The place where I come from, Gujarat, has its own special regional cuisine that I have grown to love, and to miss. I basically call it 'Gujju' cuisine, and today, I have come up with a list of some of the most delicious Gujarati foods.
1. Thepla:
If you don't eat Thepla regularly, you aren't a Gujarati. Thepla is a sort of staple Gujarati flatbread. Methi thepla, specifically, is made from fresh fenugreek leaves, whole wheat flour and gram flour. Theplas are pan-fried, mildly spiced, and can be munched on at any time of the day with tea or spicy pickles.
2. Kachori:
How can one forget the round, spicy Kachoris in a list of Gujarati foods? Kachori is famous not only in Gujarat, but also in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and other parts of India. The Gujarati version of Kachori is a round ball made of flour and dough, stuffed with yellow moong dal, black pepper, red chili powder, and ginger paste.
3. Undhiyu:
Undhiyu is such a healthy and yet a very tasty Gujarati dish. Undhiyu is a vegetable casserole dish that is the hallmark of Gujarati vegetarian cuisine. Undhiyu generally takes time to prepare if cooked in the traditional way. This entails cooking the entire dish, including veggies and methi muthia (steamed/fried dumplings made from chickpea flour and fenugreek leaves) in earthen pots that are sealed and put upside down in a fire pit dug into the ground. However, in the present times, Undhiyu can be quickly prepared if the veggies and methi muthia are steamed in a pressure cooker.
4. Kadhi:
How I miss the soupy, white, gingery, and yet sweet Kadhi my mom prepares at home every week! Kadhi is a yogurt-based gravy dish to which besan/ chickpea flour is added, tempered, and then simmered with spices. The Gujarati Kadhi is thin, light to eat, and has a sweet tinge to it because jaggery/sugar is added to it. This dish becomes even more delectable when you have it with a bit of steamed basmati rice.
5. Gujarati Samosa:
This should be #1 in my list of Gujju foods because I really love Gujarati Samosas. Every time I go home for the summer, I make sure that I have a couple of samosas every Sunday so that I don't miss them when I come back to college for the year. There are different versions of samosas in different regions of India, namely of the Punjabi and Gujarati variations. I love both of these versions equally. The Gujarati samosas are crisp, triangular, and are made from raw potatoes chopped and cooked in oil. They are then spiced up, mixed with cabbage, and wheat flour is used to make the outer, crispy layer for the samosa, which also gives it the specific, triangular shape.
Here is the list of five Gujju foods some of which are almost staple foods made in Gujarati households. I relish all these dishes to the core and now, I am in trouble because I am going to be experiencing an insatiable hunger for all five of these foods for the rest of the day. I am not a great cook, and the Indian restaurant close by my campus has just closed down, so this makes the entire situation hopeless. As for all the Gujarati readers who find this article, you may have so many other Gujju foods to add to this article, so don't forget to tell me about them.
