GUJARAT – Poshan Maah – 28 Days, 28 States

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Located on the west coast of India and opening up to the Arabian Sea, Gujarat is a deeply historic region whose roots can be traced back to the Indus Valley Civilisation. Over the many centuries of its history, Gujarat has had a multitude of different rulers including the Marathas, Rajputs, Mughals, other invading Islamic dynasties, and the Mauryans. Being a significant port state, there have also been numerous interactions with various global cultures that have influenced the Gujarati way of life.
Despite having an extensive coastline providing wholesome seafood, Gujarat is primarily a vegetarian state due to the influence of Jain vegetarianism.

Mainstream Indian pop culture has given our people a relatively skewed representation of Gujarati cuisine limiting it to dhokla, khakhra, khichdi, and thepla.
While there’s no denying that all four food items are an integral part of Gujarati cuisine, there’s definitely more to the food culture than that.

A state that spans close to 2,00,000 sq km, you can’t really grade Gujarat’s cuisine into one complete entity. Instead, there are the distinct flavours of Kathiyawad, Kutch, Surat, and Amdavad (colloquial for Ahmedabad) with the latter comprising north and central Gujarat cooking styles and dishes.
The typical Gujarati thali consists of rotli, dal or kadhi, rice, and shaak (a dish made up of several different combinations of vegetables and spices, which may be either spicy or sweet). The thali will also include preparations made from pulses or whole beans (called kathor in Gujarati) such as moong, black-eyed beans etc., a snack item (farsaan) like dhokla, pathra, samosa, fafda, etc. and a sweet (mishthaan) like mohanthal, jalebi, etc.

Gujarati cuisine varies widely in flavour and heat, depending on a family’s tastes as well as the region of Gujarat to which they belong.

The Four Pillars of Gujarati Food Culture

Kathiyawadi Cuisine

Forming part of the region known as Saurashtra, major cities such as Porbandar, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, and Junagadh all comprise the Kathiyawad region. Since it shares a border with the neighboring state of Rajasthan, it is fair to say that Kathiyawadi cuisine is heavily influenced by Rajasthani cooking. In general, the food is quite spicy as opposed to the majority of Gujarat, where sweet flavors are an overriding influence.

Highlights of Kathiyawadi cooking include the sev tameta nu shaak, which is a curry primarily made from tomatoes and chilli powder topped off with generous additions of sev, a noodle-like savoury snack made of gram flour (besan). Another prominent Kathiyawadi dish is ringna no oroh or roasted eggplant. Similar to the baingan ka bhartha seen in other parts of India, ringna no oroh is made with roasted eggplants that are then peeled, mashed, and tempered in spices. An amalgamation of flavors from a few cities and influences from across the border, Kathiyawadi cuisine is deliciously diverse.

Surti Cuisine

The city of Surat, which is located in the southern region of Gujarat, is recognized for its love of food, be it fine dining or cheap street food. The most popular dish to emerge out of Surat is undoubtedly the undhiyu. What’s basically a mixed vegetable dish, describing the undhiyu in those simple terms would be like the delight that it brings to the Gujarati people. It is named undhiyu (which loosely translates to upside down) because, traditionally, the salient ingredients such as papdi or Indian flat beans, tuver dana (pigeon peas), potatoes, eggplant, kand (purple yam), bananas, and more are tossed together in an earthen pot with essential spices. This pot is then covered and buried in the hot muddy ground upside down and surrounded by coal, allowing it to slow cook, giving the dish an earthy, smoky, and delectable flavour. Undhiyu is a seasonal dish, made only in winter due to the availability of Indian flat beans and purple yam at that time of the year.

Then there’s Surti locho, a popular street food where a steamed gram flour-based cake of sorts is mixed with chilli, ginger, and garlic, and served with a smattering of chutneys.

Amdavadi Cuisine

The biggest city in Gujarat and former capital, Ahmedabad is definitely one of the state’s foodie hotspots. Street food culture is rampant here, and you can find some delightful snacks and quick bites along with a plethora of mouth-watering sweets in every nook and cranny of this city. The menu includes golas or snow cones dipped in a colourful and lip-smacking variety of syrups, especially popular in the summer.

Another crowd favourite is the jalebi – all-purpose flour deep-fried in a spiralling, almost pretzel-like style and dipped in sugar syrup.

In terms of savoury dishes, there is the dhokla, a light airy snack made of either rice or gram flour, which is steamed, then sprinkled with coriander leaves, and coconut shavings, and served with a mint-based chutney. There is a similar dish called khandvi, also made of gram flour batter, which is cooked to a thick paste and then spread out and rolled. It is also served with chutney.
The cliché of all Gujarati food being sweet can most certainly be blamed on Amdavadi cuisine, and the people of the city wouldn’t have it any other way!

Kutchi Cuisine

The dry, arid region of Kutch plays host to some individual dishes as well. A lack of leafy green vegetables dictates the food choices in the region. You can’t talk about famous Kutchi dishes without mentioning the dabeli. The dabeli is essentially street food where pao or bread roll is stuffed with a filling made with potato, a paste made with tamarind, jaggery and date, and masala. This bread is pan-roasted and then topped with sev, onion, spicy peanuts, and pomegranate seeds. Traditionally dabeli bread is also swathed with a garlic-based chutney before roasting.
Other popular Kutchi dishes include bajra na rotla or Indian flatbread made of pearl millet, traditionally served with either the aforementioned ringna no oroh, or curd and garlic chutney.

Khaja, a dessert reminiscent of baklava is also made here. It is prepared using refined flour, mawa, and oil, deep-fried, and then dipped in sugar syrup.

Other Popular Dishes

Thepla – A popular flatbread made of wheat flour with masala and can include other ingredients such as methi (fenugreek leaves) or doodhi (bottle gourd), roasted on a pan.

Shrikhand – Made of hung curd and sugar, this dairy-based dessert is soft and light, and served cold. It may also contain dry fruits, saffron or cardamom powder for added flavor.

Dal dhokli – First, tempered pigeon pea dal is prepared. Then a wheat flour-based flatbread is rolled, cut into diamond-shaped pieces, and immersed within the dal itself. This delectable, yet simple, dish is served with pure ghee to make it even more indulgent.

Kadhi – Gujarati for curry, it is typically made with buttermilk, gram flour and sugar, which is tempered and flavoured with ginger and chili. A slightly sweet curry, Gujaratis are known to add radishes and even bananas to make this dish more flavourful.
Khichdi – A traditional rice-based dish. Khichdi is rice mixed with a dal either made from pigeon peas or moong bean. A relatively bland dish seasoned only with salt, this is a common one and is consumed with great regularity and typically served with kadhi.
Muthiya – This dish is a combination of wheat flour and pearl millet or gram flour, which is mixed with cooked rice, rolled and then steamed. It can be made with methi leaves and bottle gourd as well.
Gathiya – A type of savoury snack made of gram flour and masalas, gathiya is also a type of sev and comes in various shapes and sizes. Gathiya is either eaten on its own or taken with tea.
Fafda – A type of gathiya that is long, flat, and has a salty taste topped with asafoetida. It makes for a great combination with the sweet jalebi.
Khakhra – Wheat flour flatbreads are dry roasted until crispy and then topped with ghee and a spicy masala.
Basundi – Thick-boiled milk mixed with sugar and saffron. Served cold.
Chakri – Made with rice flour, which is mixed with ginger, chilli, and sesame seeds. The chakri is shaped in a spiral and deep-fried. Another dish that is commonly consumed as a snack.
Patra – Arbi patta (colocasia leaves) are lathered with a paste made of gram flour, jaggery, garam masala, sesame seeds, and tamarind. These leaves are then rolled and steamed. Patra is typically served as an appetizer.
Chaas – This drink is extremely popular, especially during the summer months. It’s basically buttermilk, which is served chilled and topped with roasted cumin (jeera) powder.

Besides vegetarian dishes, the Muslim community, the tribal groups like Bohras and Khojas offer special non-vegetarian cuisine.

With a cuisine so diverse yet appealing to every gourmand’s palate, it is no wonder that Gujarati fare cuts across geographical borders and enjoys a prominent place in the culinary map of India. Gujarati cuisine is the perfect representation of her people – a potent mixture that is a little spicy, a little salty, and more than anything else, carries strong undertones of sweetness.