Nadru Gaad pairs tender lake fish with fresh lotus stem slices, cooked together in a rich spice-infused red gravy.
Lotus stems (Nadru) harvested from Dal and Anchar lakes have been eaten in Kashmir since ancient times. Pairing them with local fish represents the traditional lakeside diet of the valley.
Tourist Tip
A great local specialty. The lotus stems absorb the delicious fish gravy and become extremely flavorful.
Fried freshwater fish and crescent slices of lotus stem simmered together in a red, fennel-deep gravy — the lake's fish and the lake's vegetable in one winter pot. Nadru gaad is lake cooking, literally.
Waza Tips
Rub the fish with salt and a pinch of turmeric; rest 10 minutes.
Wash the nadru slices thoroughly, checking the channels for grit.
Heat the mustard oil to smoking in a wide pan and fry the fish golden on both sides; lift out gently.
In the same oil, fry the nadru 3-4 minutes until the edges colour, and set aside.
Add the asafoetida, then the chilli powder slurried in water, stirring until the oil runs red; add turmeric, fennel, sonth and salt.
Add the hot water and the nadru and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes until the stem is nearly tender.
Return the fish, spoon gravy over, and simmer gently, unstirred, for 8 minutes. Rest briefly and serve.
Frozen lotus stem and trout or tilapia steaks reproduce the dish faithfully outside Kashmir.
Serve over steamed rice with the gravy poured generously.
Thirty-six courses, one copper trami — the feast Kashmir is named for.
Begin the feastA concierge that has eaten everywhere and slept nowhere — ask it anything about Kashmir.
Not a list — a seating. Scroll, and be walked from table to table.
Where Srinagar has eaten since 1918.
A century-old dining room on Residency Road that taught generations what a proper Rogan Josh should taste like. Unhurried, unchanged, unmistakable.
Enter the dining room
The wedding feast, every single day.
Wazas work the copper degs from dawn — the same courses served at Kashmiri weddings, plated for a table of two. Gushtaba here ends arguments.
Enter the dining room
The art of dining, facing the Zabarwan.
Modern Kashmiri fine dining — heritage recipes composed like paintings, served in a room of walnut wood and candlelight beneath the mountains.
Enter the dining room
Dinner beside the still water.
A boulevard institution where houseboat lights flicker across your table. Come at dusk, order Yakhni, and let the lake do the talking.
Enter the dining room
The tash-naer comes to you before the food — warm water poured over your hands. Nothing touches the rice before the water touches you.
The trami feeds four. Your wedge is yours alone; the far side belongs to a stranger — and to their trust in you.
No hand reaches before the senior one. Rank at the trami is measured in years, never in wealth.
The last course is the host's honour, pounded smooth by hand for hours. Declining it ends more than the meal.
Every pass and valley crossing in Kashmir, mapped by distance, altitude and the stops worth slowing down for. Drive one now — without leaving your seat.
One road, one steady climb into the meadow.
43.5 km · 1.5 hrs
The same valley, four different masterpieces. Watch it turn.
The valley wakes in tulips.
Mustard fields run gold to the mountains; mornings smell of blossom and wet earth.
Meadows climb to the snowline.
Rivers loud with meltwater, shepherds moving higher, days that refuse to end.
The chinars catch fire.
Orchards heavy with apples; every avenue burns amber, copper and rust.
Snow rewrites the valley.
Frozen lakes, pine forests hushed white, kangri embers glowing indoors.
No matter when you arrive, Kashmir has another story waiting.
Explore Kashmir
Honeymoons, one-day loops, hidden valleys, the best Wazwan near Dal Lake — Waza is the intelligence behind everything you just scrolled through.
Nadru Gaad pairs tender lake fish with fresh lotus stem slices, cooked together in a rich spice-infused red gravy.
Lotus stems (Nadru) harvested from Dal and Anchar lakes have been eaten in Kashmir since ancient times. Pairing them with local fish represents the traditional lakeside diet of the valley.
Tourist Tip
A great local specialty. The lotus stems absorb the delicious fish gravy and become extremely flavorful.
Fried freshwater fish and crescent slices of lotus stem simmered together in a red, fennel-deep gravy — the lake's fish and the lake's vegetable in one winter pot. Nadru gaad is lake cooking, literally.
Waza Tips
Rub the fish with salt and a pinch of turmeric; rest 10 minutes.
Wash the nadru slices thoroughly, checking the channels for grit.
Heat the mustard oil to smoking in a wide pan and fry the fish golden on both sides; lift out gently.
In the same oil, fry the nadru 3-4 minutes until the edges colour, and set aside.
Add the asafoetida, then the chilli powder slurried in water, stirring until the oil runs red; add turmeric, fennel, sonth and salt.
Add the hot water and the nadru and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes until the stem is nearly tender.
Return the fish, spoon gravy over, and simmer gently, unstirred, for 8 minutes. Rest briefly and serve.
Frozen lotus stem and trout or tilapia steaks reproduce the dish faithfully outside Kashmir.
Serve over steamed rice with the gravy poured generously.
