DID YOU KNOW?

• Kashmiri Wazwaan (royal banquet) comprises of 36 dishes
• The meat for the goshtaba and rista is finely pounded on stones by the waaza ( chef)’s team for 2-3 hours
• The meat for some of the wazwan items requires to be really fresh. More than half an hour cannot elapse between the slaughtering of the goat and the pounding of the meat
•  All the masala pastes for wazwan are manually pounded on stone – including onion paste, garlic paste, chilli paste, turmeric paste and shallot paste
• Despite general belief about Kashmiri food being hot and spicy, Wazwan items are mildly spiced and mildly hot
• Hours of cooking and days of planning go into the making of wazwan items
•  A number of Kashmiri dishes are yoghurt or milk based
• Kashmiri pundits do not use onions, garlic or tomatoes in the cooking of their wazwan items
• Wazwan dishes in Kashmir are still cooked in a Vurabal which is an open-air kitchen.
• Fire-wood is used as fuel. Heat of such fires is very easily regulated for mass cooking.