Harissa shops have started making the winter dish in Kashmir
By: Tariq Shah VOV
Srinagar
Nip in the atmosphere and drop in temperatures in morning and evening hours has tempted people as well as Harissa shops to start their winter relationship.
Harissa is the morning breakfast dish, popular in Kashmir and now in Srinagar city, there are dozens of outlets of Harisa Zafrani on which they sprinkle the known herb of Kashmir known as Saffron.
Pic by Tariq Shah
In the past, there were only few known Harissa outlets in Downtown Srinagar and most of the people even from the Uptown and from the outskirts used to visit these shops to fetch Harisa for their families.
The Harisa of Aali Kadal was known as the peculiar maker of this winter dish and he used to finish his entire dish in a few hours of morning during winters.
It is delightful for the people of Srinagar especially when there is a snowfall and in the entire season of winter, people used to fetch Harisa for their family from these shops of Downtown.
Pic by Tariq Shah
During those days apart from Aali Kadal, the Harisa shop of Dalgate was also very popular and many visitors especially the tourists used to come to this shop in the morning to taste this Kashmiri delight as a breakfast.
From the houseboats not only the owners but also the tourists also used to visit this shop of Dalgate in the wee hours of winter to enjoy hot Harissa at the shop with Kashmiri bread.
While talking to this reporter, 74 old Ali Muhammad Bhat who is a known Harisa shop owner in Dalgate said that many European tourists used to come to enjoy Harisa especially in autumn season as Dal Lake according to him used to receive hundreds of foreign tourists in this season.
Though Ali Muhammad has started his shop in Dalgate to sell Harisa, he is missing the foreign tourists and the rush of other visitors to his shop.
Ali Muhammad said that now the locals especially the youth are visiting him in the morning hours to enjoy Harisa at his shop. He said that but the clientele has diminished to great extent and he is waiting for those days again when he will receive foreign tourists in the early morning hours as he is missing the hospitality and their smiles back to him when he used to give them extra Harissa in their plate.
