Hokh Syun: Kashmir's Sun-Dried Vegetables for Winter

Walk through an old Srinagar neighbourhood in late summer and you may still see it: halved tomatoes laid out on rooftops, and strings of aubergine and gourd slices hanging from windows like garlands. This is hokh syun, Kashmir's tradition of sun-drying vegetables to eat through the winter. Here is what it is, what each dried vegetable is called, and how to cook them today.

What Does Hokh Syun Mean?

In Kashmiri, hokh means dry and syun means a vegetable dish, so hokh syun is simply "dried vegetables". Individual dried vegetables are usually named with hachi (dried), so dried tomatoes are ruwangan hachi and dried aubergine is wangun hachi.

Why Kashmir Dries Its Vegetables

Kashmiri winters are long and cold, and the hardest stretch, Chillai Kalan, runs for about forty days from late December. For most of history, snow closed the roads out of the valley for weeks at a time and nothing fresh grew. Families prepared in summer and autumn, when vegetables were plentiful, by drying what they could not eat. Drying keeps vegetables for months without a fridge, and it changes their flavour: tomatoes turn deep, tangy and slightly sweet, and dried aubergine and gourd take on an earthy, almost smoky taste that fresh ones do not have.

The Main Kinds of Hokh Syun

• Ruwangan hachi (dried tomatoes): ripe tomatoes, halved or sliced and dried in the sun. The most versatile of them all, cooked with eggs, potatoes or meat. See our Kashmiri sun-dried tomatoes.
• Wangun hachi (dried aubergine): rounds of aubergine threaded on string and hung to dry.
• Al hachi (dried bottle gourd): gourd cut into rings or long strips and dried the same way.
• Gogji aar (dried turnip): turnip slices dried in autumn, a winter staple in many homes.
• Hokh haakh (dried collard greens): Kashmir's everyday leafy green, dried for the months when fresh haakh is scarce.

Spellings vary from family to family, because Kashmiri is more often spoken than written: you will also see ruwangan hach, ruwangan hatchi and vangan hachi.

How Hokh Syun Is Made

The method is simple and has not changed much. Vegetables are picked at their best in late summer, washed, and cut: tomatoes halved or sliced, aubergines and gourds into rounds or strips, turnips into slices. Tomatoes are spread in a single layer on mats or rooftops; aubergine and gourd are usually threaded onto string and hung in the sun. They are turned through the day and brought in at night, and after several days of strong sun they are fully dry and light. Once dry, they are stored in cloth bags or airtight containers until winter.

Our ruwangan hachi is made this way, grown and sun-dried in Kashmir by local growers.

Is Hokh Syun Still Made Today?

Less than it was. With fresh vegetables now trucked into Kashmir all year, fewer families spend late summer drying their own, and the tradition is fading in the cities. But dried vegetables still appear in Srinagar's markets before every winter, and many Kashmiris, at home and away from the valley, still cook them because nothing else tastes the same.

How to Cook Dried Vegetables

1. Rinse: wash the dried vegetables in a couple of changes of water to remove any dust from drying.
2. Soak: soak in warm water until soft, 15 to 20 minutes for tomatoes and longer for tougher aubergine, gourd and turnip. Keep the soaking water for tomatoes; it carries their flavour into the gravy.
3. Cook gently: most Kashmiri hokh syun dishes are cooked in mustard oil with Kashmiri red chilli, fennel and dry ginger powder, and simmered until the vegetables are tender. They are often cooked with potatoes, mutton or dried fish.

The easiest place to start is ruwangan hachi with eggs: hard-boiled eggs fried golden and simmered with dried tomatoes, fennel and dry ginger. The full recipe is on our dried tomatoes page. Dried tomatoes also work well beyond Kashmiri cooking: soaked and chopped into dals, rajma, pulao and pasta.

How to Store Hokh Syun

Keep dried vegetables in an airtight jar or a well-closed cloth bag in a cool, dry, dark place, and they keep for several months. Moisture is the enemy: in a humid summer, keep the jar in the fridge. Throw away anything that smells musty or shows any sign of mould.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is hokh syun?

Hokh syun is the Kashmiri name for sun-dried vegetables, such as tomatoes, aubergines, gourds and turnips, dried in summer and autumn to cook through the winter.

What is ruwangan hachi in English?

Sun-dried tomatoes. Ruwangan is Kashmiri for tomato and hachi means dried.

Do dried vegetables need to be soaked?

Yes, for most dishes. Soak them in warm water until soft before cooking: about 15 to 20 minutes for tomatoes, longer for aubergine, gourd and turnip.

Kashmir also dries its fruit, nuts and saffron. Our guide to which dry fruits are grown in Kashmir covers what is local and when each is harvested.