The pursuit of Harissa: from Ael Kadal to Zoondaeb
It was a bitterly cold winter’s night with the temperature plummeting below freezing. Byul found himself tossing and turning in his bed. His insomnia was out of sheer excitement for the big day about to dawn in. It was the yearly ritual when Byul and his cousins would go to Ael Kadal early in the morning to enjoy winter’s most special breakfast- the legendary Harissa.
He got up much earlier than usual on this frosty morning and went downstairs. There he found his grandfather, Toath, sitting by the window in hamaam on his cozy prayer rug, covered with real sheepskin.
“Barfe nov uftaad, sadd mubarak baad,” said Toath, who is well versed in Persian and never misses an opportunity to flaunt his passion by quoting a verse or two from memorized poetry.
“Salaamat salaamat,” said Byul. A little panicky, he rushed outside to check the situation. Slipping on his rubti booth (rubber boots for snow), he first had a quick look outside to check if they had cleared snow from the main roads. Of course they had, our civil engineers are the best. But the by-lane leading from their home to the main road was still covered in snow and driving a car out would be challenging.
The lovely blanket of snow might have jeopardized the cousins’ harissa plans but their spirits were high. They didn’t give up quite yet. “Ha’ya Aadila, anu byael [Hey Aadil, get a shovel],” said Byul.
Meanwhile his wife, Sweety couldn’t get a clear view outside from her bedroom window; it was covered with “moamjaam” for insulation. She opened the window to check on them and before she could say anything, Byul shouted out, “Sheen Mubarak, Sweety Jan! Sheen sharth“. So as per the tradition, she now owed him a treat.
Within half an hour, the guys had dug the way for the car to make it from the driveway to the main road through the thick layer of snow. Without any further ado, they accelerated to Ael Kadal. The intensity of their enthusiasm for the first Harissa of the season had doubled with the first snowfall of the season coincidentally on the same day.
They reached the Harissa joint only to meet disappointment. It was all sold out. This is the tricky part- you have to be among the first ones to reach. Because here, ‘eat in’ works on first-come-first-serve basis. Unless you opt for ‘takeaway’, in which case you have to leave your bowl at the shop a day or two in advance. Yes, in order to savour harissa at this shop, you have to face tough competition. At quarter to eight in the morning, the Harissa business at this shop was all done for the day.
Harissa is now sold widely around the valley, especially in dozens of bakery shops around town, available throughout the day. But not many of those live up to the expectations. The Harissa by this particular Harissa Gourr in Ael Kadal is the most sought-after. There is something about the little kebab and sizzling hot oil used to garnish it and the ambience of the small, warm shop filled with an aroma of spices. The hours and hours of hard work the Harissa Gourr puts in, are reflected in the bowl of Harissa with an unmatched taste. Not to mention, the Harissa Phohar you can get as a bonus if you are lucky, the kind that some consider a delicacy of greater value than the harissa itself.
Back home, Sweety Jan couldn’t bear to see Byul and his cousins heartbroken. So, she took it upon herself to cheer them up and asked them for three hours to put together a consolation Harissa. Sweety had never cooked Harissa before but like always, she turned to Zoondaeb’s YouTube channel. She followed the detailed recipe on YouTube, to the T. It felt like someone was holding her hand through the steps to guide her.
The guys took turns to stir/mash the Harissa. The process, called gass dyun, is the hardest part of the recipe. All this while, Toath kept them entertained with his shayri.
After all the patience and quite a bit of muscle workout, finally they had all earned a delicious daeg of Harissa. Everyone unanimously complimented Sweety and Zoondaeb for the scrumptious harissa, “Trath hyu!”
It was already 12 noon- seemed a little too late for breakfast but not too late for Sweety to leave for work. Byul bid her goodbye while relishing the Harissa along with his cousins and jokingly singing the catchy song from yesteryear’s cable TV, “Sweety sweety draayi dewty!”
Byul had placed his toor of Harissa securely in his naar’e kaangir to keep it warm and took his time to enjoy it down to the last morsel. Thanks to Zoondaeb, Byul had redeemed his sheen sharth in the best possible way.
Likewise, for us at www.theculinarykashmiri.com, Zoondaeb’s recipe has been a saviour. During our first days in London, we couldn’t hold our excitement at the sight of a jar in the supermarket labelled ‘Harissa’. But that excitement was short-lived as it turns out, there exists an African hot sauce with the same name. Yeah, Harissa has a namesake, far far from our Harissa. Any way, so one day when our craving for Harissa was at its peak, we rolled our sleeves and put our trust in Zoondaeb. I have to mention here that my wonderful husband did all the hard work. The result was amazing and we keep going back to the same recipe every time now.
This post does not come with any recipe. It is just a tribute to Zoondaeb for the highly appreciable work she is doing in promoting Kashmiri cuisine and preserving our culture. And of course, helping naab’e kaar people like me to savour the taste of home while being far away. In fact not just Zoondaeb, but all the other amazing Kashmiri recipe bloggers.
If Byul has made you crave for Harissa now, check out Zoondaeb’s Harissa recipe here. If you do not live anywhere close to a kaandarwaan, find the recipe for Ghaev Tchot here. What better accompaniment to go with that Harissa?
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