Dilbar Hotel Hub of Kashmiri home made delicious,traditional Kashmiri Food
By.Asghar Ali Mubarak
Rawalpindi ;-
“We don’t use machines to prepare our food. We still use copper utensils to cook and use only local Kashmiri onions, known as paral, to add a distinctive flavour. Red chillies are used in most dishes, but some are prepared using black pepper,” he said.He claim to fame is most definitely the fondness former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the food served at Dilbar Hotel.
“He likes Gushtaba,” “We cooked for him when he was in London, before his return to Pakistan in 2008. Newly announced Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif is also very fond of hareesa and we receive special orders from him whenever he is in Murree.”he added.It is mentioned here that over the centuries, Rawalpindi has been known as a base camp for visitors to the Kashmir valley, and as a consequence, came to adopt a decidedly Kashmiri flavor in terms of art, culture and food.During the Mughal era and then the British Raj, Kashmiris would travel to Rawalpindi on their way to areas in Punjab and what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. In the days when they would roam the streets of Pindi freely, Kashmiris brought traditional items, including shawls, woodwork and, of course, the food.Today, even though the throngs of Kashmiris may be gone from Pindi’s streets, but in the back alleys at U-919 Purana Qila,Old Fort near Sootar Gali Rawalpindi, there remains one last bastion of Kashmiri identity whose doors have not closed – the Dilbar Hotel. Specializing in traditional Kashmiri food, the modest restaurant was opened soon after partition and has been drawn lovers of Kashmiri cuisine to its humble stalls for decades.The chef coked the food under high quality healthy environment and staff proudly present the food in traditional Kashmirs hospitality style. The most popular items on the menu, even today, are the traditional meat dishes Gushtaba and Aab Ghosht.The former is a mouth-watering meatball dish with a thick gravy.Made from minced mutton, the meat is not prepared in a grinder, but rather pounded to tenderness by special wooden hammers.It is cooked in the traditional way, in a stew of curd, milk and vegetable oil. Lightly spiced and garnished with a dash of saffron, the aromatic dish is a perennial favourite for visitors.
Aab Gosht is made from Yakhni (mutton stock), with a hint of spice – mostly black pepper – added for flavour. Hareesa and Shab Deg are very popular among-st customers, especially in the winter months. Hareesa is also a thick mutton stew, while Shab Deg is a mixture of turnips and mutton or beef with spices, tomatoes and onions added to taste. Both dishes are cooked for hours on a low flame, usually through the night. Palak gosht with boiled rice is a common delicacy that is made in nearly every household across the country. But the Kashmiri recipe for this staple dish is unique and the palak gosht at Dilbar tastes nothing like what your mother makes at home.
