Jharkhand -- Dhuska & Ghugni

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 12
State: Jharkhand
Dish: Dhuska & Ghugni

Jharkand is a state located in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar in the year 2000. The name Jharkhand means The land of forests, Jharkand accounts for 40% of the mineral resources of India.

Cuisine: Jharkhand's cuisine is very similar to Bihari cuisine. Jharkhandis use different types of flowers as vegetables like the flowers of drumstick etc., Use of Saag, i.e., leaves of different shrubs and other small plants, is perhaps another peculiarity of Jharkhani food.
Staple Food: Urad dal, Rice, Vegetables.
Specialties: Litti Chokha, Dhuska, Dudhauri, Charpa

Today's Dish(es): I made a traditional dish from Jharkhand and Bihar. Dhuska is made with unfermented rice & lentil batter and is usually deep fried. I followed Vaishali's tip and cooked them like dosas instead. I had some batter leftover after making dhuskas which I left to ferment for about 10~12 hours and then made dosas with the batter. Dosas turned out crisp and perfect. Dhuska is served with ghugni traditionally and that's what I made.

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Raj Kachori ~ Rajasthani Chaat Recipe

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Valli & Vaishali wanted us to make Raj Kachori, a Rajathani chaat item. When Valli announced the challenge, I read the recipe and thought it was really elaborate with quite a few components to be prepared and then completely forgot about it. Then suddenly this past weekend I realized it was almost time to post for ICC and I didn't make the dish. I knew I had no sooji in the pantry and gave up on the challenge. But when I checked again I found a small container of sooji (!!), I'm not even sure where that came from. Anyway that meant I was going to make this delicious chaat for this month's challenge.

It is definitely an elaborate dish and cannot be made in a rush. So make sure that you read the recipe completely and plan to make the components ahead of time or plan to give yourself enough time to complete them.

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Qabooli Biryani (Hyderabadi Chana dal Biryani)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter Q
Theme: A-Z Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: Q for Qabooli Biryani (Hyderabadi Chana dal Biryani)

Letter Q stands for Qubani (apricots). Qubani ka Meetha is a very famous Hyderabadi dessert that is made with dried apricots that are soaked and then cooked with sugar and drizzled with cream. I wanted to make it, but couldn't find good quality apricots. So I made Qabooli instead.

Qabooli is biryani made with spicy chana dal (split pea lentil) and layered with basmati rice. I used black chana/ chickpeas instead and it turned out quite tasty. This is a filling and delicious dish that is great to make when you have company.

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Bengali Butternut Squash & Chickpea Curry (Kumror Chakka)

My theme for 3rd week of Blogging Marathon# 22 is "Bengali Dishes". I fell in love with Bengali cuisine after cooking for BM# 5. I love the use of various whole spices and the combination of flavors that make Bengali dishes, so unique and delicious.

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Kala Chana Sundal & Kala Chana-Green Beans Patoli

After missing blogging marathon for 2 months, I'm back with the group for BM# 22. My theme for the first week is "Cooking with Chana". For the first day I have 2 dishes made with Kala Chana.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are in the middle of getting granite counter tops in our kitchen. As our luck has it, hurricane Sandy created havoc and what was supposed to be a 4-5 days project, now seems to take forever. The Granite guys do not have power yet and we have no counter top or sink in the kitchen. 

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