Cottage cheese with fennel and cardamom flavours, milk curry flavoured with Kashmiri spices are highly fragrant. It’s a delicious vegetarian side dish that pairs nicely with steamed rice and naan. Chaman Qaliya is a Kashmiri delicacy of creamy cottage cheese flavoured with fennel and cardamom. A fragrant curry flavoured with milk and Kashmiri cream is a delicious vegetarian side dish that is frequently served on special occasions across the valley. It’s frequently prepared in Kashmiri families, especially when there’s a vegetarian celebration. Kashmiri Wazwaan cuisine is famous for its meat dishes, but when done correctly, vegetarian food can be extremely tasty as well.
Except for the pandits, most Kashmiris eat non-vegetarian cuisine. Vegetarians are left with limited alternatives. They primarily consume Lotus stems, potatoes, and paneer. As a result, Kashmiri cuisine includes a range of Paneer dishes, the most unusual of which being Chaman Qaliya. The lemon yellow sauce is gently simmered with paneer and receives its unique colour with the addition of saffron and turmeric. The curry is simple to prepare and has moderate flavours. It’s both healthy and delicious.
Here's the recipe of this absolutely tasty dish –
Ingredients:
400 gms Paneer (home-made),
2 C Milk,
2 cloves,
3 Green cardamoms,
1 tsp Cumin,
1 Tbs Ghee,
1/2 tsp Turmeric,
1 1/2 tsp fennel, powder saunf,
A pinch of saffron,
1/8th tsp ginger powder,
salt to taste,
1/2 tsp Kashmiri Garam Masala (Or use your favourite brand).
Cooking directions:
In a wok, heat the oil and add the bay leaf, cinnamon, and cloves.
Now, add water and, when it comes to a boil, stir in the turmeric powder, cinnamon powder, salt, and fennel powder.
Allow the water mixture to boil and decrease somewhat. Now add the paneer chunks and simmer until the paneer softens and the curry thickens.
1 cup full fat milk and saffron, mix well, and simmer until desired consistency is reached.
Turn off the heat and add the cardamom powder.
Serve with rice or naan and garnished with fresh chopped coriander.
The unique hue of the lemon yellow paneer gravy is achieved by adding saffron and turmeric. The curry is simple to prepare and has moderate flavours. It’s both healthy and delicious. Chaman Qaliya is frequently served with rice and naan. To replicate the flavours of onion and garlic in these dishes, hing or asafoetida are required. Safran and dried ginger are very significant components of Kashmiri cuisine; this is a dish that tastes fantastic when combined with other whole spices such as fennel, cumin, cardamom, and so on. However, it is the use of fresh milk as a base that distinguishes Chaman Qaliya as light but creamy. The flavour, not the structure, is dominating here, so don’t mistake it for thick gravel. It’s thin and rustic, so it pairs beautifully with soft, fluffy, long-grained rice that soaks up the flavours.
Chaman Qaliya is easy to cook, has no complicated ingredients, and is healthful; a recipe that takes less than 30 minutes to prepare, making it great for after a long day at work. It also works great on a festive weekend thali with rice, rotis, and a variety of other foods. In any case, you’re sure to have a good time!
