Bihari Thali

It’s one month since Vikram and I started this blog and the weekend thali project and we have hit 1000 page views (we are a techie couple folks so you know we are tracking metrics :-)). This weekend we are finally venturing out of our comfort zone and exploring a state cuisine that we have never cooked before. The state of Bihar!! As we mentioned before, we will be choosing states first that our friends or family hail from, so that we get some inside tips on the menu and dishes. Vikram’s Bhabhi is from Bihar so we got a lot of help from her on this weekend’s venture (thank you Di).

There were a couple of things that struck us while we were making this meal. One - Almost every dish was made with mustard oil giving the dishes a unique pungent taste. And two - the dishes were very protein rich and nutritious especially with the usage of Sattu (roasted bengal gram flour) and Besan. Overall, we enjoyed making these dishes for the first time and found the entire thali to be very earthy and tasty. We have linked out to the recipes that we followed while making this thali in case you would like to try them at your end as well.

Sattu Paratha (Link to recipe)

Sattu is roasted bengal gram flour. This dish was a protein packed take on a paratha, easy to make and very tasty to eat.

Litti (Link to recipe)

This was a unique dish that we had never heard of before. Litti is a baked wheat flour ball stuffed with Sattu. Again extremely nutritious, this is eaten with the Baigan Chokha and the Tamatar Chokha. This is a dish that will definitely require a few more tries to perfect. But we were amazed at how tasty the Litti Chokha combination was.

Baigan Chokha (Link to recipe)

It’s so interesting that so many Indian states have their version of a mashed eggplant dish. We also discovered that Bihari cuisine has a high usage of mustard oil similar to Orissa and Bengal. This dish is the perfect combination of roasted eggplant and mustard oil and the green chillies and raw onions give it that extra kick.

Tamatar Chokha (Link to recipe)

The Bihari version of the Mexican Salsa, the addition of mustard oil gives this dish a unique depth. We may have made a mistake by mashing this in the food processor this time around but will remember to leave it chunky the next time we make it.

Bihari Besan ki Sabzi (Link to recipe)

This was a unique dish that we had never heard of before. It is a curry made out of Besan ka cheela. While researching, we found that there are three different ways of making besan ki sabzi in Bihar (Cheele ki sabzi which is what we made here, Gatte ki sabzi and Pitor ki sabzi). We will have to try our hand at making the other two varieties as well sometime in the future. This version was pretty easy to make and tasty to eat.

Kala Chana Ghugni (Link to recipe)

While we were used to Ghugni made out of yellow peas in Odiya and Bengali cuisines, we discovered that Bihari Gugni is made out of black chickpeas. This dish was very earthy, nutritious and satisfying.

Makhana Raita (Link to recipe)

I have seen Makhana (Lotus Seeds/ Fox Nuts) in Indian Stores but this item has never made it into our home before. Makhana is produced in abundance in Bihar and is used in a number of Bihari dishes. Extremely nutritious and healthy (link), I am so excited to have found a healthier replacement of pop-corn and a healthier twist to the boondi raita as well!!

Bihari Style Chicken Curry (Link to recipe)

What set this chicken curry apart was the usage of mustard oil, the addition of whole garlic pods and lack of tomatoes. Vikram’s quote sums up this dish - “I never knew that such small variations in the preparation, could enhance the curry flavor to such a great degree!!”

After eating this scrumptious meal, we were contemplating how, if we hadn’t started this venture, we would have never actually discovered these dishes nor would we have stepped outside our comfort zone and prepared them at home. As Daniel Lanois once said “It’s that element of surprise. When you lose control, you discover new things”. We look forward to more discoveries and surprises as we continue on this journey in the coming weeks.