Culinary Preparations During Marriage in Kashmir
The feast of wazwan is a part and parcel of marriage parties in Kashmir where the Wazas (cooks) under the guidance of Vast Waza (head cook) start cooking these exquisite delicacies for the whole night . The detailed preparation of delicacies and their traditional presentation adds to the charm of the nobility of Kashmiri Cuisine. The meals in Kashmiri is served on big copper plate called Tram that contains the steamed rice on which the varieties of meat that include mithi, kebab, Tabakh Maaz, Chiken and Daniphul are very beautifully placed dividing the tram into four and four person take meals on one plate. After waza serves the dishes one by one and in the perfect sequence. Gushtaba declares the end of wazwan. There are seven dishes that are considered as inseprable part of kashmiri cuisine, these dishes are tabakhmaz, rogan josh, rista, aabgosh, dhaniwal korma, marchingan korma and gushtaba. No spoons, forks or knives are used in the course of meals. After meals Phirini is the common dessert followed by the beverage called Kahwa flavored with saffron. One of the specialities of the wazwan is polav, it is a sweet rice dish cooked in clarified butter and milk along with dry fruits and saffron. To give a try to this cuisine at home bring the Kashmiri ver or vari, a tikki made of mixed spices and is easily available in the markets in Kashmir.
