From the land of dreamers, poets, artists, emperors and saints comes a cuisine that inspires all your senses. If you have travelled through Kashmir or have been lucky enough to eat at a Kashmiri wedding, then you would have definitely come across Rista.

Rista is a famous meatball preparation that holds a special place in the Kashmiri wazwan. For those who don’t know what a wazwan is, it is a traditional spread of Kashmiri cuisine. A multi course, non-vegetarian meal that has become symbolic of the culture of this magnificent region.

For making Rista, the mince is traditionally beaten with a wooden pallet to attain the soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture but that might not really work out in our modern kitchens where a food processor would ‘almost’ do the job.

The aroma of mustard oil with asafoetida, and the freshness of fennel powder with ginger and the sharpness of clove with spiciness of chillis makes the dish heavenly. I have always been fascinated with cuisines around India, specially the places that I haven’t been but read and heard about. Kashmir is one such place, and I am surely trying more Kashmiri wazwan. The recipes are a bit extensive and time consuming, but trust me, its all worth in the end.