food & photography
These saffron honey syrup cakes are really a moist fragrant piece of cake which I am going to share with you guys today. These mini cakes are bounty of celebrations and festivities. Along with festival season comes the celebratory food, which truly remarks the prosperity and joyousness associated with the festivals. Saffron itself symbolizes wealth and good life and is perfect for the festive food. …
It had to be saffron this time. The one I brought from my recent trip to Kashmir. The delicate aroma of this king of all spices is to be fallen in love with. And I have. This is special because this has got memories from the childhood too. Mother used to add few saffron threads to the quintessential chilled rice pudding in summer or comforting slow boiled milk with dry fruits in winter.
To her, adding saffron to the food ensured good health to her family. All mothers are like that. They would express their love and care through that extra bit of finer and healthier ingredients. Be it a generous dollop of butter or the whole grain food. I know, butter doesn’t sound healthy here, but to moms, it does.
So I thought of baking something with the spice, which could travel with me back home and more importantly, which could at least reciprocate the love and affection through the food. And I came across this wonderful recipe of Saffron and Pistachio biscotti from Jamie Oliver’s magazine, few days back which I had bookmarked before I went for the holiday.
The saffron flavor shone through and did magic to the nuttiness of roasted pistachios. Mother loved it and said she was proud of me and it made my day. Though I knew, it was nowhere close to the food which she’s been cooking for us all these years.
Ingredients
180 gm pistachio
Good pinch of saffron threads
110 gm butter
3 eggs
200 gm caster sugar
630 gm all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt {skip if using salted butter}
Instructions
I am going to write to you a post with more and more photos. So if you want to grab a cup of coffee before I start, please make yourself comfortable. Because I am sure, you wouldn’t want to read it in installments. Every time I look through the photographs, I just fell in love with Kashmir and I did not want to express that love in parts and that is why I dropped my previous decision of writing this into several installments.
It was last Saturday, when me and two of my friends found ourselves lucky enough to visit the beautiful city of Sri Nagar, the summer capital of Kashmir. Or more commonly known as the home to the Jewel in the Crown of Kashmir, Dal Lake, Shikaras, famous Mughal gardens.
After we landed, we headed straight to our accommodation which was a houseboat on the calm and beautiful Dal Lake. A hot cup of tea and some cookies clubbed with a beautiful sight of serene lake water with snow covered mountains on the horizon. A perfect rejuvenation for our souls !!!
We were all pepped up to go visit all those famous gardens and some local sight seeing. Spring had just started in Sri Nagar. The massive and beautiful Chinar trees were all dried up, but still looking beautiful. Chinar trees are major garden and landscape tree which dominates many historic gardens in the city. It’s leaves are quite similar looking to those of Maple tree.
We could spot some beautiful birds and new blooming flowers too.
Hazratbal shrine looked peaceful with devotees paying their obeisance and pigeons feeding.
You’ll find men and women wearing Phiran, a big traditional robe. Women have their phirans with embroidered flowers, whereas men wear them plane, chequered and more natural and earthen colors.
Sun sets with such vibrant colors in sky in mountains, probably the sky is devoid of pollutants and smoke.
With sun rising, there is a hustle bustle of merchants riding in Shikara {canoe like boats}, selling their stuff. Another major attraction of the city. One of the merchant could manage to sell some fresh flowers, seeds and root bulbs to my friend, and I could manage to capture that moment!
I was more interested in buying Saffron. Kashmir’s saffron is famous for centuries. With the help of the caretaker in our houseboat, we could get to buy some from a saffron merchant, who beside saffron had other ayurvedic medicinal stuff too. The gentleman was kind enough to show us a real saffron flower with three minuscule strands of the aromatic spice. Saffron, is more commonly used in traditional Kashmir cuisine. It was brought by the mughal emperors, who ruled during the 1500. It’s use is quite prevalent, starting from the breakfast, where it is used in the soul soothing aromatic drink Kahwah. Kahwah, made from boiling green tea with saffron, cinnamon and green cardamom pods is enjoyed all through out the day. Kahwa, for sure needs a separate post here.
Next day, we went to Gulmarg, peaks of the snow covered mountains. It was snow all over, wherever you could see.
Church looked so stunning, with all covered in snow.
And so was the Shiva temple, with devotees walking up the hill to pay their offerings.
This house looked like a big cake with a generous frosting of snow. So yummy looking, isn’t it!!!
It was a paradise for snow hikers and skiers. Skiing from 12000 feet high mountains, giving a divine view of the valley with Himalayan mountain range in the horizon was such divine sight, which you don’t get to see everyday.
Everyone out there was so amazed to be there.
It was a short trip to this beautiful valley, but indeed the soul satisfying one. Kashmir has got something for every season. If it is all snow covered during this time of the year, it is all bloomed up with flowers and vast grasslands during forthcoming season. Surely a place to be visited again and again. As if, the dried up Chinar trees were calling our names to come visit them soon to watch them flourishing with leaves and bearing fruits. There is saying for Kashmir in Persian, which goes very right “Agar firdous baroye zameen ast hami asto, hami asto, hami ast.” Meaning, If there is paradise on earth, It is here, it is here, it is here!!!