I would like to heartily thank Go UNESCO team for coming up with the delicious heritage task. Being a Haryanvi, foodie nature comes to me naturally and all the Haryanvi people have a special corner for original Haryana’s cuisines.
The three dishes I’ve recorded and did a bit of research on, are :
1. Meethe chawal or gur (jaggery) ke chawal
Ingredients :
Jaggery �( as per your taste)
Rice. � � � 1 glassful
Water � �3-4 glasses
Ghee � � � 2 to 3 tablespoons.
Recipe :
To start with, we make a syrup of gur (jaggery) by boiling it in a large pan with 1 glass of water. Meanwhile, we take a glass full of rice and wash it a large bowl with normal water. Now, take a spoon and check if the syrup is prepared, if you still find pieces of gur in there let it be for 2-3 more mins. on mid flame. Let the syrup cool down and meanwhile take a cooker put washed rice in it and ghee and a glass full of normal water and now put the syrup. Close the lid carefully and after one full whistle, let the pressure cooker cool down for 5 min. Open the lid carefully and serve meethe chawal with cold milk.
Now, it comes naturally to our mind that how this delicacy came into being. Gur is one potent ingredient for sweet dishes in haryana. In villages, people still maintain a stock of gur the way we maintain a stock for sugar. The idea behind meethe chawal is believed to be the nutritional qualities of gur and how well it mixes up with rice. Normal boiled white rice may cause health related problems in some people, gur is a solution for such problems since its a natural sort of sugar. Gur ke chawal is the one delicacy to relish on festive occasions in haryana.
Link to the video :�Watch “Recipe and procedure for preparing meethe chawal o” on YouTube – Recipe and procedure for preparing meethe chawal o: https://youtu.be/pJPdBCvB7Bs
2. Tamatar or tomato chutney
Ingredients :
Tomatoes � : �4
Onions. � � �: � 2
Salt (as per your taste)
Fresh green chillies and �coriander leaves
Fresh mint leaves (optional)
Recipe :
First thing we need is a kundi ( a bowl like structure carved out of stone) and a wooden beater that normally comes with kundi.
Now we chop tomatoes and onions and then we start with beating chopped onions in the kundi and we do this for 5-7 mins. then we put 2-3 green chillies, coriander leaves and mint leaves and beat it all up to form a mixture, when the mixture is formed finally take chopped tomatoes and beat it all up.
Beat up the whole mixture until neither of the ingredients is specifically visible and chutney is ready.
Instead of tomatoes, you can also use mangoes to have a yummy twist.
Now the idea of chutney to people of haryana is more like spicy junk food when relished with pulaav or chapati. Chutney is one great twist of taste and health. My oldest aunty recounts her childhood days when they won’t know how to make anything else to eat with chapati but chutney. Chutney is one good method to fulfill your meal with the delicacy and nutrition of fresh fruits and vegetables and people of haryana being mostly vegetarian and having land for plantation of vegetables prefer vegetable rich foods.
Link to the video for reference :�Watch “Recipe and procedure for tamatar chutney” on YouTube – Recipe and procedure for tamatar chutney: https://youtu.be/Rd0TS6MS9gA
3. Choorma
Ingredients :
Wheat flour
Water
Sugar
Ghee
Recipe :
Choorma is the one delicacy which is seldom made nowadays in homes but still rules the hearts of people. Haryana being a state of chapatis mainly, we can use chapatis not only for monotonous meals but for preparing delicacies like Choorma as well.
So, the first thing we need to do is make a dough using wheat flour and water keeping in mind that we’ve to make chapatis with it.
After preparing the dough, we make chapatis, say 5 to 6 chapatis and not let them cool down, then we take these freshly made chapatis in a large bowl, put sugar as per your taste and 4 to 5 tbs ghee the most essential ingredient. Now the task is to mix it all up. To start with, make very small pieces of chapati and using the ghee and sugar mix them up. When you’re done with mixing it up thoroughly, you can carve ladoos out of it and there you have one nutrition rich dessert.
I think now that you’ve read the recipes you must have realized how simple chapatis and ghee is a significant part of Haryana’s diet. Since people of haryana are known for their consumption of milk and ghee, we use ghee almost in every dish. Ghee is a part of Haryana’s diet as this state has been known for agricultural production and that implies lots of hard work and ghee gives them the strength for hard work.
Link to the video for reference :�Watch “Recipe and procedure for Haryana’s special choorma” on YouTube – Recipe and procedure for Haryana’s special choorma: https://youtu.be/ff3XuMad9Z8