Haute cuisine

HAAK A SOUPY SAAGHaak is a Kashmiri saag that offsets all the meat we Kashmiris eat. This dish is easy to cook, but each time I make it, p...

HAAK A SOUPY SAAG

Haak is a Kashmiri saag that offsets all the meat we Kashmiris eat. This dish is easy to cook, but each time I make it, people go, 8216;8216;Oh my god, this is delicious, how do you do it?8217;8217; Haak is available in the larger vegetable markets. What is available outside Kashmir doesn8217;t taste quite the same as the real thing, but it isn8217;t bad. It can be substituted with spinach palak or sarson da saag.

The recipe also requires ver, a typically Kashmiri spice patty or tikia. It comprises 8-10 spices and spice oils, and is available in speciality spice stores or Kashmiri shops. Only the slightest pinch of it is used with greens, never with meat.

Ingredients
2-3 bundles of haak
2 tbs mustard oil
4-5 cloves
8-10 peppercorns
3-4 dry red chillies, whole
Pinch of asafoetida powder hing
Kashmiri ver for garnish
Salt to taste
1 tbs cumin seeds jeera optional

Method
Sort and wash the haak and chop off most of the stem, leaving the whole leaf with a stub. Heat the mustard oil in a wok, add chillies, peppercorns, cumin if using, cloves and asafoetida. Then carefully add plenty of water, enough to cover the haak when it is added later. Bring the water-oil combination to the boil, add the haak and the salt. The haak can be cooked as long as you want, though Kashmiris like it crisp, what they call munja haak, which also preserves nutrients. For this, let it cook only as long as it takes for the salt and the spices to soak in. Take off the fire, sprinkle a pinch of crumbled ver and serve immediately. Serves 4

BUMSOONT AND VANGUN COOKING APPLES AND AUBERGINES

You won8217;t find this dish at a wedding feast. It8217;s an everyday dish using cooking apples, specifically quince apples bumsoont 8212; which, though available in plenty in the Valley, are not eaten as a fruit but as a vegetable 8212; and long aubergines vangun.

Ingredients
4 quince apples, quartered
5-6 long aubergines, split four-way, half-way to the cap
1-1/2 tsp turmeric powder haldi
2-3 green chillies
3-4 cloves
4-6 peppercorns
Pinch of white cumin jeera
Powdered black cumin shahjeera
1-1/2 tbsp saunf powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tbs curd
Mustard oil
Salt to taste

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Method
Heat mustard oil in a wok and fry the aubergines till the skin goes leathery. Keep aside. In another wok, heat 3 tbs oil and add white cumin, cloves, peppercorns, green chillies and fry a little. Add apples, and bring to a simmer. As the apples turn golden brown, add the turmeric powder, ginger powder, garam masala, saunf powder and salt. Keep stirring, taking care not to let the apple crumble, till the spices have cooked and blended well with the apples. Add the curd and mix till it forms a smooth paste. Add enough water to cover the apples completely, and add the fried aubergines. Cover the wok and let it simmer. Once the apples and the aubergine are cooked through, sprinkle shahjeera and serve.
Serves 4

As told to Suman Mishra