Jharkhandi cuisine

Foods and dishes

Jharkhandi cuisine features a range of dishes tied to festivals and local ingredients. Malpua is commonly made for Holi. Arsa roti, a sweet festival dish, uses rice flour and sugar or jaggery. Chhilka roti is a bread from rice flour and dal, often eaten with chutney, vegetables, or meat.

Dhooska, or dhuska, are deep-fried rice flour pancakes, sometimes paired with gram curry and potatoes. Aaru ki sabzi comes from a root vegetable unique to Jharkhand. Chakor jhol is a wild leafy vegetable cooked in red rice soup. Sanai ka phool ka bharta is a rural dish made from Sanai (Crotalaria juncea) flowers.

Moonj ada is a spicy dal simmered slowly with lemon and chili. Dumbu is a rice-based dessert. Tilkut consists of pounded sesame-seed cookies sweetened with jaggery or melted sugar. Maduwa khassi is smoked mutton, skin left on, served with rice.

Spicy chicken is a common meat preparation. Rohad haku involves sun-dried fish stir-fried in oil with lemon and vinegar. Phutka, or rugra, is an edible monsoon mushroom used as a vegetable. Bamboo shoots are also used as a vegetable.

Red ant chutney is made from mashed red ants and their eggs. Koinar saag features leaves from the koinar tree (Bauhinia variegata). Putkal ka saag is a sautéed leafy green. Pitha is prepared with rice flour and urad or chana dal.

Did You Know?

• Handia is a common rice beer drunk during festivals and marriage feasts.
• Mahua daru is prepared using the flowers of the mahua tree (Madhuca longifolia).