Mutton simmered in a pale, gently sour gravy of yoghurt scented with fennel, dried ginger and cardamom — no chilli, no turmeric.
What makes it kashmiri yakhni
Yoghurt as the whole sauce, stirred so it doesn't split.
Fennel, dried ginger and cardamom — no chilli and no turmeric.
Often finished with dried mint.
Where it comes from
Where rogan josh is red, yakhni is white: the other pole of the Kashmiri kitchen. The name comes from a Persian word for a meat broth, and in Kashmir it means meat cooked in yoghurt with fennel, dried ginger, cardamom and bay.
Muslim and Pandit homes both make it, and it's a course of the wazwan. Lotus stem, nadru, is cooked the same way for a meatless yakhni, and so are kohlrabi and aubergine.
How it varies
Nadru yakhni
Lotus stem instead of meat.
Aab gosht
A close relation from the wazwan: mutton cooked in milk rather than yoghurt.