Maithil cuisine

Template:Refimprove Template:Indian cuisineTemplate:Culture of Nepal Template:Infobox cuisine Maithil cuisine, also known as Mithila cuisine, is the traditional cooking style of Maithils residing in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. It is a part of Indian and Nepalese cuisine.

Maithil cuisine comprises a broad repertoire of rice, wheat, fish and meat dishes and the use of various spices, herbs and natural edibles. The cuisine is categorized by types of food for various events, from banquets, to weddings and parties, festival foods, and travel foods.

The service style of the cuisine has little similarity with that of the French table d'hôte; all preparations are served together on a platter and consumed at once. The staple food is bhat (boiled rice), dal, roti, tarkari and achar, prepared from rice, lentils, wheat flour, vegetables, and pickles. The traditional cooking medium is mustard oil. Panchforan is a common blend of five spices: Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang, and is akin to the panchforan of Bengal.

Types of meat

Mutton and fish are the traditional non-vegetarian items. Chicken is also consumed, but it is seen as an inferior option. Mutton and fish have religious and cultural significance in the Mithila region as sacrificial offerings to goddess Durga and Kali.The Maithil Brahmin community of Mithila is one of the few non-vegetarian Brahmin communities in India, which otherwise is seen as a strictly vegetarian caste within Hinduism. It is strictly not allowed in hinduism.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian food like Template:Lang (leafy vegetables with very thin gravy), as well as vegetables such as bitter gourd, ladyfinger, are eaten. Due to the large amount of root vegetables grown such as potato, yam, and Template:Lang, they are used in a number of preparations such as Template:Lang (mashed vegetables, particularly root vegetables), bhajia (fried vegetables in mustard oil with salt, turmeric powder and green chillies or chilli powder), and tarua (marinated or coated deep-fried vegetables). Template:Lang consists of fried ribbed gourd cooked with lentil and cereals. Template:Lang is a simple meal with red spinach and lentils eaten with chapati or rice. Similar to a puree, Template:Lang is made through the process of Template:Lang, manual churning. It can also be made with paneer or in a non-vegetarian style with shrimp added.

Seafood

Template:Lang is a fish curry served with steamed rice. Machhak jhor is a traditional fish curry used in many events with the exception of some religious festivals.

Sauces and curries

Dried mango strips are widely used to give tartness in various gravies. Some sauces and gravies include:

• Template:Lang — a thin mustard and coriander-based gravy with chilli
• Template:Lang — fried soft dumplings made of besan, gram flour, cooked in spicy gravy
• Template:Lang — generally mutton or chicken or quail (Template:Lang or Template:Lang, a small game bird), or sometimes game in spicy gravy. Generally enjoyed with malpua, Template:Lang (chapatti) Template:Lang, or steamed rice.
• Template:Lang — commonly an oyster stew cooked with onion gravy
• Template:Lang — a preparation of marinated sun-dried colocasia leaves, steamed and cooked in mustard gravy
• Template:Lang — a sauce prepared from green peas and flavouring, generally eaten with rice or rotis
• Template:Lang — fried soft dumplings made of besan cooked in a spicy gravy of yogurt
• Template:Lang

Breakfast

They would often start their day with a cup of steaming hot chai served with Template:Lang and ghugni ( black grams sautèed with onions, green chillies and other spices).

Poori – aloo dum, a potato dish, is a breakfast item common to have along with a sweet dish, Template:Lang (also known as Template:Lang, roundels of deep-fried fermented flour batter dipped in sugar syrup). Apart from that there are several other items that are common for breakfast including Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang (flour pancake), and Template:Lang (semolina porridge), Template:Lang, Template:Lang (salted makhan).

Snacks and desserts

Some snacks include:

• Template:Lang (beaten rice fried with sliced onion, chopped green chillies and green peas)
• Template:Lang (popped corn)
• Template:Lang (rice pops mixed with chopped green chillies, onion, coriander leaf, salt and a few drops of mustard oil)
• Template:Lang (jalebi-like salted batter made of besan flour)
• Samosas (Template:Lang)
• Launglati (Template:Lang)
• Template:Lang
• Template:Lang

Sweet foods are also popular. Varieties of kheer are a common dessert, including Template:Lang which is prepared with lotus seeds, milk and dried nuts. Malpua is popular and has a traditional Mithila preparation that differs from that of north India. Both are prepared from a flour batter; in north India after deep frying they are dipped in sugar syrup, while in Mithila the batter itself is sweetened and it is a dry preparation which can be stored for two to three days. There are also sweet preserves made out of fruit pulps such as Template:Lang (layered mango pulp sun-dried and cut into small chunks), Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Template:Lang. Laddoo, khaja, chandrakala, rasgulla, and other desserts are common.

Traditional dishes

Some traditional Maithil dishes are:

• Dahi-Chura
• Vegetable of Arikanch
• Kadhi bari
• Ghooghni
• Tarua
• Tilkor Tarua
• Bada
• Badee
• Maachh
• Mutton
• Irhar
• Purakiya
• Makhan Payas
• Anarasa
• Bagiya
• Sattuwa varal puri
• Bhuswa
• Khaja(especially Pipra,Supaul district)

See also

• Indian cuisine
• Murabba