“Gar Firdaus bar-rue zamin ast, hami asto, hamin asto, hamin ast.”

This quote, attributed to the Mughal Emperor Jahangir in the 17th century when he first visited Kashmir can be translated as, “If there is a heaven on Earth, it is here, it is here, it is here”. The Mughal Emperor was so impressed by the beauty in Kashmir that he would often say, if one has not visited this beautiful paradise, they are missing out on something worthwhile.

When I made my Kashmiri Pulao, I wanted it to be accompanied by a gravy dish from the same region. But as I discovered, since vegetables are scarce in the region, it is difficult to find vegetarian dishes here. So I adapted a mutton dish which I found online and created a potato yakhni. This may not be absolutely 100% authentic, but I was impressed with the taste.

Yakhni essentially means a gravy based dish and is a light curry or broth which has to include two main ingredients other than the meat – yoghurt and saffron. Yakhni came to be known in Kashmir during the Mughal emperor Akbar’s rule. Yoghurt-based meat curries were part of Persian cuisine, and the Emperor introduced this style of cooking to his new state when he annexed it in 1586. Yakhni dishes are also seen in Greek and Turkish cuisines, but what sets the Kashmiri Yakhni apart is the absence of tomatoes. Certain recipes also avoid onions and garlic since the Kashmiri pundits didn’t use those ingredients in their cooking.

So after this short lesson on the Kashmiri cuisine, let’s go on to the dish!

Potato Yakhni

Ingredients:

• 1 kg potatoes, boiled, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 5 green cardamoms
• 1-inch cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cloves
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
  
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp warm milk
• 1 tsp dried ginger powder (saunth)
  
• 2 tsp fennel powder
• 2 dried red chillies
• 1 cup yoghurt
• 2 tbsp ghee
  
• 2 pinches saffron
• Salt to taste
  

Method:

• Chop the potatoes into bite-sized pieces and keep aside.
• Dissolve the saffron in the warm milk and stir a bit. Keep aside till needed.
• Heat ghee in a deep bottomed pan. Add bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, whole red chilli and cook on low flame till the spices begin to crackle.
• Now add the chopped potatoes, turmeric powder, salt and saute for about five minutes on a medium flame.
• Whisk the yoghurt well and add it to the potatoes. Make sure your flame is on low so that the yoghurt does not curdle.
• Mix together the fennel and ginger powders and add it to the gravy.
• Then add the red chilli powder and cook till the mixture thickens slightly.
• Next, add the dissolved saffron along with the milk and stir for a couple of minutes. Check for seasoning and remove from the gas.
• Serve hot with Kashmiri Pulao.

Notes:

• If you want to make this with mutton, wash the mutton well and just replace the potatoes with the mutton.
• To make fennel powder, simply grind 2 tbsp of fennel seeds into a fine powder. You can also find this readymade in Indian grocery stores. The same store will also have dried ginger powder available.