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The hearty Kashmiri hareesa and home-made Konkani Muslim biryani are iftar delicacies to warm hearts. If you are in Mumbai or Bengaluru, order these via The Soul Company, which curates interesting food pop-ups and delivery boxes.
It is offering iftar boxes this weekend: for Mumbai, there’s Ammeez Kitchen, a Konkani Muslim home chef venture famous for dishes like Goshh Sikori, Chicken Methi Mutke and Ande Ka Pudding; for Bengaluru, there’s the Sarposh restaurant and tea room, known for Kashmiri specialities such as the haleem-like hareesa, girda bread and refreshing dodh babri byol sharbat.
“The sharbat is a traditional iftar drink in Kashmir. It is milk boiled with basil seeds and cardamom, and is considered to be cooling,” says Azmat Ali Mir of Sarposh. The hareesa, she explains, is cooked overnight. “It’s a hearty Kashmiri stew that allows the flavours of the meat to shine,” she says. Sarposh is known for its traditional Kashmiri breads, like girda and kulcha. They have a baker who travelled from Kashmir to be in Bengaluru. He makes them from scratch in a tandoor. The Iftar box has the sourdough-like girda which pairs perfectly with hareesa.
The Konkani Muslim segment of the iftar menu is a treat for those curious about little known regional food. Sweets like Pelve and Ande Ka Pudding are unique to their cuisine. Pelve is similar to a pancake. It’s rolled and filled with a stuffing containing grated coconut sweetened with sugar, flavoured with cardamom and mixed in with slivers of dry fruits. Ande Ka Pudding, or egg pudding, is prepared dum-style on a low flame.
The succulent Goshh Sikori is a prized dish. “It’s reserved for special occasions like weddings and Eid,” says Shabana Salauddin of Ammeez Kitchen. Apart from the goshh (mutton), the star ingredient in the dish is paanch magaz—a powdered seed mixture containing watermelon seeds and sesame, among others. It is added as a final touch to thicken the gravy. The Goshh Sikori is served with a fine grained rice.
Salauddin says, “We have a saying: the finer the rice and fattier the gosht, the more dildaar (generous) the host.” Discover cultures and stories associated with food this Ramzan as you stay indoors.
To order, visit www.thesoulcompany.in; for Mumbai, call Ammeez Kitchen on 9820009857; for Bengaluru, call Sarposh Restaurant & Tea Room on 9538262493.
