readersdigest.co.in 59it is lashed with ghee and white butter
and eaten with makke ki roti or maize
flatbreads. Maize is believed to have
reached India after 1492, but a 12th-
century temple outside Mysuru shows
92 figures holding something similar to
an ear of corn. No matter this mystery,
there’s no doubt that Punjab’s much
loved saag and roti combo is a winner.
Popular Choice: Makke ki Roti and
Sarson ka Saag
Rajasthan
Dal Baati Churma: Legend has it that
Rajput soldiers would bury balls of
dough in the sand and set out for
battle. When they returned, they
found them baked to a
golden yellow under the
desert sun. The word
baati, according to food
historian K. T. Achaya, is
derived from the Sanskrit
word vatya. Baati is a hard,
roasted ball of wheat, which is
cracked open, doused with ghee and
eaten with dal. Churma is a roasted roti
that is crumbled, mixed with ghee and
sugar, and relished, bit by bit.
Popular Choice: Dal Baati Churma
Uttarakhand
Bal Mithai: It is well documented
that this sweet was invented by Joga
Lal Sah of Malli Bazar. The roasted
khoya pieces are covered with roasted
and sugar-coated poppy seeds, which
add a nice crunch to the sweet. Bal
mithai is made all over the hills now
but it’s the exceptional quality of khoya
from the villages near Almora that
makes the sweet truly special. What
made it score over other sweets was its
long shelf life. Soldiers returning home
could carry it to distant villages and
migrant workers in the plains took it
along nostalgically.
Popular Choice: Bal MithaiUttar Pradesh
Gilawat ke Kebab:
Gilawat means tende-
rizer, so gilawat is the
kebab that practically
dissolves when you bite
into it. Popular lore has it that
gilawat had been created especially
for an elderly nawab who lost his teeth
but not his zest for food. But according
to other sources, gilawat ke kebab
originated to suit the requirements of
elderly pilgrims to a Sufi dargah in
Lucknow’s Kakori. Food experts hold
that the meat for the gilawat has to be
minced and ground 13 times for the
right texture. And once done—and
eaten—it cannot be forgotten.
Popular Choice: Gilawat ke Kebab
— Rahul VermaBihar
Litti Chokha: A favourite of farmers
and soldiers, littis were consumed
widely during the 1857 uprising, since
they require no vessels to cook and very
little water. Small roundels of wholeCover StoryEAST ZONE