MUZAFFARABAD: Two months after the launch of a portable restaurant on the replica of a boat, another emblem of Kashmiri craft, the kangri, has appeared in the same spot.

The kangri is a common household item in the Kashmir valley. A small earthen pot filled with glowing charcoal and encased in handmade wicker baskets, they are usually about 10 inches tall.

But the replica of Kangri that made its appearance in Upper Adda - the undeclared food street of Muzaffarabad - on Saturday evening is 7.5ft high and 4.5ft wide.

“I bet ours is the highest ‘functional’ kangri in the whole world,” claimed Khawaja Kamran Hassan, one of the three people behind the venture.

According to him, prior to this one, the largest kangri was one installed as a “decorative piece” in a Srinagar neighbourhood.

Mr Hassan studied architecture from Lahore’s prestigious National College of Arts, followed by an MPhil in communication design. His team includes Khawaja Jameel, an electrical engineer, and Faisal Jamil Kashmiri, a commentator and civil society activist.

In the first week of October, the trio launched a portable restaurant on the replica of a Shikara - a wooden boat found on Dal Lake and other water bodies in India-held Kashmir.

The initial menu consisted of homemade pink Kashmiri tea, goshtaba yakhni and chicken pulao. The sight of Shikara appealed to visitors, as did the cost and quality of food items.

“In fact the response was beyond the expectations, which eventually emboldened us to expedite the launch of the next replica with more food items,” Mr Hassan said.

“Now we are also offering soup, lobia (red beans) and methi maaz to our customers,” he added.

Methi maaz – the curry of mutton and fenugreek leaves – is another important part of Kashmiri cuisine.

Standing behind the kangri, Mr Kashmiri said one of the main objectives of establishing these replicas was for people to reconnect with their cultural heritage. “You can eat food anywhere, but you won’t find this view anywhere,” he said.

Among those present at the launch was Ghulam Rasool Mir, a 65-year-old from a family of traditional Kashmiri kulcha makers.

The commodity is cooked in wood-fired earthen ovens.

“This Kangri has revived my childhood memories when people would visit us to take embers for their small fire-pots,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2017