8 years back I have had the chance to savour
Awadhi delicacies by Chef Mujeeb-ur-Rehman at a leading five-star hotel
in Mumbai. So when I was invited to savour his Kashmiri delicacies, I just
couldn’t say no. The evening was not just about flavours of the Valley state
but also a discovery and history of the rich Kashmiri cuisine.
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| Chef Mujeeb-ur-Rehmaan ( Source : Google) |
Chef Rehman is a descendant from the cooks
of the royal family in Lucknow. Cooking is in his blood as he has grown up
watching and getting trained from his Grandfather. His philosophy has always
been to learn the history of whatever he serves and know exactly why a few
ingredients have to be used in tandem with the others. He has always been a
follower of old school and does traditional recipes like no one else. Slow
cooking and authenticity has been his forte throughout because he doesn’t want
to do fusion cooking on an ad hoc basis but with proper research and
experimentation.
This time he has come up with the best of
Kashmiri cuisine at one of the most luxurious property, SOFITEL BKC, Mumbai.
We started the meal with Kukur Rass, a
mildly spiced chicken soup, which was perfect to kick start, our appetite for
more. This was followed by a variety of starters, Tsaman Warimasala Tikka-
Cottage Cheese Marinated with Hot Spices and Cooked In A Clay Oven, a very
interesting Khubani Kababa Apricot Stuffed, potato cake and Wazwani Aluv Tukri-
Chili Yogurt Marinated Spicy Potato this was a winner for me out of all the veg
starters. The Kukur Lebabdar Tikka
tasted like a regular chicken tikka, the Maaz Shammi was melt in the mouth and
the Maaz Seekh Kebab was succulent and flavourful.
Next was a delightful spread of Kashmiri dishes
like Muttur Tsaman (Cottage Cheese Simmered with Exotic Fresh Peas Gravy which
had green gravy with a hint of saunf that gave a unique taste. Lotus Stem is
one of the most important ingredients of Kashmiri cuisine and the Nadur Yakhni
had rich yoghurt gravy. The meal is incomplete with the traditional Kashmiri
Dum Aluv, but it had thicker gravy as generally Kashmiris make very thin gravy
of it. We also tried non-veg dishes like
the Kukur Dhaniwal Korma- again a green chicken cooked in yogurt and the Gushtaba
along with Zaffrani Kukur Palao. Baqurkhani –White flour bread, dough prepared
in milk dash of sugar with topping of poppy seeds was a winner all the way.
After such a rich meal there was no room for
desserts but we couldn’t say no to Shufta-Cottage Cheese and Dry Fruits Halwa
the tinge of honey and sugar syrup with dry fruits was a delight. The perfect
ending to the meal was with Chilgoze Piste Ke Phirini, just rightly flavoured
with Saffron.
A descendant of Khansamas of the Wajid Ali
Shaha era, Master Chef Rehman said, “We tried to maintain
the essence of the Kashmiri cuisine but we do have to tailor make the menu
according to the local tastes and the in-house guests.”
Take your pick between the bright ambience
indoors and soft romantic ambience outdoors, just the perfect weather to savour
the finest royal delicacies from the lush valleys of Kashmir.
Daawat-e-Kashmir is on till February 19th
Address: Jyran, Sofitel Mumbai BKC (Daawat-e- Kashmir ends on 19th Feb, 2017)
Time: Lunch- 12:00pm-3:00 pm | Dinner- 7:00p.m-11:45 pm
For reservations: + 022 30151568
Time: Lunch- 12:00pm-3:00 pm | Dinner- 7:00p.m-11:45 pm
For reservations: + 022 30151568
Review By : Jyoti Narang Watchmaker for Foodmaniacs
Inputs and Compilation By : Vickrham (vicky)
Email : vickrham.m@gmail.com