Traditional recipes

A thick, green dish of spinach and fenugreek leaves thickened with rice paste and slow-cooked in an iron pan, a Garhwali staple.

Black soybeans roasted and cooked in a dark, thick gravy with rice paste in an iron pan, a classic of Kumaon.

A rich, nutty dal made from roasted and coarsely ground black urad, cooked slowly in an iron pan.

A sharp, yellow raita of grated hill cucumber, curd and ground mustard seeds that tingles the nose.

A thick gravy of soaked and ground lentils, usually horse gram, cooked with greens and spices; a Garhwali comfort food.

Horse gram dal tempered with ghee or mustard oil, a winter favourite across Kumaon and Garhwal.

Boiled potatoes tossed in mustard oil with jakhiya seeds and red chillies, a Kumaoni snack and side dish.

Hill radish or potatoes crushed with a stone, not cut, and cooked in a spicy gravy; a Garhwali home dish.

A creamy pudding of barnyard millet (jhangora) cooked in milk with sugar and cardamom.

Almora’s famous fudge of browned khoya, rolled in tiny white sugar-coated balls.

A khoya and coconut sweet wrapped in a cone of malu leaf, which gives it a light, fresh fragrance; a speciality of Almora.

Fried sweets of soaked rice flour and jaggery, sent by Garhwali families to a daughter’s new home after marriage.

A dark, wholesome flatbread of finger millet (mandua), eaten with ghee, jaggery or greens across Uttarakhand.

Crisp, spiral-shaped fried sweets of semolina, banana and curd, made in Kumaoni homes for festivals.

Deep-fried puris stuffed with spiced ground dal, made in Garhwal for festivals and as food for journeys.

A tangy chutney of roasted hemp seeds, mint and lemon, a Kumaoni favourite. The seeds are not intoxicating.

Tender leaves of the stinging nettle, cooked into a soft, spiced saag; a wild green of the Uttarakhand hills.

A thick Kumaoni dish of soaked and ground pulses such as bhatt or gahat, cooked slowly with spices and eaten with rice.

Big hill citrus fruit mixed with curd, jaggery and spiced hemp-seed salt, a winter snack shared in the sun.

Salt ground by hand on a stone with garlic, green chilli and herbs, the everyday seasoning of Uttarakhand.

A ruby-red cooling drink made from the flowers of the rhododendron, Uttarakhand’s State tree, which blooms in spring.

A light kadhi of curd or buttermilk thickened with rice paste and tempered with jakhiya, eaten with rice.

Hill goat meat slow-cooked in mustard oil with whole spices, a feast dish in Garhwal and Kumaon.

A soft, dough-like dish of finger millet flour stirred into boiling water, eaten with ghee and phaanu or greens in Garhwal.

Fried sweets of wheat flour and jaggery in shapes such as birds, drums and swords, made for Ghughutiya (Makar Sankranti) in Kumaon.

Country chicken cooked in mustard oil with onions, tomato and hill spices such as jakhiya, a weekend favourite in the hills.