New Delhi, Oct 6 ; Traditional delicacies from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including Nadur Kebab, Haakh, Phaymer and Kahwa, featured at a banquet hosted by President Droupadi Murmu for Swiss President Guy Parmelin and his wife Caroline Parmelin at Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Tuesday.
The curated menu brought together ingredients and dishes associated with the three regions — Kashmir’s lotus stem, saffron and morels, Jammu’s sweets and street food, and Ladakh’s sea buckthorn, apricot, wild nettle, yak cheese and barley.
Among the dishes served were Ladakhi wild nettle soup, or ‘Za Thuk’, accompanied by winter peas and roasted millet pearls, and ‘Labo-Na Tsonma’, a salad featuring Labo and Chhurpi cheeses from Ladakh and Kalari from Jammu, along with dried apple, walnuts and wild capers.
The appetisers included ‘Kimb Chaat’, a Jammu street-food preparation made with boiled taro root, sweet potatoes and rice flour crispies, and ‘Nadur Kebab with Dooyn Chetin’, consisting of lotus stem patties seasoned with Kashmiri spices and served with walnut chutney.
The main course featured ‘Haakh’, collard greens cooked with mustard oil and asafoetida; ‘Dum Oluv’, potatoes prepared with yoghurt, dry ginger and fennel; and ‘Kana Gucch Pulao’, made with Kashmiri morels and whole spices. These were served with ‘Mujj Chatin’, along with Sheermal and Katlam breads.
Desserts included Kashmiri ‘Shufta’, prepared with dry dates, cashew nuts, raisins and coconut, and Ladakhi ‘Phaymer’, made with roasted barley, jaggery and butter and served with Chura soft cheese.
Guests were also served Kashmiri ‘Kahwa’, flavoured with cinnamon, cardamom and saffron, as well as Ladakhi ‘Gur Gur Chai’ and wild rose tea.
The menu described Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as regions where the Himalayan landscape has shaped cuisine around seasonal produce and local ingredients.
The banquet came during Parmelin’s three-day visit to India, his first State visit to the country and his second visit this year after attending the AI Impact Summit in February.
In her banquet address, Murmu said the implementation of the India-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) had created greater scope for expanding bilateral trade and investment between India and Switzerland.
India and Switzerland also signed a migration and mobility partnership pact on Monday, while agreeing to expand Swiss market access for Indian exports and deepen cooperation in nuclear energy and defence following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Parmelin.
