Makhanak Kheer

Makhanak Kheer:

Makhana or Lotus Seed is one of the specialty of Mithila. It is obtained from the water source. According to an old saying it is one of among those three things which is not found even in paradise, the rest two are Fish and Betel leaf. The one and most popular dish prepared from Makhana is " Makhanak Kheer". This is a must eat preparation of Kumar Purnima (Kojagra) for newly wed couples. There is concept of preparing it and leaving it under the sky for sometime in the night and then enjoying the taste of it. This sweet preparation is much different from any other Kheer or Payesh preparation made in other parts of the country . In other words this a unique dish which is made in Mithilanchal and every maithil takes pride in exclusivity of this.

Ingredients:

Makhana: 75 gms
Milk: 01 Ltr
Bayleaf: 2 nos
Cardamom: 02 nos
Dried coconut: 10 gms
Dried dates (Chopped) : 20 gms
Raisins: 25 gms.
Mawa (optional): 50gms
Sugar: 100gms

Preparation:

• Roast Makhanas in a Kadai for 3-4 minutes। Let it cool for a few minutes and grind it to a course texture
  
• Chop dry fruits except raisins।

Cooking:

• Bring milk to a boiling stage along with Bay leaf and Cardamom and reduce by stirring continuously .


• You can add mawa (optional) which will give a thickening to the milk.


• Add the powder of Makhanas now with dry fruits. Allow it to simmer for some time till you get your desired consistency.


• Add Sugar as per your taste.


• Serve it hot or cold garnished with raisins.
  
  

Stuffed Daal Pitthi:

The concept of stuffed Daal Pitthi is very uncommon in Mithila. This could be called an innovation again which is influenced by Italian Pasta called Ravioli. It has a wide range of veg and non-veg stuffing. Though the stuffing of Pitthis could be anything and everything edible, yet can be tried out best with Paneer( Cottage Cheese), Coriander leaf and Green chilly mixture for Veg stuffing and seasoned sautéed minced meat stuffing as Non-Veg.

Below is my innovation which is a fusion of Mithila and Continental cookery .

Ingredient:

Whole Meal Flour ( Aatta): 100 gms
Arhar Daal: 75 gms
Mustard oil: 10 ml
Cumin seed: 2 pinches
Asafetida ( Heeng) : 1-2 gms
Salt and Turmuric : As required
Chopped coriander leaves: 25 gms
Paneer: 75 gms.
Green chilies: 10 gms

preparation:

Make a semi soft dough for pitthis , Roast Daal, make a paste of slit green chilies.
Mash paneer & mix it with chopped coriander leaf. Season with salt and pepper.
Make small and thin casings of the dough, stuff it with the mixture and seal it well .

Cooking:

Pressure cook daal. And leave stuffed Pitthis in it.
Cook it over moderate flame for 8-10 minutes.
When sauce gets a creamy smooth texture, add the tempering of cumin and asafetida.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Variation: one can easily put a variation of Nonveg Filling by replacing Paneer with Sauteed minced meat or Kankorak Chokha.

Goidila Pitthi:

This is an innovation which could be called the fusion of two local dishes only, Goidila ( a sauce prepared from green peas & flavourings) and Pitthi. Goidila is a kind of gravy / sauce which is usually taken with rice and chapattis. It gets its body from green peas paste and flavoured with Garam Masala.

Ingredients:

Basic Pitthi of 100 gms of flour

Green peas : 300 gms
Onion: 200 gms
Ginger Garlic Paste: 50 gms
Cumin Pd: 15 gms
Coriander Pd: 15 gms
Ghee: 10 gms
Tomatoes: 75 gms
Double cream: 20 ml
Hot Spices: large and small cardamom, bayleaf, clove, cinnamon stick.


Preparation:

parboil green peas and make a small paste of it.
Prepare basic Pitthis of the flour and moisture
Make a paste of 50 gms of onion and slice the rest
Chop tomatoes

Cooking:

Heat oil or Ghee in a pan and add a tempering of Hot spices, when they start crackling add slice onion, sauté it for a minut or two and add Ginger , Garlic and Onion paste with a pinch of salt and turmeric.
Add pawdered masalas and cook it well on the flame.
When masalas are cooked add chopped tomatoes and mix it well.
Add the peas paste and fry it along with masalas for 2-3 minutes and dilute it with water to thin consistency.
Allow it to boil for 8-10 minutes (keep checking the consistency of the mixture. And add water accordingly. )
Now finally add Pitthis to it and cook it over moderate flame for another 8-10 minutes.
When Pitthis are cooked and the sauce gets a creamy smooth texture add the tempering of ghee and Cumin.
Garnish it with Double Cream and serve Hot.

Maus

Maus (Mutton Curry)



The best accompaniment for pua is maus (mutton curry). Preparing both these dishes brought back memories of so many holi celebrations. Holi was never complete without the standard fare of Pua, Maus or Kathal/Jackfruit Curry (for vegetarians) & Dahi Vada.






Ingredients:

• Mustard oil :3-4 tbsp

• Jeera : 1 tsp

• Whole Garam Masala :3 bay leaves, 4 green cardamon, 2 black cardamom, 2" piece cinnamon, 10-12 black peppercorns, 5 cloves, 4-5 dried red chillies

• Onions :6 medium sized cut into thin slices
  

• Garlic Paste :2 tsp

• Ginger Paste :1tsp

• Turmeric powder :1tsp

• Coriander powder :2tsp

• Red Chili powder :2tsp

• Tomato :1 big sized
  

• Mutton :1/2 kg

• Water for gravy : 500 ml

• Salt to taste

Method:

Heat mustard oil in a kadhai. Add jeera & let it splutter. Immediately add the whole garam masala & let it crackle. Now add the sliced onions. Let the onions turn to golden brown colour on low-med heat. Add the garlic & ginger pastes. Stir. Make a paste of the turmeric, coriander & red chilli powders with 2 tbsp water & add to the kadhai. Also add the sliced tomatoes at this stage. Mix well.

When the masala is half done add the mutton pieces. Increase the heat and fry the mutton pieces for 2-3 mins, stirring continuously. Lower the heat. Cover and cook. Keep stirring in between so that the masala doesn't stick to the bottom of the kadhai. Add 1-2 tbsp of water if the masala appears to stick to the kadhai. Add salt at this stage.

When the oil separates from the masala cook uncovered for 10 mins. Now add the hot water and bring to a boil. When the gravy reaches the consistency you want turn off the heat. Remove to a serving dish.

Serve this mutton curry with the pua.

Pua

What should my first dish be? There was no hesitation in deciding that it had to be a sweet dish. It meant that it had to be 'Pua' which is an all time favourite dish for my entire family. My four year old nephew loves this dish, but eats Pua only if it is called Banana Pakoda. Munchkin this is for you.

Pua


The major difference between this recipe and the recipes of pua/malpua available elsewhere is that this Pua contains sugar & doesn't need to be dipped in sugar syrup.







Ingredients:

• Milk :500 ml

• Sugar :300 gms

• Maida(Flour) : 250 gms

• Kismis(Raisin) : few pieces

• Cardamom powder : 1/4 tsp

• Desiccated Coconut : few slices
  

• Banana : 4-5 nos
  

• Oil for frying

Method:

Boil milk and cool. Add sugar to the milk and let it dissolve. After the sugar is completely dissolved add the maida to the milk. Mix well so that you get a very smooth batter. There shouldn't be any lumps in the batter. The batter should not be very thin. If the batter looks thin add some more maida for a thicker batter. Let the batter rest for half an hour. Meanwhile chop the raisin & the coconut slices. After half an hour add the raisin, cardamom powder, coconut and mashed bananas to the batter & mix well.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Pour a ladle of the batter in to the kadhai. The pua will puff up like a puri. Cook on low heat till both the sides turn golden brown.

Pua can be had on its own or with Rabdi. Pua is also a good accompaniment for mutton curry.

Tip:

Do not keep the batter for a very long time after adding the bananas. If you do not want to make pua out of the entire batter add bananas only to that portion of the batter that you will use.

Daal Pitthi

Daal Pitthi is an excellent food variety prepared in Mithila. It is good for consumption during any time of the day as any meal practice (breakfast, Lunch or Dinner). This again resembles with one of the continental dishes called “Pasta” and could be tried out with lots of variation of sauces served with it. The only difference of it with Pastas is that , that pastas are made out of refined flour and cooked separately (or dried) from its sauce, while Pitthis are made out of Whole meal flour (Aatta) and coked along with its sauce which is prepared from good quality (preferably roasted) Arhar Daal. Ofcourse being an Indian preparation it differs in the addition of spices and flavourings too, but the same Pitthis could be tried out with other pasta sauces like Carbonara (a white pasta sauce flavoured with Bacon) or Nepolotana (a tomato and basil based sauce flavoured with Oregano/ Marjoram) etc.

Alike Italian pastas Pitthis are given different shapes and sizes like Macroni, Fussili, Canneloni etc. but they are best for fresh consumption and could not be sun dried (as the color will change to dark , giving a very poor appearance to the dish)

So here is the basic recipe of preparing Daal Pitthi and some of the variation of it.

Ingredients:

Whole Meal Flour (Aatta): 100 gms
Arhar Daal: 75 gms
Mustard oil: 10 ml
Cumin seed: 2 pinches
Asafetida (Heeng) : 1-2 gms
Salt and Turmuric : As required
Chopped coriander leaves: for garnish

Preparation:

• Make a semi soft dough of Aatta. Flatten the chunk of it to paper thin using a rolling pin and cut it in fancy shapes.


• Roast daal in a kadhai for 3-4 minutes.


• Chop coriander leaves.

Cooking:

• Parboil daal or pressure cook it with salt and turmeric. Now add the fancy shapes of pitthis to it and cook the the mixture over moderate heat for 8-10 minutes.


• When the sauce gets a creamy smooth texture reduce the flame and add the tempering of Cumin seed and heeng.


• Serve hot garnished with chopped coriander leaf.

Stuffing of Pitthis: Pitthis can be stuffed with anything and everything edible. one can try out the filling of both the kinds ,Veg and Non - veg. which will enhance the taste and nutritional value of the dish. I have used the stuffing of Mashed Cheese in the above picture which can be replaced with any non-veg mixture also.

Tadka Daal Pitthi:

Prepare the basic Dall Pitthi sauce with above ingredients and add athe tempering of Chopped onion, garlic, green peas, slit green chilies and tomatoes.

DOODH BAGIYA ( SWEET DISH )

Introduction

It is a milk product, which is popularly known as “Doodh Bagiya” amongst Mithila people. Doodh Bagiya is specially made in the month of ‘Poos’ (January) to Celebrate ‘ Pooshat’ of new born baby in the family. Although it is a common sweet dish in Mithilanchal. So here goes the mantra to make this yummy-yummy sweet dish.

Ingredients
01 cup New Rice flour
05 cups Milk
01 1/2 tbsp Cashew nuts (chopped)
01 tbsp Dry Coconut (chopped)
1 ½ tbsp Almond (chopped)
½ tbsp Pistachio nuts (chopped) to Garnish
Sugar as desired

Method:

• Paste the rice flour with luke warm water and make 1 ½ inches Bagiyas out of that paste.
• Now pour the milk in a pan & keep it on the fire to boil.
• When its boiling add Cashew nuts, coconut, almond, Bagiya & sugar in it and stir well for about 10 min.
• Take the mixture from the fire and put it in a bowl & garnish it with chopped Pistachios.
• And its ready to serve….

Aloo kaa Duum (दम-आलू)

Motivated by mithilacusine, recently, I tried to re-invent aloo-dum. My all time favorite aloo dum was appreciated by my family.

दम-आलू (Aloo kaa Duum) is a propularly known as Aloo kaa Rasgoolla. Typically it can be prepared with the recipie of Mutton, replacing mutton cube with the aloo (potato). Following are the ingradients that can be used to prepare aloo duum for a family:

Aloo: Baby size (400 gm).

Onion: 250 gms.

garlic: Two bigger piece.

Ginger: Size of index finger

Green Chilli: 6 pieces

Curry Leaves: 10 (if you want a unique test, not used in mithila but I like it).

Garam Masala: One tea spoon.

Coreinder Power: 1 tea spoon.

Black pepper Power: 1/2 team spoon.

Desi Ghee: 2 tea spoon

Salt, Turmeric Powder up to regular taste level

Method: Cut the onion in very fine piece and prepare garlic paste. Fry onion in karaahi (lohiyaa) till brown and put the garlic paste.

Fry the combination till smell of garlic hit your nose. Peel of the potato and make several hole using fork so that masala will pentrate into it to make it more tasty.

I dedicate this re-used to my family. This is evident from this
picture.

Put the neatly cleaned potato in the onion garlic mixture and mix salt, termeric , powder , garam masala. Fry this mixture for 3-5 minutes and put them in cooker. Let this mixture remain in pressure for 10 minutes.

Once pressure is off, put two teas spoons of desi ghee and your aloo dum is ready serve this along with daal and taruaa.

Makkai ke Roti

Breads:

A range of grains and cereals are cultivated in Mithilanchal region which is ground to flour and derived to various types of breads. Other than whole meal flour(AATTA) that is prepared out of wheat, flours obtained from other grains are considered to be less in Gluten(water insoluble Protein ) and hence can not be stretched with a rolling pin. Therefore people always flatten it by patting the dough between their palm, this procedure is known as “Thokko” . one of the popular bread preparation in Mithila is “Makkai K Roti”

Makkai Ke Roti ( A thick bread preparation made out of Maize Flour )

Maize Flour: 300gms
Moisture: 150-170 ml
Ghee: 20 ml

Procedure:

Make a semi soft dough with flour and moisture. Devide it into four equal portions.
Thokko it to 0.5 cms thick and 10-12 cms in diameter.
Dry bake it on a Tawa on both the sides.
Smear with Ghee and serve along with Roasted whole chilly and salt.

Variation: a paste of 15-20 gms of onion and ginger could be added along with fennel (Ajwain) and little salt while making the dough. This will not only taste but smell also very mouth watering.

Chiraiyak Maus

Chiraiyak Maus: ( Squails with skin cooked in thick brown gravy)

“Chirai” aren’t the part of poultry birds like chicken, goose or duck but could be kept in the category of wild birds those are obtained by hunting and hence they are also known as Game Birds. Usually in India, the poultry or game bird preparations are made after fabricating the bird in Indian style which is removing the upper skin and then cooking it up in the gravy, but in Mithilanchal people prefer enjoying the meat with its skin only as it makes the meat to retain its own juice. Now here is the similarity in the fabrication style of bird with English dressing (Continental Preparation), as they also coincide on the same notion. In English dressing, poultry or birds are roasted for a short time on a high flame in order to burn their extra feathers, procedure is known as “SINGING” and the same method is followed in Mithila too. Here I’ve mentioned the preparation style of Chirai and the same could be followed up with other game birds too.

Ingredients:

Squail: 01 nos
Onion: 500gms
Ginger : 30gms
Garlic 30gms
Turmuric: 15gms
Red chilly Pd: 10gms
Coriander Pd: 30gms
Cumin pd: 30gms
Mustard oil: 60ml
Whole hot spices: large & small cardamom, cinnamon, clove, bay leaves.
Heeng ( optional) : 4-5 gms
Chopped coriander leaves : for garnish

Preparation:

• Wash and clean the bird and singe it over high heat.
• Make a paste of 100 gms of onion with ginger / garlic and slice rest of the onion.
• Cut the bird into Indian curry cut and marinate with salt, turmeric and little of mustard oil.

Cooking:

• Heat oil in a thick bottom pan and add the tempering of whole hot spices, when start crackling add onion slice. Sauté and sweat with a pinch of salt. Add ginger/garlic & onion paste .
• Fry till light brown in colour.
• Add powdered masalas and cook for 8-10 minutes, till the raw flavour goes off. Add marinated meat and fry it along with the masala mixture. Add water just sufficient to cover up the meat.
• Let it simmer for 10 minutes till the flesh is tender. Top it with a spoon of Ghee and serve hot garnished with chopped coriander leaves.

Variation:

• After singing cut the bird into little large pieces. Marinate it with salt, pepper, ginger paste , roasted gram flour, hung curd, heeng and turmeric. Roast it in Chulha (earthen oven) or sigri till the marinade is cooked well. Make a good quality brown gravy with rest of the ingredients, rest the roasted pieces in the gravy now.
• The dish will have a very smoky taste.

One can try out the same procedure with other game birds too like Titar, Bater, Ban Murgi etc.

Kankorak Chokha

• Kankorak Chokha:A Mashed preparation of Crab (Kankor) after roasting the crab.
  Ingredients:
  
  Crab( medium size): 8 pcs
  Green chillies: 2-3 in nos
  Mustard oil : 10-15 ml
  Onion: 20gms
  Salt: as per taste
  Lemon juice: few drops.
  
  Preparation:
  
  Wash and fabricate the crab, chop onions and slit green chillies fine.
  
  Cooking:
  
  • Roast crabs in Chulha(earthern oven) or Sigri till outer surface is burnt black. Detach the shell from the flesh
  • Mash the body part, add green chillies, salt, onion lemon juice etc. and mix them well.
  • Serve it as side dish with Rice or Makai ke Roti.
  
  Note: one can also use this mixture as a filling for Patties or savoury Tarts.
  
  

Maara Sairso ke Jhor

Maara Sairso ke Jhor:(A gravy preparation of Maara fish with mustard seed)

Maara is a small sweet water fish having a size of 4-5 cms. They belong to the same family of Pomfret, having no scales on their body and a very shiny silver skin. They are so easy to cook that no deep frying is required while preparing it.

Ingredients:

Maara Fish: 300gms
Mustard seed: 50gms
Mustard oil: 50ml
Turmeric: 5gms
Salt: as per taste
Onion: 35gms
Garlic:10gms
Tomato: 50gms


Preparation:

• Wash and marinate the fish in salt and turmeric.
  
• make a paste of onion, garlic and chop tomatoes and keep it ready.
  

Cooking:

• Heat oil in a kadai, add a tempering of mustard seed, add onion,garlic paste and stir fry.
• Add mustard seed paste and cook it over a moderate heat. Add tomatoes once masalas are cooked.
• Finally add marinated fish and mix it well with other ingredients. Add water and simmer for 5-7 minutes.
• Serve hot garnished with chopped coriander leaves.
  

Innovation: Latpat Maara (small Maara fish cooked in dry mustard gravy)

Ingredients:
Maara fish: 400gms
Mustard paste: 100gms
Green chilly paste: 25gms
Salt: As required
Turmuric: 5gms
Onion Paste: 30gms
Mustard oil: 100ml


Preparation:

• Wash and marinate the fish in salt, turmeric and onion paste, make a paste of green chilly and mustard.

Cooking:

• Heat oil in a frying pan add marinated Maara fish, toss and stir fry for 5-7 minutes.
• Add the mixture of mustard and Green chilly paste and cook it well with fish for 8-10 minutes.
• Take out of flame, sprinkle raw mustard oil.
• Serve hot garnished with whole slit green chilies

Dokak Jhor

Dokak Jhor: (Oysters stew cooked with Onion and brown gravy)

Doka or Oysters are bivalve mussels. They belong to the same family of snails. Their body is made out of two kind of flesh soft and tough. The earlier one is the part of their body that always rests inside the shell while the later one is the front part which is outside the shell. Both the parts can be segregated and brought in different use, like the soft flesh can just be fried with onion and taken up as a good starter or accompaniment with cocktails.

One can also make very good broth or stew with Doka (the variation recipe I’ve advised below this authentic recipes that one can try out) In mithilanchal people consume Doka during rainy season as during that time they are found in abundance in paddy fields making them the best food for farmers.

Ingredients:
Oysters: 400gms
Onion: 150gms
Garlic: 20gms
Ginger: 20gms
Mustard oil: 75 ml
Coriander Pd: 25gms
Cumin Pd: 25gms
Red Chilly Pd: 15gms
Salt: A/R
Whole hot spices: Cardamom large & small, Cinamon, Bayleaf, clove
Chopped Tomato: 75gms Optional.

Preparation:

• Detach oysters from the shell, make a paste of Ginger, Garlic and slice onion
• Parboil the oysters and take it aside.

Cooking:

• Deep fry Parboiled oysters with a pinch of salt and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a thick bottom pan , add the tempering of Whole hot spices, when they start crackle, put Onion ginger, garlic and fry till golden brown in colour with a pinch of salt..
• Add powdered masalas now and fry till the raw flavor goes off, then add tomatoes cook it for a minute or two
• Add the fried oysters now and mix it well with the masala paste. Finally add water and simmer for 7-10 minutes. Serve hot finally garnished with chopped coriander leaves.

Variation: Fresh Doka Stew

Oysters: 250gms
Onion: 50gms
Garlic: 20gms
Ginger: 20gms
Turmuric: 4-5gms
Salt: as required
Rice: 30 gms
Brandy(optional): 60ml
Coriander Leaf for garnish
Refined Oil: 20ml

Preparation:

• Detach oysters and parboil and chop it . Finally chop onion, garlic & ginger. Soak rice for 30 minutes

Cooking:

• Heat oil in a pan, put a tempering of Whole hot spices,
  
• Add onion, garlic,ginger chops. Sauté and sweat with a pinch of salt and turmeric,
  
• When translucent in colour add boiled chopped oysters and fry it over a moderate heat, add brandy and reduce.
  
• Add soaked rice and mix it well. Finally add water and simmer till the rice is cooked.

Serve piping hot garnished with chopped coriander leaves.

Chaaur Ke Roti

The Chaaur Ke Roti (rice-roti or the roti made with rice flour) is very common food in villages of Bihar (especially Mithila). We people from Bihar (also known as Bihari) eat rice-roti to change our taste. Our normal food consists of roti as one or two meal in a day. Rice-Roti even though it tastes good, but does not have wider recognition like Wheat Roti, Naan Bread etc in the western world. But take my word, it tastes really-really good :)

Ingredients

• Rice Flour (2 Cups)
• Maize Flour (1/2 Cup) to avoid roti being broken while baking.
• Little bit of Ghee to apply during cooking.

Cooking:

1. Mix Rice flour with Maize flour dry.
2. Kneed the flour with a small amount of luke Warm water. It should not be boiling water.
3. When the Rice Flour is mixed. Keep it aside for sometime (2-5 minutes) and let the mix become soft.
4. Put Tava on Stove and allow it to heat properly till it is ready to bake the Rotis.
5. Take Small amount of the mix (wet) and then roll it as thin as possible on rolling plate to give it round shape (at least try for a round shape :)).
6. Bake the Roti one side on Tava (pan) and turn it.
7. While other side is being baked apply little bit of Ghee on the side which is baked already.
8. Turn it and apply ghee on other side while the first side with ghee is already being baked again.
9. Bake the other side properly.

The Roti is ready to be served.

Precautions:

1. The Water must be luke warm.
2. Do not Turn Roti many times. This will spoil the taste.
3. Do not apply mustard oil. Use Ghee if possible, if not then you can use Dalda (Vegetable Oil) as well.

For Best taste eat with Pickles and spicy curry :).

Maachh

Maachh: (Round fish, fried and cooked in Mustard gravy)



Ingredients:

Round Fish (Rohu/ Katla) 8 pcs. (on and across the bone)
Mustard seed 50 gms
Mustard oil 200 ml
Onion 200 gms
Garlic 50 gms
Tomato 75 gms
Fresh Coriander Leaves
Salt As required
Red chilly Pd 10 gms
Turmuric 5-7 gms
Lemon Juice Optional


Preparation:

Wash Fish and marinate it with salt, turmeric 50 gms of onion paste and lemon juice
Chop tomatoes, mince garlic, slice onion and make a smooth paste of mustard



Cooking:

Heat oil in a pan(Kadai), deep fry marinated fish and take it aside.Heat oil again and add the tempering of mustard followed by garlic paste and onion slice. Fry till light brown in color.Add mustard paste and fry till 7-10 minutes over moderate heat, later add tomatoes, stir fry for two more minutes. Add water as much as you require for the gravy.Let the gravy come to a boiling stage and finally put fried fish pcs, reduce the flame and allow it to simmer for 10-12 minutes
Eventually take it out and serve hot, garnished chopped coriander leaves


Variation: The excellent variation of Maach could be obtainedby adding 75 gms of additional mustard paste deriving a thick pouring gravy, topped with 20 ml of raw mustard oil.

About the Cuisine

:Mithila Cuisine:

India is a vast country, geographically division of the republic is done in five parts, but Gastronomically the same could not be possible as each parts are further divided in subparts and they have a great diversity in their food habits, culinary style and quality & quantity of ingredients.

One of the sub region of India is Mithilanchal. The region is dominated by a clan of Maithil Brahmins, who take a great pride in their Vedic culture and consider their Customs to be guided by Shastras. Infact in ancient and medieval history the region was known as “Videh” and it had its spread in erstwhile south Nepal and Bihar as it’s boundary defined in Brihat Vishnu Puran, “River Gandaki in West, Kaushiki (Koshi) in East, Himalayas in North and Ganga in south.

The region is already much popular for its art , literature, culture , and now cuisine. Infact maithil cuisine is such a practice that serves all kind of need of all group of people for different kind of consumptions. The service style of the cuisine has little similarity with that of “Tabal d’ hote” ( Table of the Host) of French , yet different being all preparations served together in a platter and consumed at once . Since there is no course wise meal practice therefore there is no well defined Gastronomique practice too, and hence people give equal importance to all kind of preparations and take pleasure in enjoying each n every delicacies to the fullest. Unlike others Maithils enjoy both the quality and quantity of the food and this is the characteristics that differentiates the cuisine and people from others. The best manifestation of this seen in any Traditional Maithil wedding ( considered to be a very classical marriage ceremony ever in any culture.) The rituals of the marriage continues for four consecutive days and small- big family activities happening for an year almost. The hospitality offered and marriage ceremony is an untold story in its own. The dinning activity continues for 3-4 hrs with a group of domestic women performing their folk songs.

Maithils always give immense priority to milk products in their food which could perfectly be measured with this old saying “ Aadi Ghee aur Ant Dahi, oyi Bhojan k Bhojan kahi” ( A meal is the Meal that starts with Ghee and ends with Yogurt)

The meal practice in mithilanchal is as common as the normal food habit of people which is Breakfast , Lunch and Dinner. People also like enjoying some tit bits during evening with a cup of tea. The best breakfast time favorite is “Chura – Dahi” (beaten rice with a thick coating of creamy curd) the table condiments used is salt, green chillies and home made pickles , a spicy mixed vegetable item could also be served along with this item as a side dish. During summer the same Chura is consumed with best quality mango pulp, and the dish is called “Chura Aam” . “Poori – Aloo dum” is an another breakfast item that people like having along with a sweet dish “Jalebi” ( roundels of deep fried fermented flour batter dipped in sugar syrup). Apart from that there are several other items like Chini wala Roti, Chilha ( pan cake made out of flour batter) , Suzi ke halwa ( porridge prepared from semolina), etc which is preferred for the breakfast.

For evening snacks a range of Bhujas are consumed like Chura ka Bhuja ( beaten rice shallow fried with sliced onion , chopped green chillies and green peas), Makai ke Lawa ( Pop corns), Masalgar Murhi ( Rice pops mixed with chopped green chillies, Onion, coriander leaf, salt and few drops of mustard oil) etc.

Maithils are also a big time sweet lovers. Varities of Kheer and other sweet item is prepared as a dessert course.one of the famous among them is Makhana ka Kheer ( a sweet dish prepared with Lotus seed , Milk and Dry nuts). Malpua is another popular sweet item, which is much different from the malpua prepared in north India, both are prepared from the flour batter only but in north India after deep frying malpua is dipped in sugar syrup while in Mithilanchal the batter it self is sweetened and it is a dry preparation which could be stored for 2-3 days. There are also sweet preservatives made out of fruit pulps like Ammath ( layered mango pulp sundried and cut into small chunks), Kumhar ke murabba, Papita ke murabba, Dhatrikak murabba etc.

The introduction about Mithila Cuisine would remain incomplete without a reference on Paan ( betel leaves). According to an old saying Paan , Maach and Makhan ( betel leaves, fish and lotus seed) is not found even in the paradise, so one should enjoy these things on earth only so not to regret later. A sweet betel leaf is flavoured with Sweet fennel, cardamom, clove, rose petals, sugar crystal etc.which is taken after completion of the meal in order to make it complete.

Khajuri (Thekua)

Introduction:
Thekua or Khajur as it is known in mithla is one of the traditional sweet items in our homes. Be Teej or Jitiya this is a mandatory item cooked at home. While there are many variations of this is found in homes, like crispy, soft, big, small etc. But the cooking method is more or less same wherever we go. Mithila is known for sweet items and maithils are sweet lovers so the first dish on this site is sweet item.


Ingredients:
Maida 500gms.
Suji 500gms.
Sugar 500gms.
Milk 250gms.
Ghee 100gms.
Chuhara 50gms.
Elaichi powder 20gms.
Dry coconut 50gms.
Raisins (kismis) 50gms.
Saunf 20gms.
Ghee for deep frying 500gms


Procedure:

1. Cut all the dry fruits into very small pieces.
2. Mix all the items including milk and ghee in a bowl and spray water in small Amount. Mixture should be a little hard. (mixture should not stick to your hands.)
3. Make pieces off the size off cookies with your hand.
4. Put a pan on the gas stove. Put ghee in it. Let it be heated for some time.
5. Deep fry the cookies until they turn brownish in color.
6. Take out the cookies from the pan. Now your snack is ready.

It can be preserved for about fifteen days if you keep it in an airtight container.

Introducing Mithila Cuisine Blog

It was one of the discussion on orkut which was started by a fellow maithil Nandan who happens to be passionate about cooking. One fine day I also jumped into that discussion and then few more people followed into the discussion. After exchanging ideas and our knowledge about mithila cuisine we felt that it is the time when we take it to the world.

If we travel outside Bihar we don't hear about Mithila and its cuisine. In abroad nobody even knows where Mithila is and its rich culture. Today when we go outside India we get Punjabi and South Indian dishes in the name of Indian Dishes. But nowhere Mithila comes in picture. Its a bitter truth we are forced to accept.

It is our attempt to provide sufficient information to the readers so that they can try these recipes at home and get the taste of what Mithila has to offer to the world. We also felt that it will be good to have the traditional method of cooking and a variation of the traditional cooking to make it little innovative in nature.

If you want to read the complete discussion then you will have to read the Orkut Thread. You can read it at leisure as how this idea of creating blog evolved. There are occasional teasing also involved but that's just to keep the discussion going :)

Through this blog we want our readers to be familiar with the taste Mithila has to offer. We hope that you will love the taste of dishes mentioned here. We are eager to hear from you after you try these recipes and your experience while cooking and eating. If you come up with some nice variations in any of the recipes mentioned here, do feel free to drop a comment on the recipe so that other readers can also get benefited with your experience.