Traditional recipes

Mutton cooked in a tangy gravy of yoghurt and gram flour with whole spices, a festive dish of the Kangra valley.

Chickpeas cooked slowly in yoghurt and ghee with whole spices, a rich dish of the Chamba and Kangra dham feast.

Fried dumplings of urad dal simmered in a spiced spinach gravy, the signature dish of the Mandi dham.

Whole black urad dal cooked slowly with mustard oil and whole spices, a dark, thick dal of the Himachali dham.

A sweet-and-sour dish of chickpeas or pumpkin with tamarind or dried mango and jaggery, served towards the end of the Kangra dham.

Rice cooked with sugar, ghee, saffron colour and dry fruits, a sweet served at the Himachali dham.

A deep-fried bread stuffed with spiced black gram paste, often eaten with tamarind chutney; Himachal Pradesh’s answer to the kachori.

A steamed bread of leavened wheat dough stuffed with poppy seed or walnut paste, eaten with ghee in the Kullu and Shimla hills.

Thin pancakes of wheat flour and milk, often lightly sweetened, from the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh.

Fresh trout from the cold streams of the Kullu valley, lightly spiced and pan-fried in mustard oil.

A spiced pulao of rice, lentils, potatoes and yoghurt from Chamba, cooked with whole spices in mustard oil.

Potatoes in a light yoghurt gravy flavoured with whole spices, a mild dish of the Kangra feast.

A soft leavened bread of the Himachali hills, made from naturally fermented wheat dough and cooked on a griddle or fried.

A deep-fried wheat bread of Kinnaur and the upper Himachal valleys, made at festivals and offered to the village deity.

Thin, soft pancakes of wheat, buckwheat or rice flour, a simple breakfast across the Himachali hills.

Young curled shoots of a wild fern, gathered from damp forests in the rainy season and stir-fried with spices.

A fiery chilli relish of Chamba, made from red or green chillies, lemon juice and mustard oil.

A light green or black tea from the gardens of the Kangra valley, brewed simply to keep its delicate taste.

Goat meat cooked slowly in mustard oil with whole spices and curd, in the style of village feasts in the Himachali hills.

A dark, wholesome flatbread of finger millet (kodra or ragi), traditional food in the hill villages of Himachal Pradesh.

Colocasia leaves spread with spiced gram flour paste, rolled, steamed, sliced and fried; a rainy-season snack of Kangra and Mandi.

Small, soft fritters of wheat flour sweetened with jaggery, made in Himachali homes for festivals and offerings.

A fresh chutney of walnuts, mint, green chilli and curd or lemon, made in the walnut-growing valleys of Himachal Pradesh.

Small, flavourful hill kidney beans slow-cooked with ginger and whole spices, grown in the high valleys of Himachal Pradesh.

A soft, set sweet made from wheat starch, sugar and ghee, a festive speciality of Kangra.

Split Bengal gram cooked thick with whole spices and finished with ghee, one of the dals served in the Kangri dham.