00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02 I'm Jasper.
00:16 Half Irish, half English, and I own pizzeria in India.
00:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:28 I'm crazy about India, and I'm crazy about pizza.
00:32 And we're arranging their marriage.
00:34 Welcome to the Great Indian Pizza Adventure.
00:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:39 A land of mountains, valleys, raging rivers,
00:57 of orchards, almonds, cherries, saffron, and apricots.
01:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:04 The land the poet called heaven on earth.
01:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:12 But could the poet imagine a Kashmiri pizza?
01:22 Stay tuned and find out on the Great Indian Pizza Adventure.
01:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:29 I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
01:32 The best cooking is home cooking.
01:34 So I'm starting my journey having
01:36 a meal with a wonderfully talented Kashmiri family,
01:40 the Kilams.
01:42 Inder.
01:42 Yes, sir.
01:43 Indraman, Amit, Meher, and especially, most importantly,
01:47 Eneha, thank you so much for having me with your family.
01:52 I wish we could do this every day.
01:53 So I'm on a sort of journey of discovery of Kashmiri food,
01:59 Kashmiri culture.
02:00 We've got multiple generations.
02:02 Food and culture and nostalgia, they're all very linked, right?
02:08 So when you see this and taste it,
02:09 does it transport you back to Kashmir?
02:13 Does it-- does it give you that feeling?
02:15 We all, wherever there are people from Kashmir located
02:18 here in Delhi in different pockets,
02:20 we somehow manage to get Kashmiri vegetables,
02:23 whether it is haksa or manch, what we call
02:26 nolkhol or non-veg food.
02:28 We ensure that we get this stuff and we eat.
02:31 Nadroo, for example, is one of the very tasty dishes.
02:34 Lotus stem.
02:34 Lotus stem.
02:35 Yeah.
02:35 And we will ensure that--
02:37 we went to Bangalore, and we wanted lotus stem there.
02:40 It was a little difficult, but we found out.
02:42 And when you get that lotus stem,
02:44 you feel, OK, back to Kashmir.
02:45 It's an interesting thing, because for them,
02:48 they have lived a big part of their lives in Kashmir.
02:51 I lived only about 10 years.
02:53 But the kids have never really lived.
02:55 But I don't know what it does to them.
02:58 I mean, they have stories of their parents
03:00 and their grandparents.
03:02 It must be doing-- you tell us.
03:03 What does it-- yeah, what do you think, Maiha?
03:05 Well, it's a borrowed culture, I feel like.
03:07 Because the only connection that we have
03:10 is through bits of the language that we can't speak,
03:14 but kind of, sort of understand.
03:17 And food, and sort of-- and music.
03:20 Yeah, this is the common language.
03:21 Siphon the culture from them.
03:23 Yeah, you might not speak Kashmiri,
03:26 but this is the common language.
03:29 This wonderful food-- just tell me something about this food
03:33 and where it comes from.
03:35 It is actually Kashmiri pandit food.
03:38 Yes.
03:39 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
03:41 Onion and the tomatoes use [INAUDIBLE]..
03:43 OK, yeah.
03:44 We mainly use curd and milk.
03:47 Yes.
03:48 And special spices.
03:49 Ours is Kashmiri mirch.
03:51 It's more for color.
03:52 OK, got it.
03:53 It is called bengal, some sour bengal.
03:56 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
03:57 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
03:58 Yeah, aubergine.
03:59 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
04:00 Lemon.
04:01 With lemon.
04:02 I see.
04:02 OK.
04:03 These are mince balls.
04:04 Yeah, this is like a meatball.
04:06 [INTERPOSING VOICES]
04:07 Only it's not looking like a ball, but yeah.
04:10 Where does one start?
04:11 What's the strategy?
04:12 Rice in your plate.
04:14 Yeah.
04:14 And then follow it up with dishes one by one, preferably.
04:17 I see.
04:18 Tell me a bit about the agriculture of Kashmir.
04:22 We are mostly rice eaters and rice growers in Kashmir.
04:25 Yeah.
04:25 And we would not eat chapati, the wheat.
04:28 Only rice was the staple food in Kashmir,
04:30 both for Muslims and for Hindus.
04:33 And according to the different seasons,
04:35 we would enjoy different kind of leafy vegetables.
04:39 How does fish-- is fish a feature
04:41 of Kashmir's--
04:42 Not a regular food, but surely occasionally fish is liked.
04:48 I see.
04:48 Both fried and cooked.
04:50 For little vegetables, we use one spice.
04:54 Which one?
04:55 That is a special spice, that gar masala.
04:58 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
04:59 Oh, you kept them ready.
05:01 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
05:02 How beautiful.
05:09 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
05:12 You take a part of it?
05:13 Yes, yes, as part.
05:15 You just take a part.
05:17 We make it powder.
05:18 It's almost like a stock cube.
05:20 It's-- yeah.
05:22 What an amazing thing.
05:23 Can I-- I might just have a smell.
05:25 It's beautiful, isn't it?
05:27 It's a beautiful color.
05:29 That's so wonderful.
05:31 Indra, thank you.
05:32 You're a magnificent cook.
05:35 You're a lucky man.
05:36 Yeah, I am.
05:36 Indra, and great.
05:39 Amit, thank you so much for bringing everybody together.
05:43 My wonderful Naya.
05:46 We're so happy to meet you.
05:48 Right, maybe we can teach you a Kashmiri song,
05:50 since I know that you wanted to be a singer.
05:54 I should never--
05:54 I should never--
05:55 I should never have told you this.
05:57 But I would love, love to hear some Kashmiri singing.
06:01 [HUMMING]
06:04 [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
06:07 [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
06:11 [NON-ENGLISH SINGING]
06:14 What a wonderful beginning that was.
06:40 Superb food, great hospitality, and singing
06:44 that transported you to the hills and valleys of Kashmir.
06:47 And now I'm off to meet Sala Razdan,
06:53 author of a book on authentic Kashmiri cuisine.
06:56 Sala, thank you so much for inviting us into your house.
07:03 I know very little about Kashmiri cuisine.
07:06 Tell me, how did you get into it?
07:08 My father-in-law actually inspired me.
07:10 He said, why don't you write a book?
07:11 You always give me good flavors from the kitchen.
07:14 So I started.
07:15 I thought-- gave it a thought and started jotting down
07:18 the recipes with my hand.
07:20 That's how I started.
07:22 When you think about ingredients in Kashmir
07:24 with your cooking, tell me something
07:27 about the ingredients that are special to Kashmiri cooking.
07:31 I think the whole spices are very important,
07:35 like bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves, and whole cardamom,
07:42 brown cardamom, you call it, green cardamom,
07:45 and then the rest of the spices.
07:48 Tell me what we have here, Sala.
07:51 Let me see some of this.
07:52 Can I try the tea?
07:52 Yeah, this is kahwa.
07:54 Classic kahwa tea.
07:56 It has no milk inside.
07:59 It has cinnamon powder.
08:00 It has almond.
08:02 Delicious.
08:03 My day starts with kahwa, because I find
08:07 it is very good green tea.
08:09 And here I'm looking--
08:10 I mean, obviously I'm trying to work out
08:12 how I make a Kashmiri pizza.
08:15 And I--
08:17 You've got the bread there.
08:19 I put this on this, and then we're finished.
08:21 But tell me about the breads and the kebabs.
08:24 This is called katlam in Kashmiri.
08:26 Let me just try a little bit of it.
08:28 These are both baked in the tandoor.
08:31 And maybe they put some yeast into this.
08:36 And this goes well with the kahwa.
08:39 And the kebabs?
08:41 Kebabs, this is mutton kebab.
08:44 Again, typical Kashmiri style.
08:46 You can try this kebab with this roti.
08:48 Let me try some of this.
08:50 This is, like I say, it's already a pizza.
08:53 Let me break off a little bit.
08:56 Sorry, take a bit of this fellow.
08:58 You can have this with roti and kahwa too.
09:00 A little bit of roti.
09:01 And this is--
09:02 Yeah, you're supposed to go with the kebab.
09:04 I see, so I just put a bit in here.
09:06 Let's talk a little bit about the Kashmiri pandits.
09:17 Tell me about their cuisine.
09:19 See, our cuisine is saag, rogan josh, yakni, mutton yakni,
09:27 kabarga.
09:28 They call it tabak maaz, we call it kabarga.
09:31 Basically, it's the same thing.
09:33 The mutton is from the breast of the lamb,
09:35 but they cook it differently.
09:37 I cook it differently.
09:38 We boil it in the milk, and they cook it in the water.
09:43 Both are good.
09:44 In vegetarian, it's saag, damaaloo, khate wengan.
09:49 OK, and talking about--
09:50 so Kashmir is so beautiful.
09:53 But does the food and cuisine vary
09:56 in the north, south, east, and west?
09:58 Is it very different, depending on where you go?
10:00 Yes, it is.
10:01 Like, Srinagar Valley, there is mutton.
10:04 And because of the weather, the cold weather there,
10:08 Jammu has a different cuisine.
10:09 They have khatta meat.
10:11 They have some kaladi dishes.
10:15 So is Ladakh.
10:17 They come into the same region.
10:19 So Ladakh has butter tea.
10:22 Very famous butter tea they have.
10:23 Momos come from that.
10:25 So there is, between Jammu, Ladakh, and Valley.
10:30 This is the difference.
10:31 Some big, big differences.
10:33 This is fantastic.
10:34 It really is fantastic.
10:35 It's so nice to be in your house as well.
10:37 This is like a taste of Kashmir in the middle of Delhi.
10:42 It is.
10:42 It's interesting, right?
10:43 It feels like-- I'm very much looking forward
10:45 to learning more from you.
10:47 Congratulations on your book.
10:49 Congratulations on your delicious food.
10:52 And congratulations on all these wonderful, famous people
10:57 that come and eat your food.
10:59 Thank you.
10:59 Thank you.
11:00 Thank you, ma'am.
11:00 OK?
11:01 Thank you.
11:01 All right.
11:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:06 (whooshing)
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