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Adivasis or tribal people are known to live a simple life that’s close to nature. They mostly survive on non-vegetarian food and wild plants that are known to boast medicinal benefits. In addition, the use of earthen pots makes their food flavourful. Adivasis of different regions follow distinctive culture and cuisine that you won’t find anywhere else. Today, we will talk about the tribals spread across Jharkhand, a state located in the eastern part of India.
Culinary World of Adivasis in Jharkhand
As the region is rich in flora and fauna, tribals easily find edible plants, insects, fungi, and other forest-based food products. With time, through trial and error method, they have figured out what to eat and what not to. Adivasis do not use too many spices and majorly eat steamed food. This helps in keeping the nutritional value of the plant or meat intact. Most commonly used spices by Adivasis include turmeric, chilli, onion, ginger, garlic, and salt. Rice or Bothal Bhath (rice with its starch water) is a significant part of their daily diet which is served along with salt and some dry saag or vegetable. They also prefer eating overnight soaked and fermented rice with salt and raw onion. One of the specialties of tribal cuisine is very little or no use of oil. When they do, mustard oil is preferred.
Festive Eating
Rice grain is the most staple ingredient used to make special foods for festivals. Adivasis from Jharkhand prepare different kinds of rotis during festivities. For example, chirrka roti is prepared using overnight soaked rice and urad dal. They are ground to make a batter and then crepes are made on earthen tawa. Tribals of Jharkhand relish this delicacy with meat curry. Another festive specialty of this community is arsa roti. For this, you need ground rice mixed with sugar or jaggery. You need to make small flat balls out of them and deep fry them. Dhuska is another festive treat prepared by mixing ground rice with urad dal to make a thick batter. Then, salt or sugar is added to it. Softballs are made and deep fried in mustard oil. Salty dhuska is eaten with meat curry while the sweet ones are relished on their own without any side dish.
Tribal Dessert
Any festive occasion is incomplete without desserts. Then, how can tribals not tickle their taste buds with something sweet? Adivasis in Jharkhand prepare puffed rice laddu during special occasions. It is prepared by mixing puffed rice with melted jaggery to create round balls. Further, these are left for cooling. The tribal population of this region also likes to have larru (steamed rice balls), rice thekua (sweet flat balls of rice powder mixed with sugar and some water), marua roti (ragi crepes), etc.
Non-Vegetarian Delicacies
In Jharkhand, fish is found in abundance and therefore you will find the Adivasis of this region relishing different types of fishes almost daily. Some of the preferred fishes include magai, chingri, budnu, mugri, jhiila kutri etc. Adivasis dry these fishes and store them for later use in curry. They also barbeque fish and bird meat layered with turmeric, mustard oil, salt, and chilli paste inside leaves sealing them with pieces of twigs. This gives the meat a rustic flavor. Fish chutney or macchri bhairta is another delicacy of Adivasi cuisine. It is eaten with rice and accompanied by locally prepared alcoholic drinks like harria and mahua daru. Animals including goats, pigs, pigeons, rabbits, cattle, etc. are also consumed by them.
A variety of other scrumptious dishes and beverages are enjoyed by Adivasis in Jharkhand. We will soon come up with a detailed piece on alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks that are popular among tribal men and women of Jharkhand.
