Festive Food of Haryana

105 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 Festive Food of Haryana Bhupender* Sweety** Assistant Professors, School of Hotel Management, Starex University – Gurugram Abstract Haryana is a state of great cultural heritage. Haryana is a land where Veda was written on the bank of river Saraswati. A legendary land where Rishi Ved Vyas wrote epic Mahabharata. A land where Lord Krishna delivered the immortal message of Gita to humanity at large at the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Apart from, Haryana is a rich land of festivals, such as Makar Sankranti, Holi, Teej, Deewali, Guga Navmi, Basora etc. Each festival celebrates with an excitement and peoples celebrate festivals with preparing of different kinds of food. As the peoples of Haryana like to have milk and milk products for their daily consumption. In most festivals, they make foods in their homes with milk. With this paper, an attempt has been made to explore the festive foods of Haryana and their recipes. The data has been collected from the various source such as published articles, journals, books and websites. An informal discussion with family has been conducted for gather the more information about festive food those they are prepared for festivals, their recipe and cooking style. It has been found that Kheer, Halwa, Puri, Sakkarpare (Sahwali), Ghewar, Pakode, Malpua (Puda) and Gulgulle are some famous festive foods of Haryana that are made on various festivals. Keywords: Festivals, Food, Tradition, People, Cuisine, Haryana Introduction “Desan me Des Haryana, Jit Doodh Dahi ka Khana” “Bajre ki tati Roti pe nooni ghee, Sag bna khas ho, or kundi me ragdi chutney, lassi ka gilas ho, Baith ke Chulhe aage Maa ka jimana ho se, Yo Mera Haryana ho se” The name of Haryana means the abode of God. It is made with two Sanskrit words ‘Hari’ which mean God and ‘ayana’ which meaning home. It is a land where guests are treated as God. On 1st 106 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 November 1966, Haryana came into existence as a newly created state carved out of Punjab state. Haryana represents the face of modern India. the one which is heralding the future yet prides itself of being rooted in its magnificent culture. Today Haryana is positioned among one of the wealthiest and most economically developed regions in South Asia. Haryana is a vivid kaleidoscope of diverse landscapes, showcasing magnificent archeology and celebrating art and culture. A state that has transcended on a journey and preserved the best of both worlds – the footprints of the bygone era and futuristic vision. From being referred to as ‘heaven on earth’ in ancient Sanskrit texts to be the bedrock of Indus valley civilization, Haryana has one of the most unique histories. This land has also witnessed historical battles, including the famous battles at Panipat and has lent canvas for the epic battle of Mahabharata at Kurukshetra. Haryana has been apprised of promoting Highway Tourism and giving a new mark to Hospitality and Tourism Industry. Haryana has a very rich cultural heritage and eating habits. Haryanvi cuisine is also like its people, simple and vigorous. Haryana has maintained simplicity in its food with its agrarian culture. Haryana is well known for its agriculture and cattle wealth, so there is abundance of milk, butter, ghee, lassi, thandai, buttermilk, vegetables which are quite like Punjab. Haryana is also known as ‘land of roties’ as people here are very fond of eating several kinds of roties like wheat, bajara, barley, gram flour etc. Haryana food is famous for its cattle wealth and claim to be the house of popular murrah buffalo and Haryana cow. This is main reason for abundance of milk as well as milk products in cuisine of Haryana. So, cuisine/gastronomy of Haryana is very rich and vibrant and has a wide array of choices in it. It has its own long history and a dominant role in culture and festivals of Haryana. Apart from, Haryana is also a rich land of festivals, such as Makar Sankranti, Holi, Teej, Deewali, Guga Navmi, Basora etc. Each festival celebrates with an excitement and peoples celebrate festivals with preparing of different kinds of food. As the peoples of Haryana like to have milk and milk products for their daily consumption. In most festivals, they make foods in their homes with milk. Keeping the above discussion in view an attempt has been made in this research paper to investigate and explore the festive food of Haryana. 107 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 Review of Literature • Very little study has been attempted on food of Haryana. Even no study has been conducted on festive food of Haryana state. • Dahiya A. (2012) in his book titled “FoodofHaryana: TheGreat Chutneys” highlighted the features of food accompaniment ‘chutney’, various types of chutneys and investigated the rich food culture of Haryana. Chutneys can be highly spicy, sweet, bland, sour, pungent or a combination of tastes. In his book he has given recipes of thirty-four types of chutneys. They may be raw or cooked. Chutneys are popularly eaten in Haryanvi meals. Most of the people in Haryana enjoy freshly made chutney with their meals. Most of the chutneys at home in Haryana are cooked, spicy and free from oil ghee or any fat. Chutnyes are best eaten within 90 minutes after preparation. Majority of Haryanvi people enjoy having a glass full of butter milk (sweet or salted) along with chutney meals. • Dahiya A. (2013) in his book titled “Foodof Haryana: The Great Desserts” highlighted the dessert food of Haryana. Present volume of sweets comes with popularly consumed sweets in the Haryanvi homes. In his book, 57 kinds of dessert dishes include: Laddus, Halwa, Kheer, Burfi, Churma and other desserts. Traditionally, People of Haryana relish sweets at the beginning of meals in villages. A Typical Marriage in village offers Laddus at the beginning of meals to guests. • Gunjan Malik, Amit Kadyan, Vivek Balyan (2013) examined the food habits of Haryana’s people which includestheir liking for spicey/ non spicey food, number of meals taken in a day, eating out habits, preferred eating outlets, cooking equipments preferred. It has found that people of Haryana believe in simplicity andprefer eating simple and desi food and that too at home. They don’t prefer eating spicy food andbelieve in simple living. They are not very outgoing and do not prefer eating out frequently. Haryanvi people consume simple and healthy food so as to perform physical as well as mentalwork.They use traditional cooking equipments like Chulha and gas stove, but a small percentage isshifting towards the new technology. People of Haryana have healthy eating habits. 108 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 • Ram Mehar Attri (2015) found in his paper thatthe traditional Haryanvi Dishes were still quite popular among the respondents even however there is a clear trend towards growing influence of western food on the food habits of people of Haryana. ObjectiveThe objective of this paper to explore the traditional festive food of Haryana and their recipe. Methodology As the aim of paper is to explore the traditional festive foods of Haryana and their recipe. The data has been collected from the secondary source such as published and unpublished articles, journals, books and websites. An informal discussion with family has been conducted for gather the more information about festive food those they are prepared on festivals, their recipe and cooking style. Festivals of Haryana “Aayi Teej Bakhair gi Beej, Aayi Holi Bhar le gi Jholi” A famous quote of Haryanvi on festival, which mean that Teej is the symbol of starting the festival season and Holi as like of ending the festival. All the festivals celebrated with the joy. Different festivals of Haryana as follow: Makar Sankranti: Makar Sankranti is one of the most auspicious day for the Hindus, and it is celebrated in almost all parts of the country, with great dedication, fervor & fun. The festival of Makar Sankrant traditionally coincides with the beginning of the Sun's northward journey (the Uttarayan) when it enters the sign of Makar (the Capricorn). It falls on the 14th of January every year. Lakhs of people take a dip in places like Ganga Sagar & Prayag and pray to Lord Sun. Holi: Holi is one of the major festivals of Hindus. Holi is the festival of colours. This festival is celebrated for two to three days. People pour colored water on each other and cook many types of sweets and other food. Holi is celebrated in the spring season because it is welcoming spring. This day is celebrated with joyful colours to mark the victory of virtue and goodness over evil. Basant Panchami: Basant Panchami is celebrated to welcome the season of spring. People celebrate this festival with much enthusiasm. The main attraction of this festival is kite flying. Basant Panchami is meant to welcome the season of spring as also maa Saraswati known as Shri 109 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 Panchami and Saraswati Panchami. It is one of the most colourful and wonderful festivals of Haryana. Teej Festival: Teej is one of the most celebrating festival of Haryana. On this festival girls play on swings that are set up under trees or open courtyards and sings folk song. Girls and woman get new clothes and accessories from their in-laws, husbands and other family members. Boys fly kites. People prepare churma and sweets especially ghevar at their home. On Teej, the mother sends a baya (which consists of a variety of foodstuffs) or gift to her married daughter. The puja is always performed in the morning time. The baya, is placed on a thaali and place it on a particular chowk (square) that has been decorated where worship will take place and an idol or picture of Parvati has been placed on that particular chowk. In the evenings singing and dancing takes place and women prayers for their husbands' long life and their families. Gugganavmi: This festival is celebrated on the next day of Janmashtami. This festival is celebrated by both the Hindu and the Islam community and reflects the true secular spirit in the state of Haryana. A dance procession is also taken out in which the Panch Pirs are the main dancers. They sing songs in the honour and praise of Gugga. Akadshi: Akadshi forms a very important part in the lives of the women in the state of Haryana. The women folks perform some religious rites and rituals for the welfare of their family. They keep fast for the whole and also remain abstained from water. Those who fast on this day are considered to get rid of malefic planetary influences, experience happiness, and gain the right peace of mind to think of Ishvara and attain moksha. Dushera: It marks the end of "Ramlila" and remembers God Rama's victory over the demon Ravana. Haryanvi’s people make kheer, puri and halwa on Dushera festival. Diwali Festival: The word 'Diwali' means “rows of lighted lamps”. It is a festival of lights and which is celebrate in every state with joy. During this festival, people light up their houses and shops with Diyas.It is celebrated to mark the homecoming of Lord Rama from 14 years of Exile and his victory over the Demon Ravana. People buy or make sweets for their own families and send them as presents to their friends and relatives. In Haryana, brother going to sister home with sweets and present before Diwali. At night, the goddess Lakshmi, is worshiped in the form of earthen images and silver rupee. 110 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 As Haryana is a state of different culture. Peoples live here from different culture and religion. They celebrate their different festival. Baishakhi by Punjabi and Sikhs, Eid by Muslim peoples. Some other festivals of Haryana are Mahashivratri, Ramnavmi, Karwachauth, Gyas (Served kacchi lassi and ruhafza drink), Amawas&Purnima (prepared kheer, halwa, puri and sabzi). Festive Food The foodof Haryana is like the people of Haryana - simple, earthy and inextricably linked to the land. In Haryana, the emphasis is on food that is wholesome, fresh and prepared with little or no fuss at all. Food always evolves out of a certain cultural context. The simpler the culture or civilisation, so is the cuisine which is uncomplicated and essentially implies sustenance. Haryana with its essentially agrarian culture has retained simplicity in its cuisine. As discussed above, there are numerous festivals in Haryana and thus, followed by, many mouth-watering and jaw-dropping sweets and meals. Special dishes are prepared and offered to the respective God(s) and seasons play a very important role in celebrations of different festivals. Here are some of the major food delicacies that every person loves to get their mouth on. Kheer It is observed that peoples of Haryana are fond of milk and milk products and as we are aware kheer is prepared with milk, which make is more special betweenthem. The people of Haryana like kheer especially which ismade with gur (Jaggery). Most of the people in Haryana prepareplain kheer i.e. adding rice to milk till done and eat it with shakkaron top (coarsely ground thin jaggery) both hot and cold. Sugarcane juice kheer also famous in Haryana. However, few do prefer with sugar and nuts. Traditionally kheer is preparedin Haryanvi homes on Holi, Diwali, Guga Navmi, full moon night and Half-moon night alongwith other festivals as well. Recipe: (Serving: 4 Portion) • Ingredients Quantity: • Full cream milk 1 litre • Rice 100 gms • Sugar 150 gms/Grounded Jaggery – 150 gms Method of Preparation: • Take a heavy bottom pan and grease it with pure ghee, especially the bottom of the pan . 111 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 • Add milk and give it a boil. • Wash rice and add in the boiling milk. Mix properly. • Cook on medium heat, when it starts boiling, lower theheat and cook till rice get cooked well and become soft. • Keep stirring in between, and gently mash the rice grainswith the ladle while mixing. • Now add sugar and cook on low heat. • Keep stirring the kheer in between to avoid sticking tothe bottom. • Cook for 5 minutes and serve garnished. (can be served both hot and cold) Traditionally, kheer is made without sugar and served with bura (Refined Sugar) and shakkar. Almonds, saffron, pistachio, cashewnuts, grated coconut such ingredients can add to make a better taste. Sevai Sevai is a pudding made from vermicelli, milk and sugar. Sevai is prepared on Teej and Raksha Bandhan festival. Recipe: (Serving: 4 portion) Ingredients quantity: • Sevai (vermicelli) 1cup • Milk 1 litre • Sugar 150 gms • Ghee 30 gms Method of Preparation: • Heat ghee in a pan, add Sevai in it and shallow fry it on low heat till it becomes slightly golden. (you can even roast sevai on griddle without fat) • Pour the milk and let the milk boil for 10-12 minutes on low flame. • Add milk and sugar, & again allow it cook on low flame till done. Handmade sevai is often boiled in water with ghee and served hot with bura/shakkar and ghee.At some places in Haryana, it’s called as Meethe Joe. 112 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 Suji Ka Halwa Sooji halwa is a simple yet delicious and yummy sweetened semolina fried in ghee and garnished with nuts. It’s also popularly known as Sheera in the northern region of India. Recipe: (Serving: 4 portion) Ingredients quantity: • Suji (Semolina) 1 cup • Sugar 1 cup • Desi Ghee (Clarified Butter) ½ cup • Water 2.5 cup • Cashew nuts and Raisins 30 gm Method of Preparation: • Cook semolina in a dry pan preferably with thick base, cook till light to golden brown. • Add ghee, cook for few minutes • Cook for a while. • Add water, stir consistently, cook till water evaporatesand the dish leaves ghee on its sides. • Add nuts (Almond, Cashew nut, Grated Coconut, Raisins) • Serve hot. Ghevar Ghevar (Devanagari) is a sweet traditionally associated with the Teej Festival. It is disc-shaped sweet cake made with all-purpose flour and soaked in sugar syrup. There are many varieties of Ghevar, including plain, mawa and malai ghevar. Recipe: Ingredients quantity: • Refind flour (Maida) 250 gm • Pure ghee 50 gm • Sugar 400gm • Water 100 ml • Milk 50 gm 113 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 • Ghee/oil to fry ghever Method of Preparation: • Combine the sugar and water in a pan and simmer till itreaches a 1 string consistency. • Remove from the heat and keep warm. Combine the flourand melted ghee in a bowl. • Add water in a thin stream, whisking continuously but atno point should the ghee and water separate. • The batter should be of a coating consistency. Keep thebatter in a cool place away from the heat. • Place the ghevar mould in a kadhai and pour melted gheein it till it reaches 3/4 of the height of the mould. • Heat the ghee on a medium flame and put in one spoonfulof the batter into the mould in a thin stream. The battershould settle in the mould. • When the froth subsides, pour in another spoonful in thecentre in a thin stream. • Increase the flame and allow it to cook in the centre bypouring ladlefuls of hot ghee in the centre of the mould 2or 3 times. • When the centre is firm and cooked then Deep in sugarsyrup and serve at room temp. Note: Alternatively, you can use a large mould to get fewerghevar in which case the cooking time will increase. Rabdior mava also use on top the ghevar. Gulgula Gulgula is a deep-fried dumpling made from wheat flour and jaggery. Gulgulla is made on various festivals in Haryana like Teej, Basora. People of Haryana like to eat gulgule in rainy season. Recipe: (Serving: 4 Portion) Ingredients quantity: • 1/4 cup and 2 and 1/4 teaspoon wheat flour • 1/3 cup and 1 and 1/4 tablespoon mustard oil • 1/3 cup and 2 and 1/2 tablespoon cane sugar • water as required 114 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 Method of Preparation: • To start with, take a bowl and add hot water, cane sugar in it. Let the cane sugar dissolve in the bowl. Once dissolved, let it cool down. In a bowl, combine flour, cane sugar and little water in order to make a smooth paste. • Take a kadai and keep it on medium flame. Heat oil in the kadai and one by one insert the mixture with the help of a spoon in the kadai. Deep fry the gulgula. Keep in mind to fry it till golden brown from both the sides. Sawali Shakkarpare (Sawali) Sakkarpare or Sawali is a deep-fried crunchy sweet dish of wheat flour and jaggary made on Teej festival. Recipe: (Serving 4 portion) Ingredients quantity: • Whole Wheat Flour 200 gms • Pure ghee 200 gms • Jaggery 75 gms Method of Preparation: • Take 3 cups of water in a pan and heat till the first boil. • Put Jaggery and let it melt and mix with water. • Make a hard dough with flour, Ajwain and jaggery waterand add two tea spoons of ghee in while making dough. • Make small sized about 3-inch diameter and point 5 cmthick round shaped chapattis. • Take a kadhai, pour ghee in kadhai. • Deep Fry sawalis and store in air tight container. Pude Pude is also known as Malpua. It is a shallow frying sweet bread of wheat flour and jaggery made on Teej, Basora, Guga Navmi and in rainy season. Recipe: (Serving 4 portion) Ingredients quantity: 115 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 • Wheat flour 200 gms • Mustard Oil/Pure ghee for shallow frying • Jaggery (Gur) 200 gms Method of Preparation: • Take one cup water in a pan, add jaggery and removefrom heat once mixed well. • Make semi-liquid mixture with wheat flour and abovejaggery solution. • Heat mustard oil/ghee on a flat pan. • Pour a ladle full of mixture in the form of pancake. • Cook on medium heat. Turn it over when it starts to colourslightly. When both sides are done, drain and served. • Tastes well if served with Mango Pickle. Churma Churma is made with Roti, Clarified Butter (Desi Ghee) and Jaggery or Sugar. Churma (Dal Bati Churma) is also famous sweet dish of Rajasthan. Recipe: (Serving 4 portion) Ingredients quantity: • Wheat flour 250 gms • Pure ghee 150 gms • Shakkar (Coarsely ground Jaggery) 150 gms Method of Preparation: • Make soft dough with wheat flour. • Keep it for half an hour and prepare equal quantity ofballs. • Prepare Chapati/ Roti. • Now grind the Chapati or mash with the hands add desi gheeand gur. • Make oval shaped balls and Churma is ready to serve. 116 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 Meethe Chawal It is sweet preparation of rice. Rice is boiled in sugar or gur. Meethe chawal is prepared on Basora festival and as parsad of peer(God). The rice prepared in night and in morning (before sunrise) gives the bhog to Thandi Mata. Recipe: (Serving 4 portion) Ingredients quantity: • Jaggery/Sugar as per your taste • Rice1 glassful • Water 3-4 glasses • Desi Ghee 2 to 3 tablespoons. Method of Preparation: • To start with, we make a syrup of gur (jaggery) by boiling it in a large pan with 1 glass of water. • Meanwhile, we take a glass full of rice and wash it a large bowl with normal water. • Now, take a spoon and check if the syrup is prepared, if you still find pieces of gur in there let it be for 2-3 more mins. on mid flame. • Let the syrup cool down and meanwhile take a cooker put washed rice in it and ghee and a glass full of normal water and now put the syrup. • Close the lid carefully and after one full whistle, let the pressure cooker cool down for 5 min. • Open the lid carefully and serve meethe chawal with cold milk. Apart from above discussed dishes, roti-bura-ghee, ghee-bura-chawal, pakode, ghee-shakkarchawal, puri-sabzi, and Mathi etc. are some another food of Haryana which are prepared widely in festivals. Cooking Style All the dishes prepared in Haryana on Chulha and hara (A round shaped mud made small tandoor). Chulh, Hara, Uple/Kande/Dung Cake .Wood, and uple used as fuels in it. Uple is also known as kande/gosse or buffalo/cow dung cake. Even now a day in villages, peoples prefer to prepare on 117 Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidhyalaya - Food Culture and Tourism of India ISBN - 978-81-933916-1-7 chulha and hara. Peoples said that food prepared on chulha and hara is more delicious in comparison of gas and other modern cooking equipment. Conclusion The food of Haryana is like the people of Haryana - simple, earthy and inextricably linked to the land. In Haryana, the emphasis is on food that is wholesome, fresh and prepared with little or no fuss at all. Food always evolves out of a certain cultural context. The simpler the culture or civilization, so is the cuisine which is uncomplicated and essentially implies sustenance. Haryana with its essentially agrarian culture has retained simplicity in its cuisine. As the Indian likes to eat sweet dish in all festivals and happiness moments, the Haryanvi’s peoples also like to eat sweet dishes in festival occasion. It has been concluded that kheer, malpua, gulgulle, sevia, shakkarpare, halwa, meethe chawal and pakode are traditional festive foods of Haryana. Gur found widely used sweetened ingredients in sweet preparation instead of sugar because its benefits. All the dishes prepared in Haryana on Chulha and hara (A round shaped mud made small tandoor in which uple used as fuel). Even now a day in villages peoples prefer to prepare on chulha and hara. Peoples said that food prepared on chulha and hara is more delicious in comparison of gas and other modern cooking equipment. References • • • • • Dahiya, Ashish (2012). Food of Haryana: The Great Chutneys. ISBN- 978-93-81818-05-3. Dahiya, Ashish (2013). Food of Haryana: The Great Desserts. ISBN- 978-93-81818-13-5. Gunjan Malik, Amit Kadyan, Vivek Balyan (2015). Food Habits of People in Haryana. International Journal of Research IT & Management, 3(7), 16-21. Ram Mehar Attri (2015). Folk Culture in Haryana With Special Reference of Awareness, Acceptability and Usage: A Special Study on Haryanvi Dishes, Attire & Ornaments, Dances, Festivals and Folk Instruments. International Journal of Applied Services Marketing Perspectives© Pezzottaite Journals.4(2), 1644-1649. Official website of Haryana Tourism: www.haryanatourism.gov.in