Maithil cuisine, also known as Mithila cuisine, is a part of Indian and Nepalese cuisine.[1] It is the traditional cooking style of Maithils residing in the Mithila region of the subcontinent.[2]
Maithil cuisine comprises a broad repertoire of rice, wheat, fish and meat dishes and the use of various spices, herbs and natural edibles.[3] The cuisine is categorized by types of food for various events, from banquets, to weddings and parties, festival foods, and travel foods.[4] [5]
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:,,, and, and is akin to the panchforan of Bengal.
While Hindus do not eat beef, they will drink cow and buffalo milk. An old saying shows the importance of milk products in Maithil cuisine: “” (A meal is the meal that starts with ghee and ends with yogurt).
Vegetarian food like (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, they are used in a number of preparations such as (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). consists of fried ribbed gourd cooked with lentil and cereals. is a simple meal with red spinach and lentils eaten with chapati or rice. Similar to a puree, is made through the process of, manual churning. It can also be made with paneer or in a non-vegetarian style with shrimp added.
is a fish curry and steamed rice. Machhak jhor is a traditional fish curry used in many events with the exception of some religious festivals.
Dried mango strips are widely used to give tartness in various gravies. Some sauces and gravies include:
They would often start their day with a cup of steaming hot chai served with 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, (also known as, 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,, (flour pancake), and (semolina porridge),, (salted makhan).
Some snacks include:
Sweet foods are also popular. Varieties of kheer are a common dessert, including 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 (layered mango pulp sun-dried and cut into small chunks),,, and . Laddoo, khaja, chandrakala, rasgulla, and other desserts are common. Sakrauri (boondi in condensed milk topped with nuts) would be another dessert maithils love to have after an hefty meal. An introduction to Mithila cuisine would remain incomplete without a reference to paan (betel leaves). A sweet betel leaf is flavoured with ingredients such as sweet fennel, cardamom, clove, rose petals, and sugar crystal and eaten as a dessert.
Some traditional Maithil dishes are:[6] [7] [8]