kashmiri breads
Kashmir has bread for every season. Kashmiri bread originated from the great love that people had for bread. Actually it is not love; it is matter of survival for them, because for Kashmiri people, bread is the main source of survival.
Over thousand years of evolution of Homo sapiens and a subsequent development of new cultures on this planet, led the bread to secure various forms. A Kashmiri breakfast is incomplete without baker’s bread. And due to this fact in every colony of the Kashmir region, bread bakery is located.
Kandur is a word which is used for a “bakery shop” in Kashmir. In Kashmir there is bread for every season. Bread is an integral part of their social custom too- engagement, wedding, birth. These breads go well with their salty pink tea called Nun Chai. There are many types of traditional breads like: Chot, Katkam, Kulcha, Lavaas etc. that are made and sold in Kashmir.
Awesome List of Kashmiri bread
1. Czot/ Girda/ Roti: This bread is prepared by kandur in tandoor. This is normal bread. This bread is consumed by people on daily basics with jam or butter. It is golden from the upper side and white on the lower side. This is the main course of the Kashmiri people. A day without this bread and tea is very difficult for Kashmiri Muslims.
2. Ghyev Czhot: This is a special kind of roti. It is also cooked in the tandoor by kandur. It is made in the same way as simple bread is cooked. On the upper portion of the bread there is a layer of ghee that makes it different from the normal breads. Upper portion get softer due to the presence of ghee.
3. Lavasa/ Lawaas: It is a kind of bread consumed by people on daily basis. It is thin, large, unleavened flat bread. It is white in color. It is made up of Maida (finely – milled wheat flour). It is like a paper thin blistered naan. Some are soft and some are crispy. We can have this bread with combination of butter or jam. It is also used to wrap meats and chickpeas.
4. Czochworu / Chochwor: It is a desi donut. It is a soft and round in shape. It is about three inches diameter and six inches circumference.seasame seeds are sprinkled on the upper portion of the bread. Poppy seeds on the lower portion that make it crispy. It is an evening and afternoon bread. This bread can be consumed with a combination of jam or butter. Hot Czochworu are best in taste. I t can be taken with a combination of salted tea by some people; people can consume bread as per their choice
5. Kulcha: It is small dry and crumbly bread. It is us usually round in shape.it is also prepared by the kandur. Peanut are put in the center of the upper face of the Kulcha. There aremany kind of Kulcha. They are as under:
• Simple kind of Kulcha with poppy seeds. It usually has a salty taste.
• Another kind of Kulcha resembles Czochworu. So it is called Czochwor Kulcha.
• Khatai is another type of Kulcha. It is sugary in taste. Anantnag is famous for this Kulcha.
6. Katlam: It is very crispy bread. It is usually round in shape. It can be taken well with jam or butter. Most of the time people take this bread with hot tea. It is salty in taste.
7. Roth: It is a Kashmiri dry fruit cake. It is very long bread. It is usually one meter long, half meter baked. It is garnished with the dry fruits. In marriage it is sent from bride’s side to grooms house called Roth Khaber.
8. Bakirkhani: It is more like pastry and served with kahwa. The bread is made by stretching a sheet of dough repeatedly and interleaving with ghee before baking in a tandoor. It is mostly served with Rogan josh. There is also another type of bakirkhani, inside which halwa is rolled, it is called parantha. These types of parantha are distributed outside the shrines.
9. Sheermal/ Krippe: It is dry and crumby bread. It is also served with kehwa. It is crispy and salty in taste. There are various kinds of sheermal and various places are famous where you can find this bread, Pampore is one of them.
TarunaAggarwal
