KAHWA-MUGHAL CHAI OF KASHMIR VALLEY

 MUGHAL CHAI-GREAT KAHWA TEA FROM THE KASHMIR VALLEY

I hate two horrible guests of mine.They visit me every year during winter months.Any guesses???Nopes. Yes,they are SORE THROAT and COLD.Every year I suffer from them.I need to rely on some medicines.Last year, apart from these recurring and regular guests of mine,I had two EXTRA-ORDINARY Kashmiri guests.I call them my Abujaan and Ammijaan. It would be wrong on my part,if I call them as my guests.However,they were more like my own folks at my home.The moment Ammijaan observed me suffering from bad cold,she jumped into the kitchen immediately and began her preparations.

Both of them were surprised to discover that I never tasted tea in my life.They instructed that I need to get habituated to it.As any other typical Kashmiri individual-who is recognized immediately to their addiction of tea-they were keen that I should begin to consume at least the KASHMIRI TEA.They wanted me to start off with KAHWA. Ammijaan took me to the kitchen by hand,made me stand next to her and asked me to observe the way in which she prepared and brewed the KAHWA for me.So let's start off with the list of ingredients.

INGREDIENTS REQUIRED

• Water-5 cups
• Almonds-7
• Saffron strands-7
• Cinnamon-4 inches long pieces and 3 in number
• Green Cardamom-2
• Sugar-1 teaspoon
• Tea leaves-1/4 teaspoon

STEPS FOR PREPARATION

• Pour water in a kettle.
• Let the water boil for few minutes.
• Add cinnamon pieces
• Let it brew for sometime.
• Add strands of saffron.
• Add crushed green cardamoms.
• Add grated almonds.
• Add tea leaves.
• Let all of them brew for for minutes.
• Add sugar.

She gave me the tea in a cup.She demanded that I should drink it as soon as possible.I hesitated for few minutes.She understood my expressions and delay in taking a sip of it.Slowly I took a sip of it,it was very good and relieving for some time.She told me the benefits of all the ingredients also.She was highly experienced and knew a lot about cooking and different styles of preparation.She was a school principal with HOME SCIENCE as one of her major subjects.No wonder she was good at it.The number of tips and advice given to me for the kashmiri cooking was amazing ones.I would share them all in my blog with time.

Ammijaan also added that I cam simplify the above mentioned recipe for kahwa for daily purposes.According to her,there were more than 30 varieties of KAHWAS prepared in Kashmir and each one of them is different from one another.The recipe for the simplified version of Kahwa is the following-

INGREDIENTS REQUIRED

• Water-3 cups
• Cinnamon-2 to 3 pieces
• Green Cardamoms-1
• Saffron strands-5
• Sugar or Honey(as per the taste)

STEPS FOR PREPARATION

• Boil water in a kettle.
• Add cinnamon, crushed green cardamom and strands of saffron.
• Add sugar or honey.
• Brew it thoroughly.
• Serve in a cup. 

This is the simplest method to prepare the Kahwa.I enjoy this a lot.I thank both of them for grooming me and making me get addicted to Kahwa.The different kinds of teas consumed in Kashmir on daily basis are the following-

a) Lipton Chai-This is the ordinary tea preparation with the non-kashmiri tea leaves.Lipton is one of the brands and generally used in Kashmir.It has nothing to do with the brand name,The people use other brands of tea also in their kitchens.

b) Sheer Kahwa-The above mentioned recipe is called the SHEER KAHWA.The word "SHEER" means sweet due to the addition of sugar or honey.Thus,it received its name as Sheer kahwa.I was wondering if we might replace sugar or honey with dates.I did experiment it also.Prophet Mohammad  liked dates a lot.Thus,I thought let me add DATE SUGAR(the one the Bengalis use).I was successful in it.The tea was awesome.I named it as KHAJOORI KAHWA.I experimented with the coconut sugar also.It was superb.I noticed that both palm date and coconut sugar are not very sweet as the ordinary sugar.I got another recipe called NARIYAL SHEER KAHWA.

c)Mughal Chai-The tea with the addition of other dry fruits served mainly in festivals or marriages or to special guests.Infact I would call it ROYAL TEA.It contains all varieties of dry fruits like raisins,cashew nuts,almonds, walnuts, dried apricots, etc.

d) Noon Chai-This is the most popular and commonly consumed tea of Kashmir.It is specially prepared from KASHMIR TEA LEAVES.These leaves are very different from other tea leaves.I asked Papaji,"Whether these tea leaves were produced in the valley of Kashmir?".He laughed at me  naively and told me that these leaves are produced in Assam like any other tea leaves and consumed only in the Kashmir Valley.I observed Mummyji brewing the leaves for a very long time.let me share the recipe for it.

INGREDIENTS REQUIRED

• Kashmiri tea leaves-5 to 7 tablespoons
• Water-6 to 7 cups
• Baking Soda-1/2 to 1  teaspoon
• Salt-1 to 1 and half teaspoons
• Milk-1 liter 

STEPS FOR PREPARATION

• Pour water in a kettle.
• Boil water.
• Add Kashmiri tea leaves.
• Turn the gas stove to the lower sim level.
• Let the tea leaves steep very well in the water.
• After 10 minutes, add the baking soda.
• Add salt.
• Keep stirring continuously otherwise the water may raise its level and pour out of the kettle.It is wastage of the water and the tea leaves.
• Boil milk in a separate utensil.
• After the tea leaves are properly steeped, add the milk and let the tea brew for some more time.
• Pour the prepared tea in a flask and it is ready to be served whenever it is required.

I have observed that the typical PINK COLOR,which I admire a lot, is due to the addition of baking soda.The richness in the pink color increases as we increase the quantities of the soda in the tea.I was completely astonished to see that the milk did not curdle due to the presence of the salt also.

There was a time,initial learning phase of brewing this tea,I added the milk and after one boil only,I served to Rajoun.The moment he took one sip of it,I thought he would admire and appreciate my task.However,he instantly said,'You should have boiled the milk with tea for some more time".In other words,he meant that I should have steeped and brewed the tea and milk for some more time.The entire time consumed to prepare this NOON CHAI was approximately 1 hour.No wonder why the Kashmiri women prefer to make it in the mornings and store it in large flasks.COOL....