The Indian subcontinent · Volume 15, The Trami, the Boti and a Kitchen Split Three Ways
Kahwa
Kashmir Valley, shared by both communities
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 10 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
A green tea drunk across the Kashmir Valley by both communities, and, on the evidence this chapter's research could find, without any real communal distinction in how it is made or served, worth stating plainly since so much else in this chapter is about difference.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp green tea leaves
- 500 ml water
- a small pinch saffron, a small pinch
- 1 (5cm) cinnamon stick
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 2 cloves
- to taste sugar or honey, to taste
- a scattering crushed almonds or walnuts, to finish
Method
- Simmer the tea leaves in the water with the saffron, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves for 5 to 7 minutes.
- Strain into small cups, sweeten with sugar or honey to taste, and top each cup with a scattering of crushed almonds or walnuts.
Notes
Drunk across the Kashmir Valley by both Muslim and Pandit communities without, on the evidence this chapter's research could find, any real distinction in how it is made or served.
What a modern chef changes
A cold, slow infusion and a fresh praline garnish
Applies rung 2's temperature discipline to infusion
Method
- Infuse cold or sous vide. Steep the tea and spices cold, or in a sous vide bath held well below boiling, for several hours rather than a hot simmer, extracting the saffron's aroma without the tannin and bitterness a hard boil of green tea risks.
- Blend a praline garnish. Blend toasted almond and walnut in a high-power blender into a fine praline crumble rather than crushing it by hand, for a more even garnish.
- Verify the saffron. Confirm it is genuinely what it claims to be before spending real money on it, exactly as the Sourcing section sets out; kahwa is the one dish in this chapter where a fake saffron will simply vanish rather than merely disappoint.