Traditional Bihari Cuisine – What Make Them Special

If there was just one word to summarize what traditional Bihar cuisine is all about, that would be SIMPLICITY. True, the food here are so simple that sometimes you don’t even need to cook at all. 

There are many dishes that can be prepared without entering into the kitchen and are generally eaten raw. Take the example of Dahi Chura and Sattu. These constitute as staple food for many Bihari residents. Moreover, they also serve as fast food, but are healthier than what you generally get at a modern fast food joint.

It is easy to see why Bihari fast foods are healthier. When preparing Dahi Chura, you only need to add Dahi (yogurt) with chura (beaten rice), both of which are available in market. Add sugar or jaggery as per your taste, and you have enough for the day. 

Similarly, you only need to add water to sattu that can be made of anything – chana (gram), maize, bajra, moong or barley – to name just a few here. Again, powdered sattu can easily be had from the market. Sattu can be sweet or salty depending upon your taste. Add sliced onion, lemon and salt to make it salty. Use just sugar to make it sweet.

Even if in the case of cooked food, you need to do a very little preparation. Take the example of Litti Chokha, which has become a signature cuisine of Bihar. No elaborate cooking setup is necessary. All you need is atta dough and sattu. Make balls of dough filled with sattu and roast them over heat. 

Of course, you need to add salt, chilies and other ingredients to give a taste and flavor to your litti. To prepare chokha, you can use either brinjals or potatoes. Boil, peel and mash them. Add salt and may be a little of sliced onions. If you wish, you can sauté a little in very little oil.

For most Biharis, the staple foods are bhaat, daal (dal) and sabzi (sabji). Bhaat is boiled rice. Unlike the rice cooked in the western part of India, the people in the East, especially in Bihar and Bengal, like to eat plain boiled rice with dal and sabzi. Dal can be made of anything from gram, rahar, masur, bajra, moong or any other pulse. 

Sabzi refers to vegetables cooked either in oil or with gravy. Fried potatoes are an easy and popular sabzi. Many other vegetables can also be used in this way. Chokha made of potatoes or brinjals are also used with Daal and Bhaat. Chutney (sauce), achar (pickles), papad and dahi are other items people like to eat with Bhaat, dal and sabzi.