Enchanting valleys, snow covered mountains, beautiful weather, all make Kashmir what it is rightly said 'Paradise on earth'. This heavenly state is not only popular for its beauty but also for its tantalizing cuisine. Be it the vegetarian dishes or the meat-based (specifically mutton)recipes ,options are many, leaving us spoilt for choices. Celebrating the beauty of Kashmir and Kashmiri cuisine, Le Meridien, Gurugram brought some of the authentic Kashmiri Pandit cuisine with their food fest, titled as Kashmiriyatt.
Le Meridien Gurgaon is giving a platform to the Kashmiriyatt (home kitchen run by Nimmi Raina and Shweta Raina Kaul). It is a great opportunity to bring home chefs forward, empower them and share some of the most authentic dishes of Kashmiri Pandit cuisine with the world. Such fests are a way to make people aware of the lost recipes, which come to life through such fests". Says Executive chef Rajesh Roy. He further stated, the heart and soul of the food lies in the home kitchen not in the hotel kitchen.'' That is the reason why he wanted to promote all the passionate home chefs to bring out the best in the culinary world.
In this fest, he handed over the kitchen to the home chef, Nimmi Raina. Born and raised in Srinagar, she imbibed the culture and values of the Kashmiri pandits, owing most of which to her mother. Her mother had a gift, the gift of cooking authentic, traditional, lip-smacking Kashmiri pandit cuisine. This is where it all started for Nimmi Raina!
We recently visited Le Meridien, Gurugram to try the authentic Kashmiri Pandit cuisine and what we experienced was nothing less than heaven on our taste buds. We started off our Kashmiri lavish feast with a cup of kahwa along with some khatai. The main course and starters were divided into two categories- vegetarian and non-vegetarian. In the starters, for non-vegetarians, we got lamb, fish and mutton kebabs along with salad and three different types of chutneys- walnut, mint and mooli ki chutney. For vegetarians, they served nadru monje, veg kebab and Talith techaman (paneer). Each of these recipes were so aromatic, flavourful and indulgent.
Moving onto the main course meal, we tried both vegetarian and non-vegetarian thali. Each thali had 9 bowls of different authentic recipes. We tasted rogan josh, yakhni, matsch, gushtaba, rista and nadur gaad along with sweet delicacies like phirni, kheer and very unique lemon curd. While in the vegetarian thali, we had Tchok Wangun ( Khatte Baingan) Tchaman Rogan Josh (Paneer Roganjosh), Nadur Yakhni ( Lotus Stem Yakhni), Mushroom Yakhni Koshur Palak Tchaman , Dum Oluv and the sweet delicacies were same as non-vegetarian thali. And by this we can surely state that 'we had the best Kashmiri Pandit food till now'.
Chef Rajesh Roy is planning to organise a fest for other states cuisine as well and he will continue to promote home chefs as much as he can. So, visit the official website www.marriott.com for more updates regarding the upcoming state fests and events.
What: Kashmiriyat Fest
Where: Le Meridien, Gurgaon
Price: For Vegetarian Thali - Rs.1800+ taxes per person
Non-Vegetarian Thali - Rs. 2200+ taxes per person
For reservations contact: +91 9015562244 Instagram handle: @lemeridiengurgaon