Persenda
This article is about their unique and special food item, the dry lamb meat; called as Persenda. Sometimes this phenomenon is confused with the Landi (which is actually the process of making Persenda).
The Pashtuns (also known as Afghan and Pathan) are an ethnic group with populations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They are generally classified as Eastern Iranian who use Pashto language and follow Pashtunwali, which is a traditional set of ethics guiding individual and communal conduct. Passing through a transition, Pashtun was a pastoralist community moving with their livestock around the year following clouds and foliage. Still almost half of the population of the Pashtuns are either pastoralist (Afghan Kuchi), agro-pastoralists, or small-scale farmers.
Persenda is prepared from the meat of native sheep breeds such as Waziri, Kakari, Gassali, Dummari, Musakhaili, Shinwari and Marriwal.The animal selected for persenda is called landi. The white colored sheep breeds like Kakari, Musakhaili and Bybrik are preferred for this purpose, as their meat is considered juicier than that of other breeds. Such meat also lends itself to drying because the muscles are not double and thick
They are inhabitants of the historical land (the Arya
Warsha2) of Central Asia fortified with rich livestock keeping culture. They
have their own culture/way of wearing, food production, processing &
conservation and cooking etc. They are the custodian of nature and traditions
of war and peace.
Persenda is commonly made from the lamb meat but
occasionally can be made from beef, camel meat, and even goat meat. Among the
sheep. some native breeds are highly
preferred than others because of the taste, easy in processing, juiciness, and
muscle structure.
The process of Making Persenda
1st Selection of animal: The animal selected for Persenda meat is called
the Landi Mazz. The sheep are usually selected/buy 3-4 months before the
slaughtering. Free range grazing in the crop’s aftermath and additional number
of grains are provided.
Drying and curing meat is a very ancient tradition of
the inhabitants of marginalized, dry and cold lands of the world. Many mobile
pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and farming communities had been using this technique
to preserve meat while drying or curing. The refrigeration/cooling technology
made it easy to conserve meat and other food items while decreasing its
temperature and increasing shelf life. Still there is no electricity and other
sources of power to use refrigeration and other techniques to conserve meat and
other food items. Pashtun communities, either pastoralists or others have
strong desire to cured meat which is called as Persenda. This tradition is
still strong and in practice in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The climate change is
resulting in concurrent droughts, ultimately eroding grassy vegetation from the
range lands.
2nd Stage of Persenda: In the month of December (dry and cold) the sheep is slaughtered, the wool is plucked by hands, and are removed from the abdomen. The cut of the abdomen is then sewn by a wooden stick from a green tree. The carcass is then signed by the flame of bushes.
3th Deboning and Salting Stage: Now the carcass is washed outside and inside to remove dirt, blood, ashes etc. The bones of the carcass are removed in a very artistic way that the meat remains in the carcass. Special care is taken not to puncture the skin which can result in drip loss (salt loss) of the carcass. The inside of the carcass is salted and stored in a shady, airy and dry place for 2-4 days.
4th Cutting and Drying: The carcass is now cut into pieces and each piece is pierced by a wooden stick like a barbecue stick but the pieces are quite big. The stick is then hung by a pole in the mid of the house which is called Landi pole. It takes 10-15 days to get completely dry. The pole is protected by thorny bushes to prevent cat etc. from eating Persenda.
5th Storage of the dry pieces: The dry pieces are stored in sack /cloth bag usually woven of natural fiber. The bag is then stored in a cold dry room/place. The pieces are taken out according to the need of the family. The Landi is special cuisine and offered to the guests also. Afghan hospitality is very famous and special.
6th Cuisine and cooking: The cooking method is so simple. Initially, the meat is put in hot water for a while to wash the additional salts used for preservation. Later on, it is cooked in a muddy cooker (Kataw). The meat is boiled in water and some herbs and spices are added. The soap (shorwa) prepared from boiling is used to soak the bread pieces in a bowel. The meat is eaten with bread after eating the shorwa
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