Kashmiri Haak Recipe the Way Srinagar Homes Cook It

Most recipes for Kashmiri haak online turn it into a thick, spiced curry, and the result tastes nothing like the bright green, brothy greens served with rice in a Srinagar home. If you have tried one of those versions and wondered why Kashmiris talk about this simple dish with such affection, the problem was almost certainly too much cooking and too many spices.

Haak is collard greens, cooked quickly in water and mustard oil with a pinch of asafoetida and a few chillies. That is nearly all. Below is the recipe I learned from my aunt, with the small details that make the difference.

What Kashmiri haak actually is

Haak, sometimes written haakh, is the everyday green of the Kashmir Valley. It is a variety of collard (Brassica oleracea), grown in kitchen gardens and floating gardens on Dal Lake, and sold in bundles at every vegetable stall. Kashmiris eat it several times a week, often with plain rice and a side of yogurt or a meat dish.

The flavor should be clean and green, slightly bitter, with heat from chilli and a savory edge from asafoetida. The broth matters as much as the leaves. People pour it over rice and it is the part children ask for.

It is one of the dishes I mention first when people ask about Kashmiri cuisine at home, because it shows how much the valley's cooking relies on restraint rather than spice.

Ingredients for Kashmiri haak (serves 4)

• 500 g collard greens (haak), or the closest you can find
• 3 tablespoons mustard oil
• 2 to 4 whole dried Kashmiri red chillies, or 2 green chillies slit
• 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (hing), dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
• About 400 ml water
• Salt to taste, roughly 1 teaspoon
• A small pinch of baking soda, optional, to keep the color bright

Some families add a few cloves of garlic. Kashmiri Pandit households traditionally do not, and many Muslim households do. Both versions are authentic. Mine below is without garlic.

How to cook Kashmiri haak step by step

1. Prepare the greens. Wash the leaves in two or three changes of water, since garden haak can be gritty. Strip out only the thickest part of the central stem. Do not chop the leaves. Kashmiris cook haak whole or torn into large pieces.
2. Heat the mustard oil. In a wide pan, heat the oil until it just smokes, then let it cool for 30 seconds. This takes away the raw, sharp edge of mustard oil.
3. Add the chillies. Drop in the dried or green chillies and let them sizzle for 10 seconds without burning.
4. Add the greens and water. Add the leaves, then pour in the water. It should come about halfway up the greens. Add salt and the baking soda if using.
5. Add the asafoetida. Pour in the dissolved hing and stir once.
6. Cook briefly. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 8 to 12 minutes for young, tender haak, or up to 20 minutes for older, tougher leaves. The leaves should be soft but still deep green.
7. Rest and serve. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 2 minutes. Serve in bowls with plenty of broth, alongside steamed rice.

Finding haak outside Kashmir

True Kashmiri haak is hard to buy abroad, but you have good options. Collard greens are the closest match and are sold in many supermarkets in North America and the UK. Choose young bunches with leaves no wider than your hand. Spring greens in the UK and lacinato kale also work, though kale has a firmer texture and needs a few extra minutes.

Avoid spinach. It collapses into a mush within two minutes and releases too much water, and the flavor is wrong. Mustard greens are tasty but much more peppery, so mix them half and half with collards if you use them.

Many families of the diaspora grow their own haak from seed carried home, and in summer it is common to see it in backyard plots in Delhi, Jammu and even London.

Stop simmering it for an hour

Some cookbooks and videos tell you to cook haak slowly for 45 minutes to an hour so it becomes "tender and rich." I would push back on that firmly. Long cooking turns the leaves olive brown, drives off the fresh flavor, and leaves a muddy taste in the broth. In Kashmir, the color is the first thing a cook checks. If it has gone dark, it has been overcooked.

The exception is very mature winter haak, which can be tough and fibrous. Even then, 25 minutes is usually enough. If a recipe asks for onion, tomato, garam masala and an hour on the stove, it is describing a different dish, perhaps a good one, but not haak.

Variations worth knowing

Haak with nadru

Lotus stem, called nadru, is sliced and cooked with haak in many homes. Boil the lotus stem slices for 10 minutes first, then add them with the greens so both finish at the same time.

Haak with meat

Some families cook haak with lamb, adding the greens to partly cooked meat for the final 15 minutes. It is a heartier winter version.

Dried haak

In autumn, families dry haak in the sun to store for winter, when fresh greens are scarce. Dried haak, called hokh haak, has a deep, smoky flavor and needs soaking before cooking. It is one of the old preservation habits also used for tomatoes, turnips and gourds.

What to serve with it

Haak almost always comes with plain white rice, usually a short-grain local variety. A bowl of plain yogurt or a simple yogurt dish balances the bitterness. For a fuller meal, add a meat dish such as rogan josh, which you can make using the Kashmiri rogan josh recipe without onion or garlic. Finish with a cup of salt tea or kahwa, and you have a very ordinary, very good Kashmiri meal. If you want to understand the breakfast side of that tea tradition, read the teas that define a quiet Kashmiri morning.

Frequently asked questions

What is haak in English?

Haak is a variety of collard greens, a leafy plant in the cabbage family. Outside Kashmir, regular collard greens are the closest substitute. The name is also used more loosely for other leafy greens in Kashmiri.

Why is my Kashmiri haak bitter?

Some bitterness is normal and expected. Too much usually comes from very old leaves, raw mustard oil that was not heated to smoking, or overcooking. Use younger leaves and smoke the oil properly to get a milder result.

Can I make Kashmiri haak without mustard oil?

You can use another neutral oil, but the flavor will be quite different. Mustard oil gives haak its characteristic sharp, warm taste. If you cannot find it, add a pinch of ground mustard seed to compensate a little.