What to Eat in Kashmir: A Wazwan Guide for Travellers
Wazwan is the meal Kashmir is famous for, thirty-six courses, served on a shared platter. Here is how to order, what to try, and what to ask for if you are vegetarian.
A proper wazwan is a feast of up to thirty-six courses, cooked overnight by a waza (master chef) on wood fire in giant copper vessels. It is served at weddings and celebrations, and it is the single most memorable meal a traveller can have in the valley.
The essentials
- Rista, hand-pounded mutton meatballs in a red chilli and fennel gravy. The classic.
- Gushtaba, the same technique, but finished in a yoghurt gravy. The last course, and the sign the meal is ending.
- Tabak Maaz, twice-cooked mutton ribs, pan-fried after a milk boil. Crisp outside, soft inside.
- Rogan Josh, slow-cooked mutton, deep red from ratan jot rather than tomato.
- Kebab and methi maaz, the mid-meal courses most travellers never identify by name.
Everything comes on one large shared plate, trami, with rice, and traditionally you eat with your right hand. There are no spoons, but no one will be offended if you ask for one.
Vegetarian wazwan
Traditional wazwan is meat-based, but Kashmir has a full vegetarian cuisine worth knowing:
- Nadru yakhni, lotus stem in a fennel-yoghurt gravy, cut into perfectly even sticks.
- Chaman, paneer, fried and simmered, in various gravies.
- Haak, collard greens cooked simply with mustard oil and dried chilli. Served with every local meal.
- Dum Aloo, a Kashmiri invention, not a Punjabi one.
- Gogji Nadir, lotus stem with turnip, the everyday winter favourite.
We arrange vegetarian wazwan for guests on request; just tell us when you book.
Beyond wazwan
- Kahwa, green tea with saffron, almond and cinnamon. Drink it at every opportunity.
- Noon chai / sheer chai, pink salt tea, served with bread. A winter staple, and it grows on you.
- Harissa, a slow-cooked mutton-and-rice porridge sold from winter breakfast shops in the old city. Sold out by 9 am.
- Kashmiri breads, giremba, kulcha, czot and the crescent-shaped lawasa.
- Fresh fruit, cherries in June, apples and walnuts in autumn, and Pampore saffron absolutely worth carrying home.
Practical notes
- Ask your hotel to arrange a wazwan rather than finding it yourself, the good ones cook to order and need notice.
- Portions are enormous. Six guests to one trami is standard; do not order individually.
- Peak season, during Ramzan and wedding season, chefs are booked out. Give us a week's notice.
- Hygiene is generally fine in hotel kitchens and herbal in the old city. Use judgement with street food, as anywhere.
Our Kashmir Paradise itinerary includes an optional full wazwan dinner served on the houseboat deck, which is about as good as a first introduction gets.