Garhwali food is simple to prepare but it is undeniably tasty. Full of diverse flavours, colours and ingredients, Garhwali cuisine is not spicy keeping in mind the hard working nature of the locals and the harsh winters. It is believed that people of Garhwal – known as Dev Bhoomi – are descendants of Indo-Aryans and Indo-Iranians. This is the reason they have a mixed food culture and equal varieties of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.
Rice is their staple food. One of the spices, which they commonly use in their cooking, isBhaang (hash seeds). It makes simple recipes interesting. Garhwali’s are not very fond of using tomatoes while cooking and even make chutneys using hash seeds as the main ingredient. The most famous chutney is bhaang-jeera chutney.
The pulses, beverages and fruits that Garhwali’s eat are somewhat different from what we find in other parts of the world. The common pulses they relish are gehet, gauth, toor, swanta and gauthare. Instead of colas, they prefer to drink various juices like burash(rhododendron) juice, rose juice and malta juice. Some typical Garhwali fruits are hisoi, kaafal (bayberry), kilmudi, mekauti (malta) and narangi (orange).
Common Ingredients Used
- Rice
- Lentils
- Pulses like Gehet
- Mustard Oil
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Rice
- Lentils
- Pulses like Gehet
- Mustard Oil
- Ginger
- Garlic
Common Spices Used
- Jakhiya
- Cloves
- Cardamom
- Cinnamon
- Asafoetida
- Jakhiya
- Cloves
- Cardamom
- Cinnamon
- Asafoetida
Regular Food
Breakfast: In breakfast, they prefer to eat Mandua ki roti (chapati made with finger millet flour) or Bhari roti (chapati stuffed with cooked pulses).
Lunch and Dinner: Rice and pulses are a must during lunch and dinner. Apart from this, they eat various green leafy vegetables and typical Garhwali dishes like Phaanu, Kafuli, Bhatwani, Chainsoo and Jholi .(explanations given below)
Other delicacies that they enjoy are Urad Pakora, Kaddu ki Bhujji and Poori. Their favourite non-vegetarian dish is Kachmauli – the goat flesh is smoked in open fire using leaves and then also seasoned. They love to have chutneys and pickles with their meals.
Festive Food
During the festivities, they cook special desserts and sweets like Roat, Gulgula, Arsa, Bal Mithai, Kesar Halwa, Singhori, Jhagora ki Kheer, Sei, Lapsi, Kandku, Tasmai, Palyu and Rwatna.
Description of Famous Garhwali Dishes
Kafuli – This is a thick gravy dish made of Spinach leaves.
Chainsoo – It can be cooked with or without gravy and is generally cooked using Bhatwani(a variety of soyabean). It is a rich source of protein.
Thechwani – The name of this dish is derived from the way it is prepared. The main ingredient a potato that is not boiled or cut into pieces but crushed (thinchao).
Phaanu – Just like Chainsoo, this is also cooked using lentils. It can be cooked using a variety of lentils. However, for cooking Phaanu, it is necessary to soak lentils for about 6 hours.
Jholi – In Garhwali language, Jhol means very thin gravy. Jholi is a gravy-dish cooked using potatoes, tomatoes, curd and asafoetida as main ingredients.
Roat – This sweet dish is cooked with jaggery and wheat flour. To make it more flavourful, fennel soaked water is added to it.
Health Benefits
- Garhwali food is full of proteins as it mainly comprises of cereals, lentils and pulses.
- Usage of mustard oil makes it healthy for heart.
- It is healthy and full of nutrients.
- Mild use of spices and oil makes the food less fatty.
- It is rich in iron as more leafy vegetables are consumed.
- High fiber content and excessive use of coarse grains makes the food easily digestible.
- Garhwali food is full of proteins as it mainly comprises of cereals, lentils and pulses.
- Usage of mustard oil makes it healthy for heart.
- It is healthy and full of nutrients.
- Mild use of spices and oil makes the food less fatty.
- It is rich in iron as more leafy vegetables are consumed.
- High fiber content and excessive use of coarse grains makes the food easily digestible.
Recipe
Kafuli
Ingredients
2 bunches of Spinach
4 green chilies
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
a pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp coriander powder
1 tsp rice powder
2 cups water,
2 tsp mustard oil
4 green chilies
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
a pinch of asafoetida
salt to taste
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp coriander powder
1 tsp rice powder
2 cups water,
2 tsp mustard oil
Procedure
- Thoroughly wash spinach leaves in running water. Chop finely and boil along with green chilies. Make thin paste in the blender.
- Heat oil in a pan. Put ginger-garlic paste. As soon as it starts turning brown, add asafoetida, salt, turmeric powder, cumin seeds and coriander powder. Add boiled spinach and rice powder.
- Cook on a low flame for about 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with chapati or steamed rice.
- Heat oil in a pan. Put ginger-garlic paste. As soon as it starts turning brown, add asafoetida, salt, turmeric powder, cumin seeds and coriander powder. Add boiled spinach and rice powder.
- Cook on a low flame for about 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with chapati or steamed rice.
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