Pharre te haakh (Smoked Fish with Spinach)

Recipe

One of the many Kashmiri classics is ‘pharre te haakh’. The recipe is as traditional as ‘haakh te gaade’ but instead of just plain good old fish(gaade), pharre are used.

Steps:

Clean the smoked fish or pharre in lukewarm water as delicately as possible so as not to break them. The guts are already removed when smoking them so all you need to do is wash and clean away the charred skin.

Once cleaned,fry them in oil and leave aside.

For preparing the haakh (collard greens)

1. Take a little oil (preferably mustard) in a pressure cooker and heat it.
2. Add the cleaned haakh along with a few cloves of crushed garlic. Once the haakh begins to wilt a little,add half a tsp of turmeric powder and a cup or two of water. Pressure cook till soft.
3. In a pan, heat a little oil and add one black cardamom to it. Add a generous amount of ‘ver’ (Kashmiri red chilli masala tikki) or simply red chilli powder. Let it cook for a minute and add this tadka to the cooked haakh.
4. Add in the required amount of salt. Give one boil (add more water if required) and then add the fried pharre. Let them cook for 6-7 minutes. For best results, let it cool completely before consuming with hot white rice.