Jammu Food Guide

Jammu’s native Hindu population are mainly vegetarians. The splendours of Jammu cuisine include such dishes as red kidney beans eaten with fragrant long-grained Jammu rice, an array of vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, turnips, peas and potatoes. Spices are usually used after being roasted and ground, a technique that adds an unusual aroma and taste to the food. Milk and milk products are popular and plenty of fresh fruits are available but rice and red beans are the staple diet. Wheat is converted into delicious fat stuffed unleavened breads filled to capacity with mashed potatoes, grated radish or cauliflower, always eaten liberally spread with pure clarified butter called ghee, or with fresh home made pats of butter and large bowls of fresh yoghurt.

The gastronomic delights of Kashmiri cuisine are also available in Jammu. Kashmiri food is characterised by its vast array of dishes cooked over a long period of time in exotic spices. Known as wazawan, Kashmiri cuisine is mostly meat-based. The food is characterised by thick gravies using liberal quantities of yoghurt, spices and dried fruits, and is usually cooked in ghee (clarified butter) or mustard oil. Saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, is grown locally. It is used extensively to flavour the pulaos (rice dish) and sweets. The popular dishes include the starter yakhni, tabaq naat made of fried ribs, dum aloo (steam cooked potato curry), rogan josh made with mutton, goushtaba,a meatball curry and haleem made from meat pounded with wheat.