THE ONE-DISH WINTER WONDER
Every winter, shops in Srinagar start selling a delicious, warming mix of rice, meat and spices called Harissa. It’s cooked overnight by experts and has become a comforting ritual in the Valley
plished Harissa maker. Their shop, Sultani Harissa in Fateh Kadal, is more than a century old.
A generation ago, many Harissa makers would employ workers from Gurez. They are known for their muscle power, a quality most needed for mashing the Harissa. Muhammad Munawar Wani, in his seventies, remembers coming to Srinagar half-acentury ago from Gurez and working at the most popular Harissa shop, the Bhat Harissa shop at Aali Kadal. He helps the Bhats take and pack the orders as well.
“Harissa was ~2 per kg in the ’60s. It is ~800 per kg now. But it’s still made the same way,” says Munawar.
Aijaz Bhat, another popular Harissa maker in the Jamalata area in Srinagar, is not happy about Harissa stories in the press because publicity means more customers and they can’t cater to the rush. “It doesn’t feel good that people wake up early to drive to our shop and return emptyhanded,” he says. “We can’t increase production simply by hiring more assistants. we do all of it ourselves, I don’t feel it’s the real thing,” adds Aijaz, who sells about 60-70 kg of Harissa every morning.
Visiting a Harissa shop in winter is an experience unique to Old Srinagar, sustained in large part by the egalitarian culture of the densely populated mohallas. People who have moved out of the old city into the mushrooming housing colonies in the suburbs often leave utensils at Harissa shops a day before and collect them the next morning. Harissa is one of the many things the families of betrothed couples exchange during the engagement.
Poet Zarif A Zarif links the Harissa’s arrival in Kashmir to the region’s transition to Islam from Hinduism, when Central Asian, Arabic and Turkish influences in arts, language and culture transformed Kashmiri culture. Zarif says Kashmir’s tradition of slow cooking is tied to what works best to provide nutrition and warmth during Kashmir’s long winters. Many of these culinary traditions can be traced to Kashmir’s Hindu and Buddhist
influences, adds Zarif.
He ranks the shops at Aali Kadal, Saraf Kadal, Fateh Kadal and Sarai Bala as the best in the city. Some eateries like the Dilshad restaurant at Lal Chowk serve Harissa throughout the day. Restaurants make it in pressure cookers, like most people at home nowadays. This doesn’t bother the Old City Harissa makers, because, as they say, the connoisseurs know the difference.