Bihari Cuisine: More Than Just Litti Chokha

One of the most common misconceptions about Bihar is the one we make about food. “Oh, you’re from Bihar? Where’s the Litti Chokha?” Anyone who believes Bihari food is all about litti chokha is in for a surprise. The ancient land of Bihar is not only home to various cultural assets but also gives us some absolutely mouth-watering and scrumptious recipes with beautiful names. Bihari cuisine is closer to regional Bengali cookery with lesser Central Asian influence. Most dishes are steamed with chunks of spices. Turmeric is usually incorporated into every concoction, and dishes using garam masala are not as common as one might expect.

One of the most interesting traditions in Bihari cuisine is smoked food, which essentially refers to the use of smoked red chili to infuse a strong aroma in food. Smoked chili is used in preparing “chokhaa” or mashed brinjals, potatoes or tomatoes, either individually or all combined. Smoked chili is also used in preparing kadam chutney. Kadam is a common fruit that is sweet and sour in taste, and is even featured in Indian religions and mythologies. Aside from that, for the “chouka/tadka” or the frying and tempering of certain vegetable dishes, Bihari cuisine makes use of vegetable oil or mustard oil and “panch phoron”, the infamous "five spices". Panch Phoron includes  saunf (fennel seed), sarson (black mustard seed), methi (fenugreek), jeera (cumin) and kalonji or mangraeel (nigella seed). Altogether, Bihari food involves plenty of light frying (bhoonjnaa) and a generous helping of spices. Here are some great vegetarian recipes from Bihar that are not Litti-Chokha!

Kadhi

Kadhi is nothing but fried soft dumplings made of besan or gram flour dipped and cooked in a thick, spicy gravy of yogurt and besan. This comforting meal goes well with a bowl of simple plain white rice. 

Khichdi

Khichdi is the one comfort meal for all sick Indians. It is a steamed mix of rice, dal and several vegetables, with a distinct taste of each individual ingredient. It is mostly of a porridge-like consistency topped with pure desi ghee. This is surprisingly tasty for such a simple recipe (a common theme in Bihari food).

Ghugni/Ghugri

Ghugni made from overnight-soaked black grams or “chana” and can be served as either a gravy or a semi-gravy dish. Various spices are ground into a paste on a traditional “silbatta” and used for flavouring. Depending on the preference, the chana can also be ground into a paste or left whole. After mixing the seasoning and chana, the gravy is lightly fried and water is added as desired.

Pittha

Pittha is a type of dumpling that can be either sweet or salty. The crust of the dumpling is made of soft rice flour and filled with lentil paste or chana dal paste for the savoury, and gur or jaggery for a sweeter version. It can be eaten like a steamed dumpling with various chutneys, or the sweet versions can be steamed in milk and allowed to thicken.

Sattu

Sattu or baked gram seed powder is a versatile item used in most North Indian kitchens. Similar to pittha, it can either be made into a sweet or savoury version by the addition of various ingredients. For the sweet, it is mixed with milk and for the spicy it is mixed with spices to prepare chapattis called “makuni roti”. The influence of sattu can be seen even in states like West Bengal, where it is consumed as a summertime drink. Spicy sattu powder is mixed with water, topped with lemon and a sprinkling of chaat masala to create a refreshing beverage.

Speaking about non-vegetarian choices, the distinctive Bihari flavour finds mention in the memoirs of Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad. The region of Champaran is famous for “taash”, a grilled mutton dish. Bihar’s kebabs are quite popular throughout the state. They are traditionally made with mutton, but chicken and other poultry variations are available as well. Pick any kabab, you won’t go wrong. Fish is commonly eaten in the northern parts of Bihar.  

Bihar also has a large variety of traditional sweet dishes. Unlike sweets from Orissa and West Bengal, which are soaked in sugary syrups thereby making them wet, Bihar’s sweets are often dry. Some great examples would be the Balushahi- dry on the outside but sweet and juicy on the inside -, the Malpua, and the Khaja. Chhath, the festival synonymous with Bihar, is incomplete without the Thekua, a sweet made from jaggery, maida and ghee.