While all kinds of cuisines are available in Jammu and Kashmir, undoubtedly local cuisine is also quite popular with a good collection of yummy dishes. The cuisine of Kashmir got its root about 100 years back with a strong touch of Kashmiri Buddhists and Hindu community Pandits who lived in these valleys. Along with this, it is also greatly influenced by the delicious cuisines of North India Plains, Persia and Central Asia.

Kashmiri Cuisine

Kashmiri cuisine is really a mouth watering collection of delicacies as they use large quantity of dry fruits and that too in curries. They make use of good volume of ghee which gives rich aroma to the food. These days they have started substituting ghee with mustard oil just to avoid consumption of excess fat. Rice is the major staple food in Jammu and Kashmir. The rice available in Kashmir is light and very aromatic. It is popularly called as Kashmiri pulao and is the favorite food for many people. This dish is purely authentic and unique in taste. Kulcha, a kind of bread made from wheat is also quite famous in this region.

Kashmiri Pandit Cuisine

Kashmiri Pandit cuisines are literally elaborate and bring out the ethnic and traditional touch of Pandit community. Their food is mostly prepared by using maximum amount of yoghurt, spices and oil. They usually avoid tomatoes, garlic, onions, mutton and chicken in their dish. Traditional vegetarian cuisine from Kashmiri Pandit kitchen includes Razmah goagji, Nadier Palak, Choek vangan, Nadeir yakhean (made from lotus stem), Dama Oluv (made from potatoes), Veth tsaman (oil cooked Indian cheese mixed with kashmiri spices), Ladyar Tsaman (turmeric mixed Indian cheese).

Cuisine in Ladakh

In Ladakh, people cook in a different style, compared to the rest of the state. Ladakh people consume lot of vegetarian dishes. Major portion of their vegetarian dishes are prepared with proper mixture of vegetables combined with good volume of cottage cheese and potatoes. The most popular dish is their salty butter tea and Tsampa (ground barley powder in roasted form), Khambir, steamed momos and Pava. The cuisine of Ladakh largely resembles Tibetian cuisine and the style of cooking is also similar. People of Ladakh generally prefer to consume fruits, vegetables, yak butter, various other milk products, millet, wheat and rice. Jammu is also swell known for vegetarian delicacies. Muslim in Kashmir does not use curd, hing or asafetida.

The food in the border state of Jammu and Kashmir is simply exotic and it can be best enjoyed in any of the dining place here. Their traditional meal may be bit heavy sometimes but still, it cannot be avoided because of its distinguished flavor and outstanding aroma.