The cuisine of “Vidarbha”.Not for the weak hearted!!!!!

Vidarbha, the north-eastern region of Maharashtra known for its extreme climates and remaining dry almost all year round and  also known for its boldness. this region consists of Amravati and Nagpur but here we will reflect more on Nagpur division. Here  there are two cuisines  ‘ varhadi’ and ‘saoji’. Both these cuisines are particularly spicy, that’s why I say that it’s not for the people who cannot tolerate spicy food.Saoji is a community which is known for its super spicy non vegetarian food,well it does have veg food also but the real fun lies in tasting the non veg . Varhadi cuisine is a little milder than its counterpart saoji (please note I say little mild but this one is also spicy). On observing we see the that the boldness, and the on your face attitude of locals here reflects on the cuisine here. A particular day in Nagpur would start of with a plate of ‘tarri poha’,this is basically a very spicy hot curry on top of poha,Some vendors make the chole (kabul chana) or black gram pulse or green/hirwa vatana, here’s a picture of extremely delectable tarri poha

            

after breakfast when you look forward for lunch there are many options like ‘gola bhaat’,’pithla bhaat’,’thalipeeth’and if there’s any special ocassions then you can expect puranpoli with a lot ghee poured over it and wada bhaat. now as you can see there are lots of varieties of bhaats(rice) available here and also things made out of besan. here the spices that dominate the cooking styles are black pepper mustard,aamchoor(dry mango powder).  Gola bhaat is rice cooked in turmeric mustard and oil and other regular spices,gola are besan balls which are steamed and then powdered over the rice.for the gola we can use besan turmeric red chilli powder jeera all mixed up to thick consistency(shouldnt be runny)and then steam it.Pithla bhaat is a curry which is made out of besan served with rice. Now when you would look forward for dinner in Nagpur it is highly recommended that you try saoji.

Here is a photo of the famous saoji chicken which is eaten typically with bhakri   but I am warning you once again that it is extremely spicy. A special saoji masala is used to give the chicken or any meat,egg its unique and spicy  flavour(masala is available in any supermarkets).If you guys are vegetarian and want to try these saoji treats you can very well use the saoji masala to cook vegetables preferably aubergine.If you guys want to try this cuisine in Mumbai you can try Saoji tadka in worli, Minks the Nagpuri treat in marol.For varhadi cuisine you can try Aaswad in Dadar very affordable and absolutely yummy or Visawa in Dadar both very famous hotels. Now when we come to nutritive values of these foods I would say none of them are really fattening or something which will make you feel guilty after eating, all these are very light and foods full of nutrition.So all the people who are into healthy eating written above are few more dishes or two more cuisines which can be looked into.