I am from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, and since various areas of the state have pretty diverse cusines, I will tell you what is unique to the Bhojpuri Cuisine and must definitely be tried. Bhojpuri people are mostly vegetarian so there isn’t any signature dish in my list that’s non-veg. Here goes…
1. Start off with Dalmoth, U.P.’s version of namkeen, i.e., a crispy, dry, salty and spicy snack, best served with ginger flavoured milk tea or a cold drink. Its made of gram-flour, roasted gram seeds, moong seeds and other legumes and spices.
2. If you happen to be there in summers, you just shouldn’t miss Sattu ki Lassi. It’s a chilled drink that’s spicy in taste, with roasted gram flour (Sattu) as the prime ingredient. Excellent coolant for the heat wave in U.P. Summers.
3. If you like sweet snacking, Pua could be your thing, a light-sweet, poori-like thing made of flour and semolina (not to be confused with Malpua, this one is deep fried like Pooris and not dipped in sugar syrup)
4. Thekua is our version of cookies. Though mostly made seasonally for the festival of Chatth in autumn, most housewives will be happy to make them for you at a different time as well. It is mostly not available in shops though.
5. Banarasi Kachori, a little different from the idea of Kachoris you might have. They are more like typical pooris stuffed with a mix made of coarsely ground legumes and spices. Mostly served with a potato curry.
6. Litti, or rather the star of my list, something every bhojpuri will identify with. They are wheat flour balls stuffed with a mix of Sattu and spices and are roasted or fried as you like. Best served with chokha.
7. Chokha, a mix of mashed vegetables, mostly made in combos where either potatoes, brinjals or tomatoes are the prime ingredient. The vegetables are cooked with their skin on, in an open fire and peeled when cooked and mixed with spices, green chilli and raw mustard oil. Apart from being a great accompaniment of Litti, it tastes great with flame cooked rotis.
8. Now we come to dessert with Kheer Mohan. Made with beancurd on lines similar to rasgulla, though with a thicker sugar syrup.
9. Kulfi-Falooda is next, this one has a version in every state, and U.P. has it’s own unique one.
10. Imarti, which is the well-known Jalebi’s close relative, same yet different
11. Anarsa, made of rice flour, jaggery and poppy seeds. My personal favourite
12. Tilkut, made of sesame seeds and jaggery.
13. Gujiya, made out of flour and stuffed with coconut, jaggery and dry fruits, flavoured preferably with cardamon.
14. And finally Tissi ke Laddu and Methi ke Laddu. They are made of flax and fenugreek seeds respectively and are made mostly in winter. Though everyone doesn’t have a taste for them, they have amazing health benefits
Image Sources: Google
EDIT:
15. Lavang latika, a sugar syrup dipped flour based sweet stuffed with dryfruit. As its name suggests, it has clove flavour added to it. If you have liked gingerbread, you can try this too, might like it as well (Suggested by Santosh Mishra)
