Kachri

Kachri

Kachari is counted as one of among the all time favrouite snacks in mithila. The best accompaniment taken with kachri is “Jhilli” ( deep fried thin strings of batter) or some people even prefer Chhura Bhuja along with it. A leisure evening with Kachri is said to be an ideal evening. In totality this is the best snacks that no one would stand disagreed.

Ingredients:

• Onion: 250 gms
• Besan: 200 gms
• Salt : as per taste
• Garlic paste: 20 gms
• Ajwaain: 3-4 gms
• Mustard oil: 400 ml

Preparation:

• Peel, cut and slice onion and separate the flakes।
• Mix it with besan, salt, and ajwaain.
• Put water and make a paste avoiding any lumps in the mixture.
• Heat oil in a kadhai and let it come to the smoke point.
• Put small-small parts of the mixture in the kadhai and deep fry it till golden brown in color.
• Take it out of oil and relish it with Jhilli (deep fried thin strings of batter) or Murhi (rice puffs)

You can also enjoy kachri with Lachha Onion and lemon juice, salt, chilli mixture.

Chaurak Kheer

Chaurak Kheer:

Chaurak Kheer is a very common dessert that is prepared in evry maithil home almost in evry good occasion. Apart from this being a dessert, somtimes it also serves the purpose of a side dish for an example with Daaila wala Puri ( bread stuffed with boiled and seasoned cereals) or some other normal bread preparation.

The dish could be compared with the similar Bengali preparation called "Payesh" with a few difference like in the quality of rice used and the addition of flavouring ( mostly Bay leaf). Maithil practice is to use "New Crop Basmati grains" that is longer in size and gives a very good consistancy to the final product, while bengalis prefer using smaller grains like GobindoBhog rice ( a rice quality majorly used for making Payesh only) which has a very sweet aroma.

However, in this preparation, I've used a blend of both, and also added an additional flavour of rose water which is optional which you can definately avoid using .

Ingredients:

Basmati rice and Gobidobhog rice Blend: 75 gms

High fat milk: 2 Ltrs

Sugar: 100 Gms

Raisins: 50 Gms

Cashew Nuts: 50 Gms

Cardamom: 04 in Nos

Rose water (optional) : 2 spoons

Preparation:

Wash and soak the rice and soak raisins separately.

Bring milk to the boiling stage with cardamom and reduce it to 1.5 ltrs (approx)

Add the soaked rice to the milk and let it cook well with continuous stirring.

when the rice is cooked and mixture becomes little thickened, add sugar and cashew nuts to it.

Put it on a slow flame and stir.

Serve hot garnished with raisins.

Thadia Saagak Teeman

Thadia Saagak Teeman: Pure vegetarian
A very easy preparation which could be taken well with chapati and rice both and equally rich in nutritius value as Red spinach is the great source of Iron and Lentil has high Protien content. The dish could be compare with French Puree with the only difference that Purees are liquidised while Teeman is Ghontod (a way of manual churning). One can also bring the variation in the dish by adding Paneer (cottage cheese) or some other non-veg items like Shrimps/Prawns etc which will make the dish very palatble.

Ingredients:

• Thadia saag/Laal Sag (red spinach) : 500 gms.
• Masoor daal (Lentil): 75 gms
• Green chillis: 3-4 in nos
• Fennel seed: 4 gmsDry Red chilli: 4 gms
• Mustard oil: 10 ml
• Garam masala Pd: 2 pinches
• Salt : as per taste

Method:

• Pick, clean and wash Thadia saag and reduce them to smaller in size if they are too big.
• Wash and soak daal for some time.
• Put together daal, saag and split green chillies with salt (as reqd) in a pressure cooker and let it cook till 4-5 whistles.
• When the pressure is removed churn the mixture well with a churner.
• Now heat oil in a pan and add a tempering of fennel & red dry chilli followed by the mixture of saag.
• Let it simmer for some time and adjust the consistancy and seasoning.

Serve hot with rice or chapati.

Daail-Jhinguni (Fried Ribbed Gourd cooked with Lentil and cereals)

Daail-Jhinguni (Pure Vegetarian)

This is one of the very popular vegetarian preparation of Mithila and goes well with rice or bread both. They say, one does not require to have another vegetable preparation along with Daal-Jhinguni as it serves the purpose of both as an one accompaniment. Some people even prefer relishing its flavour plain as a soup or starter.

Authentically, the preparation of this dish is very simple in which chopped ribbed gourds are fried before with the tempering of black mustard seedsand mixed well with Daal, but here one can put an extra flavouring of ginger paste which will simultaneously enhance the flavour of the dish. The little dark color of the dish that you are seeing is because of the addition of ginger paste.

Regarding the type and variety of cereal used you have a flexibility to choose any, but here i've used a blend of lentil and split gram in the proportion 2:1 respectively.

Ingredient:

• Ribbed gourd (Jhinguni) : 300 gms.
• Daal (blend of lentil and split gram) : 100 gms
• Ginger: 30 gms
• Black mustard seed: 1 tbsp
• Mustard oil: 30 ml.Seasoning: As required

Preparation:

• Wash, peel and cut Jhinguni and soak it in cold water.
• Pick, clean and boil daal with salt and turmuric.Make a paste of ginger.

Cooking:

• Heat oil in a pan/kadhai and add a tempering of mustard seed.
• Put ginger paste and fry till golden brown.
• Add Jhinguni and fry. Dont add salt at this time as the Jhinguni will start sweating.
• When Jhinguni is cooked and shrinkd in size add salt as per your taste and mix it with the cooked mixture.
• Now pour over the boiled daal in the kadhaai and simmer it for 5-7 minutes.Finish it up with garam masala powder and garnish with ginger juliens.

Karhi Badi

Karhi Badi (Chickpea Flour Dumplings in Yoghurt Sauce)



Karhi Badi is a dish to be prepared on special occasions. This dish is almost always prepared when the married daughter comes to her parents home.

Ingredients:

Badi (Chickpea Flour Dumplings)

• Besan: 250 gms
  

• Ajwain: 1/4 tsp

• Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp

• Salt to taste

• Water: Few tbsp
  

• Oil for frying

Karhi

• Besan: 2 tbsp
  

• Dahi: 200 gms
  

• Water: 1500 ml

• Salt to taste
  

• Mustard Oil: 2-3 tsp

• Jeera: 1/2 tsp

• Hing: Pinch

• Whole Garam Masala: 2 bay leaves, 3 green cardamom, 1 black cardamom, 2" piece cinnamon, 2 dried red chillies

• Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp

• Coriander powder: 2 tsp

• Red Chili powder: 2 tsp

Tempering

• Ghee: 2 tbsp

• Jeera: 1/2 tsp

• Whole Coriander Seeds: 1/2 tsp

• Dried Red Chillies: 2 nos
  

Method:

Badi:

Mix all the dry ingredients. Add enough water to the besan to make a thick batter without any lumps. Mix the batter vigorously with your hand to make the batter light. This is done so that the badis are soft in the centre after they are fried. Baking soda can be added to make the badis soft but i don't prefer it. The best way to check if the batter is light enough, is to put one drop of the batter in a bowl of water. If the drop floats the batter is perfect; if it sinks more effort is needed to beat the batter.

Heat oil in a karahi. Drop spoonfuls of the batter in the oil. Fry the badis on medium heat to a brown colour. Drop the badis in a bowl of water. After 5 mins remove the badis from water & keep aside.

Karhi:

In a bowl take besan. Add dahi to it and make a smooth batter. Add water to the batter and mix well. Add salt and keep aside. Heat mustard oil in a karahi. Add jeera & let it splutter. Immediately add the whole garam masala & let it crackle. Stir. Make a paste of hing, turmeric, coriander & red chilli powders with 2 tbsp water & add to the karahi. Fry till the oil separates from the masala. Now add the dahi-besan mixture and keep stirring continuously on high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil reduce to low heat and let it simmer for 5-7 mins.

Add the badis and simmer for 2-3 mins.

Tempering:

Heat ghee in a tadka pan. Add the jeera and the whole coriander seeds. Let it crackle. Put in the red chillies and stir. Pour this over the Karhi Badi.

Serve with steamed rice.

Litti

Litti is one of the most famous Snack or Meal (as well) in Bihar. In Mithila during winter it is quite famous, especially when winter is at its peak. The most famous combination is Litti-Chokha (of Egg-plant). This is a low calorie, high-fibre meal for those calorie conscious people.

Ingredients

For Dough

1. Wheat Flour (Atta) - 2 Cup
2. Water - 1/2 Cup
3. Salt - 1/2 Tea spoon.

For Filling

1. Sattu - 1 Cup (Gram baked in Sand and powdered)
2. Garlic(Chopped) - 4 Cloves
3. Ginger(Chopped) - 1 Tbl spoon
4. Green Chilies (Chopped) - 2
5. Coriander Leaves (Chopped) - 2 Tbl spoon
6. Onion Seeds (Mangarella) - 1/2 Tea spoon
7. Thyme (Ajwain) - 1/2 Tea spoon
8. Lemon juice - 2-3 Tea spoon
9. Pickle Masala (Chilli pickle is the best) - 3 Tea spoon
10. Mustard oil - 2 Tbl Spoon
11. Salt to taste so that the Sattu mix is not Salty.

Method

1. Mix all the filling ingredients with Sattu. Start with dry mixing all the herbs and spices with Sattu.
2. Add 1/4 cup water to make the stuffing moist and easy to fill. Keep aside.
3. Mix flour with water knead it into stiff dough. Add pinch of salt to add to the taste.
4. Make balls out of dough of approx 3" diameter in size with hand.
5. Stuff 2 to 3 teaspoon sattu filling in the center of each balls and wrap it from all sides. Ensure that there are no holes or gaps etc and the flour is covering the sattu filling properly.
6. When all the littis are stuffed, pre-heat the oven to 375 F and put all the littis on a foil .
7. Bake till one side is brown and black spots come on the litti surface.
   
8. Turn over the litti and bake for few more minutes until that side is brown as well.
9. Take out and dip in pure ghee or butter and serve with baigan (Egg-Plant) ka bharta.
10. Serve while hot.
    

One variation of this could be using Egg-Plant and Tomato ka Chokha instead of Egg-Plant bharta (Chokha).

Pitthis in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Yet another “Pitthi” preparation with a variation of another derivative sauce/gravy which is tomato based. The Italian cuccina houses two major tomato based sauces usually named as Napolitano ( Nepolotana) and Arabita but apart from these two a countless number of derivative sauces and home made sauces are practiced and consumed. Most of their sauces are flavored with herbs like Oregano, Marjoram or any Liquor like Red wine and other spirit.

Here also I’ve tried the same thing replacing the herbs and liquor with typical Indian spices/flavorings like asafetida, cumin seed in order to create a better fusion. The preparation is very simple and easy to prepare. Just check out the recipe below and don’t forget to leave your comment about the same.

Ingredients:

• Basic Pitthi Mixture of 100 Gms flour
• Chopped Tomatoes: 250 gms
• Tomato Puree: ½ tin
• Chopped Coriander leaves: 10 gms
• Salt and pepper: as per taste
• Red chilly Pd: ½ tbsp
• Asafetida: 4-5 gms
• Fine Chopped Onion: 150 gms
• Ginger Garlic paste: 40 gms
• Turmeric: 4-5 gms
• Sugar: 2 tbsp
• Cumin seed: 1 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Parboil Pitthis in fast boiling water to just chewable stage.
2. Heat oil in a pan add a tempering of cumin and fry ginger garlic paste and chopped onion to light brown in color with asafetida. Sweat it with a pinch of salt and turmeric also add red chilly powder at this stage.
3. Add chopped tomatoes and mix well with the addition of sugar.
4. When the excess water of tomato evaporates and mixture gets little dry, add the tomato puree for better colour. And mix it well with rest of the ingredients in the pan.
5. When the consistency of the sauce becomes thick add the parboiled stuffed Pitthis and mix it with the sauce for 2 minutes and take it off the flame.
6. Serve it in a platter garnished with chopped coriander leaves and deep fried onions.

Ramruch

Ramruch is a preparation of Besan (Gram Flour) and is one of the most famous preparation in Mithila. I am yet to come across any other cuisine where Ramruch is being mentioned or cooked. Ramruch is one of the dishes served in almost all the auspicious occasions in Mithila.


Ingredients

• Besan 500 gm
• Tomato (diced) 100 gm
  
• Coriander leaves 50 gm (for garnishing)
• Ghee 1 Tbl spoon
• Turmeric powder 1 tbl spoon
• Coriander powder
• cumins powder
• Red Chili powder
• Salt to taste
  

Preparation

• In besan add 2-3 tbl spoon of Ghee or any vegetable oil and mix it properly.
• Add pinch of Salt, turmeric and cumins seeds to the mix and mix it again.
• Add water and knead it properly. The mix should not be soft as it has to be boiled later on.
• Make Small-Small rolls of the mix more like a 1cm Radius cylindrical (around 10-15 cm long) shape.
• Cut tomato into small pieces and keep it aside.
  

Cooking

• Boil water in a deep pan.
• Boil besan rolls for 10-15 mins. When they are cooked they will start floating on the surface of boiling water.
• Take the cooked besan rolls out of boiling water and put them aside in a cold water vessel.
• Let the rolls cool down. It take around 5 mins for them to cool down so that they are ready to be cooked.
• Once the besan rolls are cooled cut them in small pieces (round ones).
• Heat oil (mustard oil or vegetable oil) in pan.
• Fry all the besan pieces in the oil till it turns red and keep it aside.
• In the remaining oil add some Asafoetida (Heeng) and Curry-leaves (Tej-Patta) for Seasoning mix (Phoran).
  
• Add masala (cumins powder, Coriander powder, Turmeric powder, chili powder), Salt and diced tomato to the mix.
• Cook it well till the masala mix starts to leave the pan surface.
• Add some water to make thick gravy.
• When the gravy starts to boil add the fried besan pieces to it.
• Cook for 10 - 15 mins on low-med flame.
• Keep it aside and then sprinkle garam masala first, then coriander leaves (chopped in small pieces).
• In a deep cooking spoon Add 1 tbl spoon Ghee and cumins seeds and heat it on flame so that the ghee is hot and cumin seeds are fried properly in it.
• Add that mix to the Ramruch Curry and cover it for 5 mins. This will bring aroma to the curry.
• Serve it as a side-dish and enjoy the taste.
  

One variation to this could be to add little bit of Tomato or Sweet Chili sauce in the spices while gravy is being prepared. This will add to the taste. Also in place of Asafoetida, Ginger and Garlic paste can be used.

Aloo ke Sanna (A mashed potato preparation with herbs and other flavouring)

Again a very popular Lunch time favorite and considered to be the best accompaniment with Rice alone. Interestingly till half way the preparation style of Sanna is similar to French Croquettes with a difference of addition of Choux Paste in the same. Aloo Sanna could be prepared by two methods, some people prefer adding all herbs and flavourings in raw form while the other method of preparing is just its contrary in which flavourings and herbs are fried well separately and then added to the mashed mixture. Both the preparations are equally popular and liked by all age group.

Ingredients:

• Potato with jacket : 6 medium size.
• Chopped onion: 75 gms
• Chopped garlic: 30 gms
• Chopped slit green chillies: 10 gms
• Turmeric pd: 2 pinches
• Mustard oil/Refined oil : just enough for frying the flavourings.
• Chopped Coriander leves: 15 gms.
• Musturd Seeds:4-5 gms
• Salt : as per taste.

Method : 1

1. Boil potatoes with jacket in order to prevent it from getting soggy, mash and keep it aside ( try to avoid formation of lumps while mashing) .
2. In a separate pan, heat oil add tempering of Musturd seeds and fry onion, garlic, green chillies, with the addition of salt and turmeric, fry till golden brown in color .
3. Mix the fried flavorings with mashed potatoes. Add chopped coriander leaves, check the seasoning and serve with rice as an accompaniment.

Method : 2

1. Additional ingredients:
2. Lemon juice: few drops.
3. Pickle mixture (Achaar ka Masala) : 1 spoon
4. Instead of frying all the flavorings add it directly with the potato paste , add the additional ingredients and mix it well.
5. Serve with rice during lunch.

Jhaua Baigan (Eggplant) ke Khatta Meetha Tarkari (Curry)

This is a very famous preparation of Eggplant (aka Brinjal) in Mithila. I recently had a chance to get a taste of it during my wedding. I liked it so much first time that I requested the person (who cooked it first time) to make it again for my Ek-Bhukt meal. Well this is a simple preparation and adds a different kind of taste to the meal. Those who love eggplant will love it for sure. Jhaua Baigan is the variety of eggplant which is thin and long. There are 3 varieties of this eggplant Green, Viotel and White (in some parts of the world).

Ingredients:

1. EggPlant (Baigan or Brinjal) 500gm (thin and long ones).
2. Tamarind (Imli) 100gm.
3. Jaggery (Gur) 100 gm
4. Cummins (Jeera) powder (1 tbs)
5. Coriander (Dhaniya) Powder (1 tbs)
6. Turmeric (Haldi) Powder (1 tbs)
7. Chilli (Laal Mirch) Powder (1/2 tbs optional)
8. Kitchen King masala (2tbs)

Preparation:

1. Cut Eggplant in half (in length) and then 4 pieces along the length so that they pieces are joined from one end.
2. Soak Tamarind in 250 ml water and leave that for 1 hr so that it is mixed with water. Drain the Tamarind seeds out of the mix and keep the mix aside.

Cooking:

1. Heat oil (mustard oil the best) in Pan for Deep Fry.
2. Deep fry Eggplant for 3-5 mins on medium heat.
3. Keep it aside after frying so that the excess oil is drained.
4. Heat small amount of oil in a separate pan.
5. When the oil is heated use Phoran mix(Panchphoran, Heeng, Tej Patta) etc for Seasonings. This will add some aroma to the food.
6. Add spices mix (Jeera, Dhaniya, Haldi, Mircha, Meat Masala ya Kitchen King (little bit)) to the oil and start mixing.
7. Cook for sometime till spices are cooked properly and do not stick to the pan anymore.
8. Mix Tamarind (soaked one and drained) and Jaggery and cook for 5 mins till starts boiling.
9. Add Egg plant (fried) and cook for another 5 mins.
10. Let the curry settle down and become little thick.
11. Add coriander leaves to that.

Tamatar ke Chutney

This is one of those recipe which is easy to make and lasts long even at room temperature. This is one of the must have in mithila whenever there is a bhoj.

Ingredients

• Tomato Diced
• 1 Tbl Spoon oil
• Salt as per taste
• Sugar as per taste
• Dry fruits (optional)

Preparation

• Chop tomato in small pieces so that they cook easy.
• Dry-Fruits cut in small pieces (optional)

Cooking Method

• Heat oil in Kadai (Pan)
• Add Methi and green or red chili (cut)
• Add diced tomato, add salt, cover and cook on low flame.
• Keep stirring in between and cover again till the tomato is cooked.
• The important thing to keep in mind here is that the tomato should become paste and there should not be any remains in the pan.
• Once the tomato is cooked. Add sugar as per taste.
• Add dry-fruits if you wish to.
• Cook for another 5 minutes and the Chutney is ready
• Add chopped coriander leaves to it afterwards before serving.
• Serve warm or cold
  

A variation to this could be to fry chopped onions in the beginning and then add tomato to it. But then the chutney cannot be preserved for long. But if onion is not added to it then the chutney can be preserved for long even at room temperature.

Alternatively Jaggery or gur can be used in place of sugar.