Kashmiri food has some influence of Mughal cooking but mostly it has its own distinct identity. It is mostly non vegetarian in nature as most Kashmiri eat meat even the Brahmins among the Kashmiri Hindus. Meat would be mostly chicken, goat or lamb. Among these, lamb is the preferred choice of meat. Kashmiris also prefer fresh water fish.

‘Wazhawan’ is the traditional name for Kashmiri cooking and the chefs in a Kashmiri household were known as ‘Wazhas’. The Kashmiri Muslim style of cooking used lots of onion and garlic. Earlier Kashmiri Hindus did not use onion and garlic for cooking even for the non vegetarian dishes. Instead they relied on curd and hing (asafetida).
But in recent times they have started using onion and garlic in some of their dishes.

Kashmiri use a lot of curd in making gravy based dishes giving it a creamy layer. Rice is the main grain for Kashmiris. Special Kashmiri rice grown in the region is light and fragrant. If rice is not available Kashmiris settle for corn bread.

Nuts grown in the valley like walnuts, almond etc. and fruits and dry fruits like raisins are also found in Kashmiri food. Apart from this spices like cinnamon, chillies, cloves, dry ginger and mostly saffron are widely found in Kashmiri cuisines.

Breads also feature highly in a Kashmiri diet. Specially found in Kashmir are breads like Tsot, Lavas, Sheermal, Tsochvoru, and Baqerkhani. The most famous among Kashmiri dishes are Rogan Josh, Daniwal Korma, Dum Aloo, Gushtaba, Yakhni, Tabak Maaz and lots more.