BM # 27 Day 10
Traditional Recipes: Bihar
Bihari Cuisine is similar to North Indian cuisine, but has a influence of Eastern cuisine Musturd oil is used for cooking most dishes. They use Paanch Poran masala, which is a combination of five spices . The spices being Cumin seed, mustard seed, ani seed, fenugreek seed and onion seeds.The combination of these spices lend a unique flavor to the dish. Rice is their staple food and lot of variety are made with it. Buddha the founder of Buddhism was said to have offered rice cooked with milk and honey.
Like any other language they too have their special terms to cooking..like tempering, they call it Chaukana, what some of you may call tadka or vaghar ( as we call it here in Gujarat.).Light frying is called Bhoonjana.
I have a friend, whose mom’s from Bihar and they cook some traditional Bihari food which tastes absolutely amazing.These are the recipes given to me by her.For the second day of traditional recipes in this edition of BM I have prepared Ghugni with Dhuska.
Ghugni , has many versions, but after a deep study I felt the Ghugni made with black gram to be most authentic. Dhuska is a bread with rice flour and a little udad daal. It is supposed to be deep fried, but somehow no one eats fried food , so I decided to shallow fry.
Coming to the recipe …
Ghugni
2 tbsp mustard oil
1 cup black gram( brown chick peas), soaked overnight
1 tsp cumin seed
1 big tomato, finely chopped
1’’ piece ginger, paste
2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp red chilly powder
¼ tsp garam masala
½ tsp mango powder
Salt to taste
Heat oil.
Add cumin seeds, green chilly and tomatoes.
Let cook.
Add the grams, and all spices, except mango powder and garam masala.
Cook well, they call it Bhoojana!
Once it comes up on oil, add water and pressure cook for two whistles, and then on slow fire for about 10 minutes. The grams should have cooked, if otherwise cook till done.
Add garam masala and mango powder.
Dhuska
2 cups rice
½ cup split black gram
¼ cup chana daal
Soak the rice and daals overnight.
Grind to a paste.
Add salt and cumin seed.
Heat oil.pour a ladle full and fry till crisp.
The other version is to make on a non stick girdle.
Heat the girdle.
Drizzle some oil.
Pour a ladle full .
Let cook.
Flip and cook the other side.
Drizzle oil in between to make it little crisp.
Serve with Ghughni
, and sliced onions .
This is served for breakfast or mid meal snacks, but I feel this is a good lunch deal!!
Salt and green chilly are a kind of must in Bihari Cuisine.
The Bihari’s have their special sweets, Thekua, being one of the popular ones, they are very fond of Gulab Jamuns and Malpuas.
Bihari cuisine is not that much familiar to me, dhuska sounds like South Indian paruppu adai, ghughni makes me drool.
Nice to know about a new cuisine.. will definitely try out..
Wow…Ghughni looks lip smacking.
great to learn about another cuisine from you
Beautiful pictures.lovely spread.
Looks delicious. I am not too fond of mustard oil will try it out. The dhuska sounds like an adai.
i had tried making this last year during the bihari theme and liked the dishes a lot for the simple yet delicious flavor, but could not post for some reason. looking at urs, i m glad i did not, you bring alive the simplest recipe with your effort and presentation, in awe as always
Lovely spread. Has very close resemblance to some stuff we make in the south, right?
Sounds new to me…nice clicks and presentation…
Awesome Vaishali, Dhuska sounds like dosa after being made in shallow fry..how does it taste..would want to try these..such a wonderful combo!
yep…. it resemble like dosa… lovely recipe…
Nice to know about Bihari cuisine, love the combination.
Lovely. I sometimes follow the same proportions to make dosas like your dhuskas. 🙂 Didn't know blackgram is more authentic to prepare ghugni. I had prepared it with green peas.
I love your presentation and how you talk about the cuisine in detail. Its interesting to read and the presentation is pleasing for your eyes 🙂
i remember commenting here… but somehow do not see it…
dhuska looks so similar to our dosa.. super delicious… i also learnt a few dishes.. thanks for sharing them..
Sowmya
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This is such a healthy and nutritious combo. Bookmarking it!!
awesome Vaishali…want to try that dosa like thing…
Moong dal ki ghughani is my best snacks in the evening. I love it very much. Ghooghani, Kachadi and chai is the best combination in sancks in Bihari Cuisine