughals to Kashmir. A point to note is that authentic Rogan Josh may not contain onions or garlic, instead relying on yoghurt and other spices for flavour. The way chef Azmat Ali Mir had made the Rogan Josh was a treat in itself and with that creamy consistency of the curry with the oil (Rogan) on top, it was an edible art of sous-vide cooking. Perfection.
Time for dessert and we tried a bit of both the Gazri halwe and the Toumle kong phirin, a light fluffy phirni made with rice that was not sweet at all. Top marks here too.
All in all, the Sarposh pop-up at Spectra is a true canvas of colourful Kashmiri cuisine. It combines the best of both forms of cooking and has a large spread of vegetarian food as well, besides healthy non-vegetarian options. It truly deserves a visit by you, simply as an outing or just maybe to sample the excellent food.
Meal for one: ₹3,750++ (without alcohol) onwards
19th – 21st February, 7.00 pm – 11:00 pm, 22nd February, 12:30 pm – 3:30 pm
At Spectra, The Leela Palace, Adyar seaface
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