Besides its scenic landscape, snow-covered mountains, enchanting valleys and pristine beauty, Kashmir which is known as ‘paradise on earth, is also known for its indubitable and incredible offerings be it Wazwaan or the mouth watering Harissa.
Harissa, a mutton preparation and a traditional winter delicacy is the favorite breakfast of winter in Kashmir. Served hot with flatbread or Naan, tempered onion rings, oil and optionally Kebabs, people welcome the cold winters with traditionally prepared sizzling hot Harissa.
Came to Kashmir in the 14th century, as claimed by historians the Harissa not only serves Kashmir but the whole India and World as well. The Srinagar city has been serving it for over two centuries. The Harissa makers have been in the business for over two centuries and still carry it forward.
Earlier, in the line of serving it were men who were carrying out all the efforts, from cooking to delivering it to the markets. Now women are also serving the people with this delicious blazing recipe with great enthusiasm.
One such example is Hirrah Naseer, living in the suburbs of Hyderpora Srinagar, who has always been passionate and loved to cook the tasty Harissa. The love for the food has made her a young entrepreneur.
The female entrepreneur, once an engineer, has set up her own Harissa brand titled- ‘Fall Winter Harissa” wherein she sells the home cooked and hygienic delicious Harissa to her customers through out the country.
“It all started with the advice of my father-in-law. In spite of a degree, sitting back home was making me feel demotivated. So, my father-in-law advised me that you can also commence a business at home. Then, I decided to prepare the Harissa for my friends and family. They started loving it and I thought of starting the Harissa brand,” she told Rising Kashmir.
“As mother prepares food for her kids, in the same way I prepare Harissa and serve people. I didn’t mix it up and it is completely pure and hygienic,” she said, adding “Because of purity I got a very good response from people. The number of my customers is increasing day by day”.
Starting from her own locality, Hirrah has been serving the dish to people for two years. With the help of her social media accounts she is also delivering the Harissa outside Jammu and Kashmir. She credits most of her success to local online home delivery portals which, according to her, helped her to nourish her taste of Harissa to the whole country.
“I started making Harissa in late 2019. Due to less awareness about the tools, ways used in the cooking process; in the beginning I received light responses. But gradually when I advertised my brand, people started approaching me,” she said.
Crediting her success to social media, Hirrah thanked “Gatoes, a platform based on a hyper local on-demand food and grocery delivery business operation and “FastBettle”, courier and logistics services company for advancing her brand out of the UT.
“In beginning I was only delivering orders to the first ten kilometer localities around my home, but as the number of orders started growing, I delivered it to the whole city through my driver. Today, I deliver my Harissa brand to every state and corner of India and nowadays I receive international orders also”, she said.
In the valley the traditional Harissa shops are mainly located in Downtown areas including Aali Kadal, Nawa Kadal, Rajouri Kadal, Saraf Kadal and Gojwara. Each of these shops competes for customers and quality. Harissa of these areas is famous all across the globe. But the quality, purity and freshness Hirrah has in her Harissa brand received praise from these areas also.
“As my ancestors were ordering the Harissa from Downtown, all the same now I am receiving orders from these areas also and they praise me which boosts my confidence helping me to push forward”, Hira said.
Hira’s story seems to be a successive story, but she also received criticism which she transformed into the feedback for her and took that in a positive manner. People oftentimes started demotivating her, but she didn’t stop. “My father-in-law’s counseling helped me in ceasing all the negative thoughts coming from my mind. He told me to take all the negative talk as feedback and take it in a positive manner and work on it which helped me to be where I am,” she said.
Harissa making is a very hectic process which takes hours to cook and needs labour. ”I started an employment chain at my home. My driver is delivering it to the people who order, I take help from my family. My domestic helper and his wife also work with me during the process and I pay them all with my pocket,” Hirrah said.
Hirrah said it takes a maximum of five days only to deliver Harrisa to any part of india. ” I have delivered orders within two days to North india and in five days to Kolkata, Gujrat and Kerela”, she said.
She said, to deliver Harissa outside kashmir, it is sealed in tins with vacuum-sealed packaging and no additives are included. Its shelf life is five months and it can be stocked in department stores with no change in its flavor and nutrient content.
She said that they deliver Harissa across the year, but as it is mostly sought after during the wintertime, it is not quickly accessible in the summer and orders must be submitted ten days prior.
Hirrah said that she is planning to ship Harissa to the Middle East since she has received a lot of orders and a positive reaction from there too. “I am completing the documents which is underway. I believe that shortly my homemade Kashmir’s traditional winter delicacy will be widespread throughout the Middle East,” she concluded.
